The following article (and many more) can be found in
“Tribes Connections – A Newsletter for Tribes Minded people across Ontario”
a production of the Ontario Tribes Learning Community Consortium.
—————————————
Beyond the Posters
We need to move beyond the “inclusion” stage and focus on the learning. Some trained educators participate in the Tribes training course and return to their classroom, post the posters and thrive on the energizers while shelving the Tribes book. Yes, building inclusion is an important start, but we need to move beyond posting the posters and focus on student achievement and wellness using the Tribes process. Educators across the province who have moved beyond the Tribes posters and have aligned the Tribes process with student achievement and wellness have indicated that the implementation of the Tribes instructional strategies and process:
- helps educators integrate the curriculum subjects
- assists the students’ reflection on their learning
- helps students make connections
- keeps students engaged and motivated
- helps students feel safe
- recognizes multiple intelligences and differential instruction
- recognizes the students’ ability
- addresses the learning skills on the provincial report card
- allows students to have a voice
Moving beyond the posters and using the process as a vehicle to improve student achievement and wellness benefits our students.
The challenge is collecting quantitative data that correlates the Tribes’ process with student achievement. How do you measure the effect of Tribes on students, other than a gut feeling when you walk into the room? What gets measured gets attention. If you have quantitative evidence that supports the Tribes process and student achievement, please submit your findings to the Tribes Provincial Steering Committee and we will promote and share your information with CenterSource and other provincial Tribes’ trainers.
Brian Jones
Tribes Trainer
Consortium Steering Committee
