About the class

Welcome to Ms. Sokugawa’s classroom.  My classroom is built on the Tribes Learning Model (TLC) that creates a safe and inclusive environment to encourage and enhance learning in each student.  Through Tribes, students gain skills so that they can work collaboratively with others in a respectful and caring environment to reach a particular goal, resulting in knowledgeable, accountable, and responsible individuals.   

Division 22 follow the Tribes Agreements in our classroom, and around the school, to help them “Care for ourselves, care for others, and care for the community”.  The points of the Tribes Agreements include the following.  Our Tribes Agreements are posted up on classroom wall so that the students can refer to them at any time. We all signed it to show how we will be kind to ourselves and to others. 

1.Attentive Listening   

This means that everyone listens with their ears, eyes, and heart.  When we are listening attentively, there is only one speaker at a time, and everyone is looking at the speaker and listening carefully to what is being said.     

2.Mutual Respect 

This means that everyone treats others the way they want to be treated.     

3.Appreciations/No Put Downs   

This means that everyone has a right to feel safe in their learning environment without having to hear hurtful words. This includes words that they used about themselves.

4.  Right to Pass/Right to Participate   

This means that everyone needs to make good choices by thinking of what the repercussions for their actions are before doing them.  No one can make a person learn, or do anything, as that is up to the individual to decide.  However, everyone else has the right to learn with minimal disruptions from others.     

5.Personal Best   

This means that everyone needs to try their best in everything they do by giving their best effort, aiming to learn what is being taught, and not looking for just the perfect score. I also remind them “Don’t stop until you’re proud”. It is listed on my “Quotes” page.   

This picture below is a picture of the ideas the students thought of when I asked them to think about what makes a safe and happy classroom.   

The Tribles help to share how we are feeling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) during our community circle. 

This is what good listeners look like.

TAPS 

TAPS (Talking About Personal Space): In our class and school, we need to maintain personal space. Going left to right shows the appropriate level of touch. We should always remember to keep our hands and feet to ourselves (“No touch”), but sometimes we give a friendly touch or invade someone’s space accidentally. As we go further to the right, the touches become less appropriate in a class and school setting. 

I Messages 

Using proper “I messages” eliminates judgement by not incorporating the word ‘you’ in the statement. It should sound like, “Please stop. I don’t like it when I get ___.” It takes practice to be able to say these statements.