Daria Doering

TRIBES, by Jeanne Gibbs

Main points of Tribes:

• Cooperative learning
• Group development – Inclusion to Influence to Community – and constant inclusion activities
• Beyond “no put-down’s” to an emphasis on appreciation
• Self-reflective questioning after each learning or other activity
• Team-building games and activities

My introduction to Tribes came as a student teacher at Discovery Charter School under master teacher Kelly Feintuch.  This was my third student teaching placement, and I was amazed and delighted at the atmosphere of Kelly’s classroom.  The students were so quiet, so on-task, so cooperative … I could hardly believe it.  This was also in contrast to the first two classrooms I’d experienced, in which I could only describe student-teacher relations as all-out war!

I knew Kelly followed the Tribes philosophy, and started reading the book.  At first I found it quite annoying, because of the emphasis on multiculturalism and cooperative learning.  It isn’t that I’m against multiculturalism or cooperation.  My reticence is because I feel “culture” is often used to excuse negative and unacceptable behavior, and “cooperation” often has the effect of promoting mediocrity and denigrating individual excellence.  I also didn’t care for the “self-esteem” emphasis.  Research has proven that excessive self-esteem is destructive in a wide variety of ways.  What is needed is “other esteem.”

Another annoying example is that Gibbs keeps referring to “race relations being at an all-time low.”  I would have to take great exception to that statement.  With civil rights laws, lynchings being a thing of the past, and multicultural education, I would say that race relations are at an all-time high, imperfect though they might be.  I can’t imagine how she came to the conclusion she did.

That being said, the book has some wonderful aspects, and makes its points better than others I’ve read.  I had heard of the “caring community” concept of classroom management, but had never really seen a description of how to achieve that goal.  Tribes is definitely a roadmap.

The Tribes process starts with “inclusion” activities, or activities that get students to share themselves, and acknowledge each other.  These types of activities are done at the beginning of the school year, as a way for students to bond, develop trust and become a community.  But they are also done, on a continuing basis, at the beginning of the day and at the beginning of activities, as a way to continually reignite that flame of community … as a way to fill the ever present human need for inclusion and recognition.  Gibbs makes a convincing case that inclusion and acknowledgement are basic human needs that need to be constantly filled; that the lack of fulfillment of this need is what leads to misbehavior and “grabbing the attention” in a variety of detrimental ways.

The second step of the Tribes process is …

Tribes goes beyond the “no put-down’s” principle to extensively advocate appreciation. In Kelly’s classroom, there was a daily closing ritual of having an “appreciation circle.”  These were extraordinary events.  Most of the “appreciations” were pretty ordinary, along the lines of “I appreciate so-and-so for being my friend,” but several students also said they “appreciated the class being good over the last week.”  My jaw dropped!  I asked Kelly if she had somehow planted this idea in their mind, and she said she hadn’t!

Tribes makes a big point of self-evaluative, reflective questioning.  Their motto is, “The activity alone is not enough!” After every activity, students are asked reflective questions that may be of three types:

• Content / Thinking questions involve facts, concepts, information.
• Collaborative / Social questions focus on the interactions within tribes or the class and the collaborative skills that were used.
• Personal Learning questions focus on what the individual has learned or felt.

The Tribes format is like an alternative to the “six step lesson plan,” but it makes a lot more sense, to me.  The unusual features are the “inclusion” step at the beginning, and the emphasis on the “reflection” and “appreciation” steps at the end.  (elaborate on those).

Additionally, Tribes is the only philosophy I’ve seen that emphasizes the development of the class as a whole.  (inclusion – influence – community).  First there’s inclusion, or “learn to be nice.”  Then there’s influence, or “learn to express yourself.”  Finally there’s community, or “put it all together.”

The lesson-planning and assessment forms in the back are very useful, and help you keep track of the Tribes skills.

Tribes discusses, as many other books do, the importance of asking good questions.  It provides an excellent list of poor types of questions and why

There are three main essences of the Tribes approach, as I see it.  One, is immediate strategies to implement on a daily or hourly basis …

Two, looking at a longer-term yearly timeline, and the “group development” concept of the development of the class from the inclusion stage, to influencing, to community.

Third, looking at the spectrum of people involved in education, is the idea of seeing every participant as a part of their own tribe …, no matter what your feelings about “cooperative learning” – and I have mixed feelings – the idea of establishing a “learning community” is an obvious ideal.

The main question I had would be how to implement something like Tribes without its seeming overly contrived.  I think there are two schools of thought regarding “metacognitive processes.”  One is to teach these processes explicitly, and that school of thought is dominant at this time.  The other school of thought is “don’t preach” – that something is lost in explicitly teaching and explaining everything in life – some magic is lost, people are resistant to what they are told to do, some things are learned best by example, or it just seems nerdy.  I am quite subject to seeing things as contrived or hokey myself, and am resistant to required group process work.

Four Agreements:

1)    Attentive listening

2)    Appreciation / No put-down’s

3)    Right to Pass

4)    Mutual Respect

Stages of Group Development:

1)    Inclusion

• Presenting self
• Stating needs and expectations
• Being acknowledged

2)    Influence

• Setting goals
• Managing conflict
• Making decisions
• Solving problems
• Celebrating diversity

3)    Community

• Group challenge and support
• Constructive thinking
• Social skills
• Shared responsibilities
• Calling forth personal gifts
• Celebrating achievements

Reflective Questions

• The activity alone is not enough!
• Content / Thinking questions involve facts, concepts, information.
• Collaborative / Social questions focus on the interactions within tribes or the class and the collaborative skills that were used.
• Personal Learning questions focus on what the individual has learned or felt.

Steps of lesson plan according to Tribes:

1)    Inclusion activity

2)    Cooperative learning activity – structured according to whether students are at the inclusion, influence or community stage (how independently they can work)??

3)    Reflective Questions

4)    Appreciation

Collaborative skills (from assessment)

Stages of group work

• Temporary tribes
• Permanent tribes (for at least a month)
• Transfer responsibility

Other practices

• Adoption ceremony

Influence practices

• Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down (opinions)
• One, Two, Three (prioritizing)
• Where Do I Stand?  (choice)
• Put Yourself On the Line (opinion)

Tribes is a way of looking at all learning with different emphases – on inclusion, reflection and appreciation.