Intergenerational Model: Tribes

Who are the Learners?

Learners in grades 3-5 (Sundays only) participate in Tribes. They are divided into tribes based on questionnaires their parents answer at the beginning of each school year. The questionnaire helps the educators to group learners with shared values and interests. Once a child is in a tribe, he or she continues in that tribe from year to year.

Learners also include teens who serve as tribal chiefs and their assistants.

Who are the Educators/Learning Facilitators?

Four A-TEEMers (members of the teen internship group at Emanu-El, Assistant Temple Emanu – El Madrichim) serve as tribal chiefs, with junior A-TEEMers (younger teens) serving as assistants. Teachers serve as tribal elders; they participate in Tribes and support the tribal chiefs.

When does the Learning Happen?

Tribes meet weekly Sundays for about 25 minutes. Tribes also meet for extended periods at various points throughout the year, including Tribal Kick-Off, Tribal Sorting, The Great Dreidel Spin-Off, and Passover.

The Tribes coordinator meets with the teen leaders (tribal chiefs) each week to help the teens plan out the next tribal meetings.

Where does the Learning Happen?

Mainly in the Temple.

What is the Learning? How is it Designed?

Learners in grades 3-5 are divided into tribes, led by tribal chiefs (members of the A-TEEM). Tribes meet weekly during religious school hours to participate in a series of content-rich rituals and etgar (challenge) activities. Rituals – welcome and goodbye – frame the learning each week and help build a unique tribal identity. Etgar activities aim to strengthen relationships and provide experiential learning opportunities for tribe members. The curriculum is framed around various themes. For example, in 2012-2013, the Tribes curriculum was centered around Pirkei Avot 4:1 – Who is wise? Who is strong? Who is rich? Each of those 3 themes made up one unit over the year.

What were You Trying to Achieve with this Model?

The congregation was looking for meaningful opportunities for teen madrichim (counselors). They thought that Sundays when teens might be available, would be a good time to engage the teens. They were also hoping to take advantage of more school hours on Sunday, compared to weekday afternoons, to experiment with building something that was more camp-like, and to explore different modalities of learning. In addition, they wanted to promote community-building within the congregation.

Key First Steps and Recruitment Plan:

An action plan was put into place by the education team. Parents received emails and flyers about the new model. Since Tribes is integrated into the full model, no additional recruitment is necessary to engage elementary school learners.

The teens are all part of the A–TEEM (Assistant Temple Emanu – EL Madrichim) that is billed as a religious school internship program.

Parent communication is frequent. Parents are consulted to help sort the children into tribes (based on a questionnaire about their child) and received surveys to help assess the Tribes model. Teachers were also encouraged to mention Tribes in their emails home.

Role of governance and Clergy:

A rabbi serves on the education team. The clergy have also participated in some of the Tribes activities.

Budget:

The teens are part of the religious school internship program. They choose to receive $25/session or recognition for community service for their work as madrichim. The costs for Tribes fall under the school’s general budget – tribal elder meetings go under the staff development budget. At the end of the year, costs for color war require some additional funding.

Hiring Needs:

No additional employees or educators were brought on to manage the Tribes component.

Tribal Chiefs: The oldest, most experienced teens were asked to do this. The number of qualified teens limits the number of tribes. Ideal teen madrichim (tribal chiefs) are responsible, open to feedback, and excited to be role models for younger children.

Relationship of Model to Congregational Learning System:

Tribes is a model that occurs within a more traditional learning model. All learners in grades 3-5 participate in this model each Sunday.

How Do You Describe Your Congregation?

Temple Emanu-El is a Classical Reform congregation. There are approximately 3500 family units (200 families are in the religious school) with 3 rabbis and 1 cantor. The Department of Lifelong Learning has 5 full-time staff.