TeachCommunity > SEL > self-awareness > Weekly Tribes – What’s In My Name

Weekly Tribes – What’s In My Name

This is good for starting the first week of school, as well as returning from a school vacation, and always good for content.  Combine the strategies of “what’s in my name” and “bubble letters”.

Invite students to write a name poem – you can incorporate language mechanics, conventions, standards, etc. to make it more than just simple inclusion, if you like….

K – Kind of likes vegetables

A – Always tries, ardently, to sleep in a few more minutes (add an adverb)

T – Tries to tell the truth, totally (alliterative)

E – Every time I can, I pick up litter; I don’t touch gross stuff. (use a semicolon)

Then, invite students to create the bubble letter cut-out of their names.  On this, they can draw, or otherwise visually represent their interests, accomplishments, goals, dreams, etc.

Put the two together and you have a linguistic, visual, intra-personal representation of each student to display.

The strategy is about giving qualifiers/descriptions/information for each letter of a “name”. Certainly, it is most easily done with one’s own name. But you can step it up, and even use it for authentic assessment with these simple variations:

>Use a name that belongs to someone else…to write statements of appreciation to one another
>The “name” could be from a story or history or science…
>Use vocabulary words or concepts for authentic assessment of understanding
>Use the information from “What’s in a Name” to expand into a persuasive or narrative writing exercise
>Have the whole activity done in groups, rather than individually, to allow for more creativity, information, elaboration

Reflect on learning, thinking, participation, behavior, and feelings

 Print Print