Last day of presentations about cooperative learning

Last Thursday we had two presentations in class the one was made by the group ‘’escuela de bocacion ‘’ and the other by our group ‘’futupasta’’ . In the last day that we have this subject (the guide for cooperative learning) we still learnt a lot of new information that we didn’t know before.

First of all ,the students of the group ‘’escuela de bocation’’  talked about the theory of multiple intelligences and how this theory is connected  with the cooperative learning. The connection is obvious but I never thought about this in this way before.  Like in the theory of multiple intelligences a lot of different intelligences are much better than one intelligence alone to solve any problem, in a similar way the ideas and the knowledge of one student will be much more improved if he/she  shared this ideas and listen to new ones by cooperating with other students. A lot and different perspectives work much better than one.

Another very important idea that was mentioned was the autonomy of the students. The autonomy of the children is an important factor than have to reach during their development and something that will affect their lives in general. Our children have to be autonomous to face the life and the society.  Education and we as teachers have to help our pupils in this area. By guidance and by helping our pupils to organize their works in groups we help them little every time to be intepended, responsible and to have no need from others to do their work for them.

The teachers role is not to give the answer to the pupils like it’s happening in traditional teaching but to guide them to teach them how to work for finding the answer by themselves and don’t have it ready for them. The teacher observe his\hers students, encourages the students have dialogue with them but don’t give them the knowledge ready, the teacher helps them reach this knowledge by themselves. Also a very important fact is that the evaluation is not only teacher’s job but also students.

In our presentation also threw the dialogue and the teacher’s help we also learned a lot. We have thought before that the method of games tournaments was competitive and didn’t fit a lot to the spirit of cooperative learning but know we found out that the example of this method is wrong and that the one price for the group with the most correct answers win is not a good way to encourage our students. The prices shouldn’t be first and second but prices for all for example ‘’the group that overcome the most problems’’. 

Thursday presentations about cooperative learning (Paloma)

                

This Thursday we finished all the cooperative learning presentations, my group did it the last and something that have really surprised me is that even while doing my presentation I was learning, as when we were talking about  the method Team Games Tournament we didn’t know that this method was bad-explained in the article so we explained it  like it was in the article, before we have already noticed that this game was pretty competitive and the teacher while doing the presentation explained us that the key of this game is that as a teacher you have to make as prizes as groups and those prizes are not the first or the second, those prizes are qualitative ones like ‘’The team which answer the questions more cooperatively’’, this is to say, the prizes rewards qualitatively instead of quantitative.

                In the ‘’Escuela de bocación’’´s presentation we learnt quite a lot too, they speak about the importance of the autonomy in cooperative learning, the team autonomy and each pupil autonomy, in cooperative learning the develop of the autonomy is essential because the teacher is giving the pupils too many responsibilities and they have to know how to handle it. Also, the teacher has to trust the pupils to give them responsibilities and the teacher has to give these responsibilities little by little, so they can get this autonomy, this is to say, the teacher has to be an scaffolding so first the students are learning to be autonomous with him or her but once they learnt it they are autonomous by themselves.

                One thing they talked and caught my attention was the multiple intelligences, for sure I have heard about them before but until this presentation I hadn’t made a connection between multiple intelligences and cooperative learning because one explains the other, one of the differences between students that cooperative learning thinks not like a difficulty but like an advantage is the multiple intelligences because as every kid learn in a different way we also have to take care of this and not focusing only in one kind of learning, taking care of the multiple intelligences would mean that everybody would have the same opportunities. Also this theory could take place in the TAI method because each pupil has its own task related to the way of her or his learning.

                They also talk about the method ‘’Group investigation’’, this method is about giving each team a subtopic for them to study and to present to the class, so once they have studied and develop it they make a presentation to the rest of the class of their subtopic. To make this method, the teacher has to develop with the team a plan of their work and established the tasks of each member and the objectives, once they have got all the information they will have to make a synthesis and then present it to the class, the assessment will be done with the teacher and the other students.

                This project about cooperative learning has allowed me to see personally and with concepts what cooperative learning was about, something I have realized is that all the presentation has enrich themselves with the others and finally the lasts presentations were pretty good because we have learnt from the others how to develop it. We have been able to go really deep in cooperative learning and know we are able to understand how it really works.

Second day of cooperative learning (Lucía)

The second day of presentations we saw three groups: The different, La Banda del Patio and Rigatoni’s Angels.

With their works we talked again about advantages and disadvantages of cooperative learning. We learnt that there are no disadvantages and difficulties, there are some reason which we have to teach children how to work in this way and all its benefits.

Another main point that they talked about was the rules in the classroom. It is so important to have them in a class, all the children have to realize that they have the same rights and they have to respect each other to work in a better way.

It is important too the way we organize to do our works, it is necessary to have some methods of meeting, doing it in person or by the media, for example with Skype. If we don’t meet we lost the meaning of cooperative learning, because although we have some roles in a work, I think that it is necessary to elaborate the work all together, because the goal is that all the members could understand and learn all the contents. I think that this is the philoshopy of collaborative work, to be able of be equal despite we were different or have some academic levels.

One of the methods of working in groups that they explained so well was the Jigsaw method. They put us a video of a stop motion which we could see some different groups represented with Haribo bears in a class by colors, they splitted to make the “expert groups” and transmit the information to their main teams.

Finally another thing that was interesting was the way of making base teams in class with the three method column. Although we had this information in our own presentation, it was helpful to see another point of view in other presentations of our classmates, because this method is very important to make children feel comfortable in class and to be efficient. 

SECOND DAY OF PRESENTATIONS – 3 GROUPS (SOFIA)

This day we have three presentations in the class. The groups that made their presentations were the differents , rigatoni’s angels and la banda del patio . From all the groups we learned new things and it was very interesting to me,to realize that each group of us emphasize in different thinks (beside the classic ones that we all had in our works) and for me it was very valuable to see a different way of work and thinking about the same subject from different groups and people.

The differents

I like a lot the first presentation and I think it was very interesting to have a debate in the class all together. The misunderstanding that took place was about the difficulties. The group didn’t put the word disadvantages in the work as we learned that we shouldn’t do in the last presentation, but the difficulties they put weren’t exactly difficulties but more things to be considered from the teacher before start to work with cooperative learning. For example the different academic level of the students can’t be considered as difficulty but as a good thing because that’s the point of cooperative learning not to work with people same as you ,to gain more. Also I like the sentence that the group use I think is very important to know how  to ‘’choose the right moment the right method’’ as a teacher for the best possible results. The right way to describe the atmosphere in the class is not a class of silence but a class that groups are whispering so they communicate in silence and don’t cause disorder. In my mind it became also more clear the peer tutoring method. It’s a session and the teacher organizes the work and make sure that the tutor- student knows the subject to have positive results.

La banda del patio

From the second presentation also I learned more things than before. The personal goals of the most of the members were to get over their shyness and express themselves in English . I understand them completely because it’s quite hard to make a presentation and even harder in another language but I think they did well. They are in a very good way to succeed in their goals and throught the way the subject works and organized in this aspect we will all get a lot of help in this area. I understand completely now that the teacher in cooperative learning is not the center of attention as it happens in the most of teaching methods but the students. It’s clearly a student-centered method and the most important thing is the participation of the students. Also we learned the role of jigsaw coordinator. A question that being put on the table was ‘’what we do if someone don’t work’’ and became clear the idea of evaluation.

Rigatoni’s angels

The last presentation was from rigatonis angels and it was also a very interesting one. The group explained very well the concept of based teams and the ways to create them –sociometric test –let the students choose –three Colum methods. The three columns method is the one we use in the class to create our groups so we have a very good example. The students and separated in three big groups each one in one corner of the class. The first group is the students that are more able to help the others, the second the students that need more help for social reasons or academic and the third is the rest of the class that they are in the middle. The ideal base team should have 1 person from the first column, 1 from the second and 2 from the third to succeed equality between groups. Also the inclusive philosophy of the class was a good mention that we as a group think is very important too. I really like the pictures that the group put in the presentation like the slogans that inspire the students to their work like post-its and table with the rules for working in groups that there are so different from the rules that exist in a regular classroom. At last the idea of web quest was mention again, an idea that I think is very useful nowadays that our pupils use the new technology so much and they need  webquest as a very good way to guide their learning.

Tuesday presentations about cooperative learning (Paloma)

This Tuesday three teams make their expositions: Rigatoni’s angels, La banda del patio and The different. I think every group made a big effort on their presentation and work really hard to get the best of their teams. Something I have realized is that as the presentation have been going we have been going deeper in our knowledge about cooperative learning because each group had something new to add.

                As teachers who support cooperative learning we have to show our students the philosophy of the inclusive classroom, this philosophy says that EVERY student has the right to learn and to be different, the roles of the class have to be focus on this philosophy for example: ‘’respecting other in its differences’’ or ‘’help the others in their work’’. Those rules can be also about the class system like respecting someone when he is talking, whispering instead of talking...

                Last day we also learn about how (as a teacher) to make the based teams, it could be done by a sociometric test but also we could use the ‘’Three columns method’’ in which you decide which kids have more needs (third column, this has to be a quarter of the class), those one’s who are a little more advanced and could impulse the based team (first column and another quarter of the class) and the second column the rest of the class. Finally, the based teams should have one person of the first and second column and another two from the second one, this way every based team would be heterogeneous and diverse so the learning would go deeper and the cooperative learning method would start working. The sociometric is a technique of analyzing data that studies who the social connections are established, so it reflects the influence level and the preference bonds, for example, it would be done with two kinds of questions the knowledge questions (With whom would you like to work in a math assignment?) and affective one’s (With whom do you prefer to go on a excursion?).

                Furthermore, we talked about the method jigsaw, in which each member of the team studies a subtopic, then he or she goes with the other members of other teams who have the same subtopic as him/her, the share the information they know about this subtopic make a synthesis and become in a experts team, once they have summarised everything and know what are going to explain to their mates they come back to their based team and explain the their colleagues her/his information, then the other ones do the same so everybody explains their subtopic and listen to the others’ subtopic.

                Some of these groups included the Webquest which is a new resource for the teachers to introduce the children to a new task; I have found it quite interesting because this new resource has some parts as an introduction, the explanation of the task, the process... which I think explains the task and its goals perfectly (as it has the evaluation based on descriptions). This page provides the students with the bibliography they should use in their task which allows covering the danger of getting the wrong information on the internet (which is very usual actually.).

                

Cooperative learning #3 (Nacho)

The group that starts today was "Escula de Bocación", and I think that in the time that they have and how they explain all the things was one of the betters. They are based on meet a lot for rewrite and review all, again and again, the help to the others, the cooperation and the cooperative learning.
They talk about the autonomy of the group like a quality, they talk about the teachers plan that its one of the most important things that we see and they show us, the teacher must to have a plan for the class or the sesion to explain all or to do what ever he/she wants and for the end they talk about Group of investigation that its something like Jigsaw, but in your own group, you don't need to go out of your group to explain something that the others don't know to other group that its not yours, you must be an expert ina subtopic inside your own group and tell to your partners and at the end be an expert in your own topic with the explanation of your partners and your in all topic.

Cooperative learning #2 (Nacho)

The group that starts today was "The Differents", they are base on the help, that each member are equal than the others, the confiance and the cooperative learning.
They explain the Ventages and de "Difficulties", but is not disventages like the other group was saying, they do it well, but they put a wrong difficulties like diferent academic level and something else like the motivation of the teacher.

The next group was "La banda del patio", they are based on the organization, that don't be shy in the group or in the presentation when they have to talk to the others or give their own opinion, and in the cooperative learning too.
They said, that they are going to reforce their own objetives if they can't rise to do it, that they must help to the others if they need it, or if they need help, say to the others and that they need help and not wait to the others ask you.

The last group was "Rigatonis angels", they are based on the three columns of the cooperative learning, the help to the others and the cooperative learning.
They show us their webquest like the first group, and the explain as they can the three columns, like the teacher choose about the based teams, how to do that well and don't have mistakes in the formation of the groups and a new thing that I didn't hear before that is "sociometric".

All of these groups talk about the method "Jigsaw", i think that its because we practise it in the other semester and its easier for us to explain it like a method with our practice. They talk about their Web quests. The rules in the classroom for work in base teams with cooperative learning. The philosophy of the group and the cooperative learning and at the end of the three columns of cooperative learning.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Here you have our presentation of cooperative learning!

PRESENTATION HERE

Cooperative learning by Rol Kids (Lucía)

The first group has been The Rol Kids, formed by Silvia, María López, Borja, Lidia and Cristina. First Borja introduced their team plan, their roles and the time that they had spent working. Later they started with cooperative learning contents. The first thing they said was advantages and disadvantages about it. Yolanda said that there are not disadvantages, in any case, we could say that there are difficulties or tasks which we have to take care about. I have never thought about it, but it is one of the most important things that we have to learn in cooperative learning.

I really like their presentation, I could understand all they said and I learned concepts that I did not have. The only thing is that in the part of web quest, I did not get it clear, and I think that not all of the members of the group understood it, so they transmitted it to me.

This has been the first presentation of the subject and I think that it has been useful to learn and improve our future presentations.

Cooperative learning - Rol kids (Sofia)

  The first presentation took place last Thursday and the first group was ‘’rol kids’’. The presentation lasted a lot of time (it took all the class time) for the reason that it was the first time a group made a presentation in the class with this new way of learning and a lot of things should be disgusted with the help of the teacher, for us to know how to work in our presentations. I found the presentation that my classmates did very interesting and I think they did a good job.

  They analyze the importance to work in a cooperative way in a group emphasizing the important factor that everyone can learn from each other. The main ideas were very clear and all the members knew the entire context and they could explain it in a very understandable way. That’s was the most important thing about our presentation in the first place. Also the members worked hard and have a lot of meetings together and they overcome the difficulties that they said they had at first. The mistake that the group did was that they write disadvantages instead of differences. I believe it was only a lesson for all of us to understand that difficulties don’t mean the same as disadvantages and have a very different meaning but is very easy to trick us.

  An impressive thing about the presentation was the webquest the group showed to us and I really like this idea. The presentation was very helpful for all of us and we learn more about cooperative learning throw the explanation of the group, the help of the teacher and threw the discussion that took place in class.

Rol kids presentation about cooperative learning (Nacho)

We started the class with the presentation of the group "Rol kids", they explain the cooperative learning as a group, they talk about: Cooperative, help to the others, good relationships, know about heterogeneity, integration, motivation, attitude.... and all of these things that they do at home and in class to make the work and how to explain it to us.

I learnt of their work that we must to planificate the time with a timetable, that we're in a diagonal structure in class because with this structure we can see to all the others and to the teacher. Cooperative learning haven't got disvantages and in a presentation we can't say things like this, because we agree with this method. I learnt that we are a group of investigation and all about a web quest.

Rol kids presentation about cooperative learning (Paloma)

    We have started the presentations about cooperative learning in class, the first presentation was of the group ''Rol kids'', they explained cooperative learning with a power point, the synthesis of their work was that working in a cooperative way increase the learning because you are learning from someone who is different so you learn more and also the metioned the importance of learning how to learn.They talked about the base of cooperative learning, based teams and its organization. They also included an example of a web quest which I think it has been pretty interesting and doing the web quest by their selves has been an incredible work. They talk about group investigation and peer tutoring, explain both methods pretty well and then they added a video that summed up everything about cooperative learning.

    Even though, I previously knew things about cooperative learning, I think I have learnt quite a lot, as I said before the idea of increasing the learning with the differences, the main parts of the webquest because I didn’t know that the webquest had parts and I think this information is quite useful and also I have learnt the difference between disadvantages and difficulties, they made this as a mistake but I think this is something that we all have had the wrong idea, so I see this mistake of the group as a way of making the whole class reflect about these two differences, so it was a mistake but one who has helped us.