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Weekly Tribes 2013 Round Table I-Messages

It is always a good time to review or practice I-Messages!

Here is a challenge…but don’t worry, 1st graders can do this!  (Again, the older students might have the challenge, as the I-messages develop in complexity.)

Use a strategy like ‘think fast’ to keep it moving (see previous Weekly Tribes). Have students in a community circle to model for the first few times, then you can break into smaller circles

When the starting person is chosen, give a scenario, like ‘you are standing on the playground and your friend walks up to you and punches you in the arm for no reason!’

The starting person says, “I”.  The next person can say “feel”, the next says “upset”, the next says, “and’… The message is now “I feel upset and…”

Continue until a complete I-message has been formulated.

This is not so easy!  The longer the sentence, and the more detail, the more uncertainly and critical thinking.

It may go a bit slow at first, but students will catch on quickly.  Be creative in your ‘scenarios’ as well!

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