1. Establishing Learning Communities Within the Classroom and School
November 15th, 2007

2. Purpose of Session
Experience the power of learning communities for learning within the classroom and the school.
Appreciate how the Tribes Process engages students and delivers scientific content
Share and experience the
Tribes Process
Reflect personal experiences
Content:
Social:
Personal:

3. Community Circle Everyone has an opportunity to participate.
There are agreements about how we interact.
We can show that we care, support and appreciate each other.
We can demonstrate that we want to know what everyone is thinking and feeling.

4. Tribes Community Agreements
Attentive
Listening
Right
to Pass
Mutual
Respect
Appreciations
No Put-downs
These four Norms or Agreements are the simplistic foundation of the learning community. Because they are established early in the year and clearly defined they become “the way we do things in this classroom….school. There’s no need to debate them when issues arise, but simply remind people of the agreements and their responsibility. They’re simple because they cover so many different types of behaviour issues

5. Appreciation / No Put Downs
Group Norms…
Attentive Listening
Mutual Respect
Right to Pass
Appreciation / No Put Downs

6. That’s Me – That’s Us Stand up if and Say That’s Me! I have shoes on!
I am having a great day!
I have purchased at least one Christmas gift
I like to be complimented
I enjoy working as a member of a team
I use/have used Cooperative Group Learning in my classroom
I have heard something about Tribes
I have worked in a Professional Learning Community

7. Debrief…..
Content: What did you find out about your community members?
Social: Why was listening important?
Personal: How did you feel about jumping up?
How might the ‘That’s Me – That’s Us’ strategy be used to apply science content?
that this is a typical Tribes strategy
that reflection is important and that there is purposeful learning of content and collaborative skills
that, in the training, connections are consistently made with the curriculum - - Tribes is not an add-on but a process that provides teachers with multiple strategies to help students learn

8. Learning Communities…
what are they?
why?
How?
connecting the pieces in between
-today is about taking a look at the big picture
-as a PLC, we are only 2 years young and need to look at where we have been, where we are and where we want to go
-we cannot do things in the same way and get a different end result…so what structures (e.g., processes, supports) do we need to consider in order to move towards the desired state

9. Listening Skills Attending Paraphrasing Non-verbal encouragement
Reflecting
feelings

10. Listening Skills 1. Decide A, B, and C.
2. Roles: Observer, Speaker, Listener
3. The speaker reads a paragraph.
4. The listener selects 1 or 2 listening skills to practise.
5. The observer observes the listener and provides feedback regarding his/her verbal & non-verbal responses.
6. Change roles

11. Teaching Listening Teaching Listening 1. Decide A, B, and C.
2. Roles: Observer, Speaker, Listener
3. The speaker chooses a topic.
4. The listener selects 1 or 2 listening skills to practise.
5. The observer observes the listener and provides feedback regarding his/her verbal & non-verbal responses.
p Tribes A New Way

12. Word Whip

13. Characteristics of a Professional Learning Community
 Shared Mission and Goals
 Collaborative Teams
 Action Orientation/Experimentation
 Collective Inquiry
 Continuous Improvement
 Results Oriented

14. 4 Corners  Continuous Improvement Shared Mission and Goals
Stand by the word that which you believe is the most important element of a Learning Community
5 minutes- total time. Please make sure that each person has equal time to share!
Shared Mission and Goals
 Collaborative Teams
 Collective Inquiry
 Continuous Improvement

15. Making a Difference “Schools that attend to both strategies – Why?
1.building a collaborative culture that focuses on student learning
2. creating a system of timely interventions for students –
These schools experience a powerful synergy”
p.186 “Whatever it Takes”

16. …people are more intelligent together than they are apart.
Why?
…people are more intelligent together than they are apart.
In fact, the real power in organizations is relationships.”
Peter Senge

17. If you want something really creative done, you ask a team to do it—instead of sending one person off to do it on his or her own.
Why?

18. a cumulative process – step by step, action by action, decision by decision, that adds up to sustained and spectacular results.”
How?

19. caring, safe environment
Purposeful learning
reflection
blocks of time
collaborative skills
knowing the learner
We’re all artists designing our own learning community landscapes. As artists when we’re creating the landscape we make a mental note that we have a vision of what it looks like. We know how kids learn. We need to have a plan and reflective practitioners and we need to collaborate. Think of the classroom, a math learning community authentic learning, plan, method of assessment and evaluation. You’ve modeled and taught the collorabtive skills. There is trust and safety for kids and adults to take the risks needed for realearning. Purposeful learning, reflection, important blocks of time, resources, understand the learner – social, emotional and cognitive aspects
resources
caring, safe environment

20. Daily Physical Activity Recognition & Leadership
Organizational Structure For Learning
School Effectiveness
Learning Teams
Professional
Reading Clubs
Technology
Literacy Learning
Teams
School Culture
Tribes
Social
Committee
Numeracy Learning
Teams
Daily Physical Activity
Professional Learning Grade Teams
Assessment/Evaluation
& Evaluation
TRIBES
SEL Team
ICT L. Team
LIT. L . Team
NUM. L. Team
Student
Recognition & Leadership

21. The Tribes Process fosters a Learning Community
where teachers, administrators, students, and parents all enjoy the mutual respect and caring essential for growth and learning!
-Jeanne Gibbs

22. Group development process – learning communities (me –we)
Approach to social skills development
Instructional strategies with roots in cooperative group learning and brain/mind learning
Tribes
Tribes is a process that creates a culture that maximizes learning and human development.

23. Research Finds that Tribes..
Increases test scores
Is useful from K to grade 12
Teaches social skills
Reduces violence and drop out rates
Cooperative Group Learning, a significant component of the Tribes process, significantly increases student achievement – 27 percentile gain (Classroom Instruction That Works, Marzano, Pickering, Pollock, 2001).
improved student inclusion, respect for multicultural populations, sense of value among students, collaboration, and resiliency.
there was significant and increasing student engagement
there were safe and supportive classroom and school environments (WestEd, Summer 2003)

24. LEARNING COMMUNITIES Research Respect Community Agreements Caring
Inclusiveness
Trust
Empowerment
Commitment to its Members and Purpose
Tribes
Community Agreements
Collaborative Norms
Appreciated Conversation
Diversity
Responsibility
Personal Reflection

25. IN SILVER CREEK’S PLC… Caring Common goals A sense of purpose
Working together
Valuing differences
Safe environment
Open communication
(based on Trust and Honesty)
A feeling of ownership
Sense of belonging
Common goals
Respecting and recognizing
each other’s values and strengths
Successful
Evolving and changing

26. Put Yourself on the Line
Do you agree or disagree?
Gas-guzzling vehicles should be charged an extra fuel tax.
Purpose:
To develop respect for differing preferences and opinions
Line represents strongly agree on one end to strongly disagree on the other end; the middle ins no opinion or ‘pass’.

27. Tribes helps teachers to foster integrated learning in a safe and engaging way..
Science Learning Communities
Numeracy Learning Communities
Literacy Learning Communities
TRIBES
Mathematics
Learning Communities

28. “Ultimately, it is not a matter of funding equipment, buildings or positions…
but a matter of finding kindred souls of heart and mind and purpose.”

29. Reflection
Something I learned today is…