MARINA'S COMMENTS - COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Hello to everyone! I'm Marina. Here I want to put my comments about Cooperative Learning's project. I think that all of groups have done a good job, so, in my opinion, they deserve a celebration!!!

MUSICAL CHAIRS

Musical Chairs was the first group to present the work. Being the first, in my opinion, they had more difficulty than the next groups as they couldn’t be guided by other presentations and also they felt more nerves.

This group began explaining the definition of cooperative learning and the characteristics and guidelines to carry out this type of work. What drew more intention of all characteristics that we said was the importance that they given to the teacher. They explained to us that the teacher roll was not just form groups at random, the teacher must meet all students and especially, be their guide.

Also, another thing that also found interesting were the ideas that Musical Chairs explained to us. They thought about the importance of welcoming all students equally, and above all, support them when they need help. To end the presentation, they explained the five cooperative learning techniques.

After exposing the theory, they gave a step to the practical part with the "Boxes’ Game". First, they formed groups randomly distributed and later we divided the boxes and they assigned country to each of the groups. The game consists on decorate the box with information about the country. In my group, we had to do Kenya, so we stuck around the box images of the most typical things that have there. Later, we had to present each country to all of our partners.

AMIGOS DEL FOOTBALL

Amigos del Football was the second group to present their work. This group was characterized to include many new ideas in their presentation.

First, they started with an index in which we had all the points they would process. The first was the rules to get a good cooperative work. In the second point of their work they explained the definition of cooperative learning and, in my opinion, they did with a very original way, because we didn’t give a specific definition, but we explained through advantages and difficulties. After this, we explained the three different ways to form teams and their internal organization, which highlighted the work notebook.

In addition to all these points, including two more at the end, which I seemed the most interesting. In one of them we explained the importance of reward or celebration that students should have after doing a good job. And to finish the project, they did it with a conclusion, in which we said that before making working groups, teachers must know how.

Finally, they did their activity called "La Diana". This consist to answer four questions about our likes. The purpose of the game was to meet and present ourselves to others. This game is also useful when a new student comes to class.

TEAM PEARK

The third group was Team Park, which is characterized by making a very personal statement.

They began explaining all the points they would process. In the first one they gave us tips to make a good cooperative work. On the second point, they explained their personal criteria to create groups, which based on the students’s level (high, medium, low). After this, they talked about the way that they would use them to distribute the classroom. This point was very interesting, because all the pictures that they shown were made by them in a school in Alcalá. Also, they explained us two types of rules: the class and group. After exposing the techniques, they talked the importance of the roles of each component of the groups and that these should be rotating, for example, that all the people in each group had to pass through each roll.

To end the theoretical part, they did with a topic that also found very interesting. This was the assessment of the work, which they divided into three evaluations: coevolution, self-evaluation and evaluation of the teacher.

On the other hand, the activity that they did, was to put us in a circle with our team and we had to pass a ball while we remembered the rules that the Team Peark exposed us. This game did in a determinate time, and when the time come to zero, the person of the group that have the ball should go to the blackboard and write the rules that had said each group. The goal was remembering the rules so they could value our care level.

CRÓNICAS VIAJERAS

Crónicas Viajeras was the fourth group to present their work. I seemed a very original work because all the points that they treated, they related all of them with travels, as the name of their group indicates.

They began their project like everyone else, this means, defining cooperative learning. Then they explained us the types of groups, especially two of them: base equipment and sporadic teams. In the third point they talked the rules to make a good cooperative work, but all of them, they related to the standards that must be met on a trip. For example, they classified the rules on two different topics: the things that we have to carry in the travel and the things that we should allow at home.

We also explained the team notebook, which included something new: the curriculum and the opinions of the components and finally, they explained two techniques: Jigsaw and Peer-Tutoring.

"Bag Pack" was the name of the final activity. This game consists on present to others the significant of our object. But first, we had to present each object to our group’s components, and then, we have to present the object of our partner. With this activity we could know better, especially curious things that we didn’t know before.

MODERN STUDENT

The fifth group to present the work was Modern Students.

This group followed the same structure as above groups, this means that they began defining cooperative learning and they finished with the techniques. But also telling us about the common points, they added new things that I seemed so interesting. One of theses things was the importance of developing skills like trust- building, leadership, decision-making, communication and conflict management. The other new idea was tips for the teacher and I thought that this advises will be useful for the future.

The only thing that I think that they should improve is the coordination when they explain the project because it seemed that each one had prepared one part of the work.

Finally, they presented their activity, which consists on that they hit us on the forehead a sticker of a certain colour and we had to find people who have the sticker the same colour as ours. The difficulty of this game was that we didn’t know the colour of the sticker that had because they putt he sticker while my eyes were closed.

DUMBLEDORE TEACHER’S ARMY

The sixth group to present was Teacher Dumbledore's Army. This group liked a lot because they made a very personal presentation, but also I surprised their PowerPoint edition because they imitated the Harry Potter’s newspaper.

This group, like others, told us about the basics topics of cooperative learning, but as I said before they did under their point of view. For example, they changed the names of the teams and also changed some techniques. On the other hand, they included a new topic: the benefits that we obtained with the cooperative work.

In general, the presentation was very good. The only thing that I think that they should improve the way to explain the concepts because some of these I didn't understand.

To finish their work, they made the final activity, which consists on make an interview to the partner and the partner have to do the same. This interview contained questions about your interests, hobbies, etc. After answering all of questions, we had to present our partner to all the class.

WANDERLUST

Wanderlust was the last group to present the work of cooperative learning. Although the bar was very high with the projects that other groups have presented before, so for me it was one of the best exposition that I saw.

Their form to present all point were in a very original way, because while we explain the types of the group, rules and methods of cooperative work, they put a video with drawings made by them simulating a comic. This method reminded me of Ken Robinson videos. Also, another thing that seemed me interesting was the way to explain some aspects of cooperative learning through proverbs.

After the theoretical part, they gave way to the practice. As was the last game of all, it based on make a small summary of what we learned about this work. They formed groups. They distributed one paper to each person and we had to put the most important ideas for us of cooperative learning.

The objective of this game seemed me perfect to end this work because after putting our three ideas, we had to share them, so we could hear different opinions about cooperative learning.