A Good Learning Experience

It was great to have the entire group present today at Bancroft for our public achievement session. Our group is all guys, me, Jyree, Michael and Pat. Since they are all friends they decided to pick the same topic in hopes of being in the same group, and it worked out. I find this interesting for our group dynamic. It made me question whether or not to do as many getting to know you activities but I figured to proceed since I still needed to share a little about myself.

Our group felt a liitle chaotic and the students seemed a little confused at first. I had a ton of activities for us to do in our group today, I didn't want to have extra time. We had the personal inventory partner activity, the koosh game, folder decorating, time line activity, logo design, cooperative roles to talk about and a debriefing to do. I didn't think we'd get to everything but theres nothing wrong with having too many activities. I realized today that I need to work on my management skills. I think structure is important to be sucessful in a group setting and I need to supply that element for our group.

We still had a good group meeting and I think it was a sucessful day. I provided each member with a folder and markers including myself and we designed them for some where around 10 minutes. I wanted to give them the freedom to decorate their folders however they wanted. Thinking back I should have provided some prompting questions on what to draw or think about while decorating their folder. It seemed like an incomplete activity on my part.

I provided a timer for our group and Jyree picked it up and asked "can I set it?" I thought this was a good opportunity to talk about co-operative roles. We all circled roles that we found important to us and designated them for the day. Michael was data keeper and messenger, Jyree was the task master and Patrick wanted to be the reader and reporter. Looking back it would have been more effective if I would have included myself and started with a shorter list of options. For instance it was nice to have Michael as the messenger, who collects and returns materials, but there was not a need for Michael today as a data keeper and I should be aware of that.

Our personal inventory activity was successful. We split into groups of two and interviewed the other person that we were paired with.  We asked the questions "What do you like to learn about?, What are your skills and talents?, What things would you like to see change? In your life? In the world?"
I found this to be a good getting to know you activity even for kids who already know each other. It gave them the opportunity to share a little more than they maybe would in a larger group setting. We went around and read what we learned about the group member we interviewed.

I feel pretty good about what happened in our group today. I made some mistakes but that's bound to happen. I should work on being  more organized. I learned that I'm more comfortable in a one to one tutoring session than I am in a group scenario. I assumed things about the intellect of a fifth grader that I shouldn't have. I worked with Pat on our personal inventory. I explained some of my interests, food, education and sports and then I interviewed him. I was shocked by Pat when he told me " I am interested in world and cultural history, scientific names and methods", it made me wonder why I was shocked by his answers and why I simplified my answers. I still have a lot to learn about connecting with fifth graders and being a good coach.