Weekly Tribes

Is your community circle purposeful, versatile, effective? Here are some suggestions for changing it up, making it more efficient, or just giving it a new twist. 1 - Use it as a goal setting discussion for the day. (Maybe for those testing days coming up?) 2 - Set a behavior standard - like a random act of kindness to be done on the playground. 3 - Use the 'cares-concerns-compliments-celebrations' topic, collectively or singularly 4 - Incorporate the 'slip game' strategy for random topics. Invite student to contribute 'slip game' questions to keep it fresh 5 - Use a different method for sharing - 'talking stick', koosh ball, student chooses the next to share, popsicle sticks, etc. 6 - Use the community circle for content - correcting or checking homework, or checking progress (for example, in the middle of a writing assignment, have students meet in a community circle and pass papers around so that each may read other's work so far...) 7 - Have a "student choice" day each week for the community circle topic. Students can submit topics ahead of time, or it can be spontaneous 8 - "Vocabulary Circle" - challenge students to use a vocabulary word when addressing the topic at hand 9 - "Current Events Circle" - Invite students to share a current event, opinion, 'headline', etc. 10- Speed spelling - Have a student say a spelling word and the next in succession each say one