Tribes

In response to Mrs. Stevens Blog, I did some research on the classroom management system of tribes. Tribes includes four main points including: active listening, no put downs, mutual respect, and freedom to pass. Tribes provides a safe and fun learning environment for students. Students work harder in this system and take responsibility in their own learning as well as the learning of their peers. I like the idea of tribes and would love to have a classroom that has a similar management system.

Tribes would work in my site school classroom and it would benefit from the system. The seventh grade math classroom that I am in is consistently in table groups and the groups would transform into a new learning environment. Tribes provides a safe environment for students to take risks and ask questions. Society today is so test focused and grade focus, that students fear making mistakes which hinders learning rather than enhance learning. Using tribes in my site school, students would find and defend their answer and their thought process. Students would learn the concepts instead of simply finding an answer. Tribes would open the door to elevated understanding and mastery. For more information on tribes, click here.

In classroom management, I personally believe students must understand the level of care the teacher has for them in order for the student to work hard for the teacher. I strongly feel student and teacher bond has a large role in the learning process. Students understand the effort a teacher is putting into his or her job, and they are more motivated when more effort is given. Character education is a big deal for me because I want all of my students to become the best version of themselves and teaching them information isn't the whole point of teaching, but helping students grow up into responsible and good citizens. Character education should be intertwined with subject education. Students that are respectful and responsible will do as they are told when they are told. Character education is vital for a well managed classroom. If character is not a priority in the classroom, students will act poorly and the environment will not be a healthy learning environment.

Smore

My web tool is Smore. Click here to go directly to the Smore website. Smore is similar to blogger in the aspect that it displays information in a form similar to a flyer. Smore does not have a mobile APP, but it can easily be used on computers on our school network.

Below is an example flyer I made on Smore.

There are upgrades that cost money that allow custom backgrounds, more flyers per month, high quality photos, and no more branding. The costs increase the more features you get. There is a discounted version for educators. When you make an account, you can make 5 free flyers. After 5, you have to upgrade or pay a small fee to get more credits to make flyers. There are 3 paid versions, level one is $19/month, level two is $49/month, and level three is $99/month.

With Smore, you can share your flyer through social media, email, and Pintrest. After sharing it, you can go to your account and see the views it has gotten, as well as, what people are doing and clicking on your flyer.

When forming an account, the website does not ask for an age or parent permission, so I do not believe there are any.

In my site school classroom, if the students could make a flyer containing step for solving a math problem, characteristics of shapes, any vocabulary term, and endless other possibilities. I would definitely use this in my high school classes for a research assignment or for any presentation. It gives you the ability to organize information in a neat and entertaining way.

Any subject can use Smore flyers, although a history and reading class would be more common to use it. Any research activity or presentation would best lend themselves to this tool. My mentor teach does not use this tool in the classroom simply because time does not permit. This year, the students are having to learn two grades worth of math, so she dos not have time to assign projects.

Here are some examples that students made for a school assignment. The picture to the right is a history project explaining the 1920's. And the picture to the left is an example of a science project explaining the states of matter.