What It Is:
A two part experiential training exploring the most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement – that of building the capacity of school personnel – “the insiders” – to function as a collegial learning community.
Why You Want It:
This training provides the research-based principles and strategies that are essential to prepare today’s students for an entirely different era – The Era of Learning. Participants will implement effective practices that enhance rigor, relevance and relationships to transform the culture, structures and pedagogy of the whole high school system.
As a teacher the interactive training prepares you to…
- Create a personalized motivational culture throughout all of your classes
- Design active learning experiences that correspond to how today’s 21st century students best can learn and succeed
- Engage all students in collaborative learning groups for inquiry, research, creative projects, presentations, self and group assessment and evaluation
- Work in collaborative teacher learning communities to engage, motivate, and together help all of your students succeed.
As an administrator you will discover ways to…
- Initiate and sustain a caring and challenging culture throughout the whole school community
- Build the capacity of the faculty to work together in collegial learning communities to achieve educational excellence
- Activate the sound principles and improvement practices recommended in the NASSP ground-breaking document “Breaking Ranks II – Strategies for Leading High School Reform” (2004)
How It Works:
Participants engage, explore, and experience strategies for learning, creating, and leadership. Each participant will also receive a copy of the highly acclaimed book, Engaging All By Creating High School Learning Communities, authored by Jeanne Gibbs and Teri Ushijima, Ed.D., a Certificate of Completion, and the materials to enable you to implement Tribes in your high school learning community.
This professional development can be presented over 4 consecutive six-hour days, or divided into a “two and two” plan to support staff while they learn, experience, and apply the process. CenterSource will work with you to design a training plan that fits your school schedule.
What You Get:
CenterSource Systems has developed a cost effective capacity building model, which is divided over two segments designed to fit your high school or district’s professional development schedule.
This course is designed for high school teachers, administrators, counselors, leaders, and support staff who want to explore and implement the research-based components of the developmental process of Tribes Learning Communities at the high school level. Participants will experience how the wide diversity if high school students not only can be engaged but awakened to their own potential through active meaningful learning.
Part A: Creating a Place For All (2 Days)
You will receive 12 hours of proven experiential professional development which includes our popular book titled Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities, by Jeanne Gibbs and Teri Ushijima, Ed.D. Participants will also use an interactive journal, which contains articles, graphic organizers, and pages for reflection.
In Part A, high school educators will recognize why reform of the traditional high school system is critical and realize the importance of listening to what students think, feel and say about their schools. Participants will consider the developmental characteristics of high school students and ways to tap the characteristics to engage and motivate students, as well as, recognize that all high school students are trying to achieve the critical tasks of adolescence. Participants will be introduced to the group and community building process known as the “Tribes Trail” learning how to teach collaborative group skills and positive agreements. Finally, participants will recognize the path toward student-centered active learning and the challenge of change.
Part B: Becoming Responsive Educators and Leaders of Change (2 Days)
To complete your Engaging All By Creating High School Learning Communities training, participants will understand how the Stage of Influence contributes to students achieving a sense of value and influence. Participants will gain an overview of the research-based principles and practices that are implemented in the Responsive Education process of Tribes Learning Communities. Participants will use the active learning process to design curriculum topics, themes and concepts, as well as, learn a constructivism framework that enables students themselves to research, plan and teach other students academic content and topics for meaningful inquiry. Other topics include: the current uses of computer technology in their own high school, why developing Collegial Learning Communities is the most highly proven way to transform classroom learning and today’s high schools and how the Tribes Learning Community is a capacity building model leading to educational excellence.
Remember… Tribes TLC is not an add-on program (one more thing that you have to do), but becomes a way of teaching and learning — the foundation or plate upon which to layer other initiatives, programs or curricula.
What People Say:
(What is the biggest insight that you have had from participating in this training?): That we need to educate the whole child and not just focus on curriculum…also how to reach other types of learners, not just those that are like me…a perfect student!
Thank you so much for creating a book that is responsive to high school specifically! I can’t wait to implement and continue to learn and collaborate!
Would you like to learn more about how you can bring Tribes TLC to your learning community? Please tell us about your school…