1. TRAVELCHERS
What have I learned?
What have I learned?
Well, first of all, I have to say that I don't really like reviewing other people's presentations since everybody has its own weaknesses and strengths. However, it is usually good if those people are prepared to get better through constructive criticism.
While they were making their presentation, I wrote down a few things that caught my attention. The first one was how they divided the work. If they did it individually, maybe it wasn't equally distributed amongst all the team members, as for example, Vanessa had to organise everything and Javier had to search the information for the activity while María José just controlled the time, I wouldn't really call this Cooperative Learning, but just another group work. However, if they distributed their work, clearly stablished their roles and any of the team members could help the rest of the other ones with their role, I, personally, feel that it is okay and way better than distributing both roles and work individually.
The second thing that caught my attention was the way they first explained Cooperative Learning through the Lion King's Musical, as it is a perfect example and gives you a really good idea of what Cooperative Learning means. It shows this kind of learning in a different area, how it is necessary for everyone to interact with each other and how one's responsibility affect the others.
The third fact was that they took the objectives of the activity from the BOE, which I think that is a really good idea and our group hasn't though about it, we will probably change that.
Would I change anything in the activity?
About the activity, I think it was a really good idea, but it should've been carried out differently. I agree with the teacher when she said that they needed to establish clearer instructions. I also felt like the activity was too complex for the class (there wasn't someone in every team that put together the Lego pieces appropriately), and that maybe they should have improvised some kind of variation of their activity to make it easier (even more if it had been for real children).
2. FERNWEH
What have I learned?
I think that the Fernweh group can still make a better job. Their presentation was really good but somehow, in my own opinion, it wasn't deep enough. In order to improve this fact, I would suggest as the teacher did, more group meetings outside (and if it is hard to meet outside, maybe try using Skype) so that they get closer as a group and closer in knowing each other.
One thing that I found really interesting in their presentation was that they had really defined roles and, from my own experience, this is really important since there are some people, like me, who always try to do everything even if it is not their part in the work. Another one was, even though they had very defined roles, they were not afraid to ask for help and to rely on each other when it was necessary, that is a really important point.
Some other positive things about their work were that they provided each other feedback, they took decisions as a whole group and set their own goals with a periodical assessment just to make sure that everything they were doing was right.
Would I change anything in the activity?
I think that their activity was very nice. It involved a jigsaw methodology were we all had to come back to our base groups in order to teach the rest of the group about what we had learned in the expert groups. However, it was a bit chaotic since we did not know where to start looking for information, we did not realize about the web pages they suggested on the screen and when we were looking for the information in there (in my case it was about fish), we did not find the information we needed and that was a bit disappointing. Anyway, the other activity they made with the blanket was simply spectacular! I really liked that one, it was very simple but it really did show how cooperative learning must be.
3. LOS GOCHOS
What have I learned?
The presentation of this group was really interesting to me. I think that the comparisons between traditional learning vs cooperative learning, the competitive environment vs a cooperative environment, or the students' passive role vs the students' active role shows how education can be changed in order to construct knowledge in a completely different way.
I also found very interesting some of their goals, such as Umaima's which was to focus only on her own job as the same exact thing happens to me and I feel very related to that. Another thing that I really enjoyed was the video where a positive environment in class was shown through a song and a dance that both the teacher and the students would perform together, this really gives a sense of union in the class.
I also liked how they highlighted the importance of trust, as it is essential when it comes to cooperative learning to learn how to trust in the rest of the members of the group, and, the last thing, how they defined "teacher" (Trustworthy, empathetic, active, critical, helpful, empowering, responsible).
Would I change anything in the activity?
Their activity was based in the jigsaw methodology, and even though we were not able to experience it because we did not have time, I think that it would have been very nice as they prepared everything and every system (circulatory, respiratory, locomotor, excretory, digestive and reproductive) in a very detailed and fine way. I would have appreciated to have had more time since I think that it was one of the best activities of all the presentations.
4. OTHERSIDERS
What have I learned?
The first thing that called my attention was their Powerpoint's presentation, as it was a bit simple and plain and it also contained a lot of text which usually means that the group still needs a big guide in order to develop their presentation. Also the way in which they behaved during the presentation was not very appropriate since they were sitting on the desk or talking directly to the teacher instead of looking at the audience.
However, related to the content of the presentation, I think they did a very good job as they selected it very well and they also explained it clearly. I also really liked the video as I found it very creative and funny, it catches your attention and shows how to work cooperatively.
Would I change anything in the activity?
I think it was a challenging activity since they forced us to work in a cooperative way through the TGT methodology in order to answer as quickly as possible all the answers to get as many points as we could. However, they achieved the cooperative learning goal, which is to put in common our knowledge in order to learn from others. It was one of the nicest activities, very dynamic and interactive, very interesting to put it in practice with children.
5. EDUCATION LEAGUE
What have I learned?
First of all, I really liked the fact that all of them dressed up as superheroes since I know that Jose is very, very, very shy and, probably, the idea of wearing costumes helped him a lot in order to lose the fear of speaking in public and to feel a little less nervous, so very good for the group and specially for Jose! I also really enjoyed their PowerPoint presentation and the whole superhero thematic because it catches your attention and it is easier to learn things through this way.
All the members of the group knew everything about the topic and were ready to answer any question about it, somehow, it seemed to me that they still needed a bit of group organization as sometimes it felt like there was a bit of confussion or that, maybe, some of them wanted to explain everything.
Would I change anything in the activity?
I believe that their acrosport activity was quite interesting. I did not know anything about it before that class. However, they should have been more organized, maybe by putting some instructions or rules in order to follow them, or maybe some kind of steps. Overall, it was quite good.
0 comentarios:
Publicar un comentario