Comments on group presentations of cooperative learning - Melike Cetin

„Musical Chairs“

The “Musical Chairs” was the first group who presented their work on cooperative learning. I liked the way the presented. It was like a poster or a guide and it was very good structured had a common thread. I also liked their activity. I’ve learnt a lot of new things about the presented countries by the students. It is also a good opportunity to get the students active. What I liked in this group was the dynamic between each group member. Maybe some ideas to improve are a better pronunciation of some words and a clear and louder speak. 

“Team Perk”

Team Perk had use a power point to explain their ideas about cooperative learning. For this, they used pictures for the explanation and I think it is a good idea because sometimes you can remember things better if they are connected to an image. The activity was connected to the things they talked about in their presentation, especially the rules. It was funny to pass the ball in the class because it also gives a chance to get active.

“Crónicas viajeras”

What I liked here is that there activity was related to their group name. They took us to a travel and tried to explain their ideas about cooperative learning like you are on a journey. The best thing was the connection between the way they presented the theoretical part with the activity. It was funny to see what kind of memories you connect with just one thing from your travel.

“Unknowns”

What I liked about this presentation was the presentation form with Prezi and the layout of its. The students talked to the course and they talked free and fluently. I also liked the activity because it was in a big group and we all had fun together. Maybe a disadvantage here was that not everybody had the chance to say something because of the big group. But if you do this in class, you will have smaller groups. What I’ve learnt by this presentation is the reflection of all steps you did to make it better at another time. That was for me the most important insight.

“Dumbledore teacher’s army”

What I’ve learnt at this presentation is the importance of the face-to-face interaction between the group members over the whole work. The group presented things we didn’t talk about before, for example the individual accountability which is an important requirement to work in cooperative learning methods. I liked the layout of the presentation because it was based on Harry Potter.

“Modern Students”

What I liked at most in this presentation were the posters the group made. They summed up the important things and explained it well. Also they explained new things like the benefits from cooperative learning. What I liked at most were the tips for the teacher. I think this is really important because a class will never lead by its own without a teacher. I also liked the activity. You had to find your group members with the same color but without speaking to them. It was really entertaining.

“Wanderlust”

So the last group was “Wanderlust”. I liked that they presented their content through video. The visual effects motivated people to listen to them. The activity was good. It was kind of a summary. You had to write things you have learnt about cooperative learning. I think this was a good conclusion for all these presentation! 

COMMENTS OF THE WORKS ABOUT COOPERATIVE LEARNING (SANDRA FERNÁNDEZ)

Hi! I'm Sandra and I'm going to talk about the presentations about cooperative learning.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

This group was the first to start with the presentation about cooperative learning. They did their presentation like a poster or a guide. I think that this was a good idea to explain the things about cooperative learning becasue I think that it was very clear and a person who don´t know anything about cooperative learning with this guide I think that could understand a lot of things.

They talk about the different techniques and the different groups in which we can divided the children in a class. I remember that they talk a lot about the importance of be respectful with the others. I think that they did a good work, they answered well to the teachers’ questions, and explain the things very good. Also they mentioned that the function of the teacher in this type of works is like a guide and then they talk a lot of too about the importance that have the individual work to achive a common goal in the group.

At the end, they did their activity. The gave us a box to each group with a different country. The gave us some photos about different things in each country, we had to decorate the box, searching for information about the country, drawing, writting etc. Then we had to presentated the country that we had to the other classmates. I think that with this activity we could know more things about different countries and we work with our group to search information and decide what things we put in our box and what things not.

TEAM PERK

This group I think that made an excellent presentation. They talk about a lot of things about cooperative learning but the thing that I liked more was when they saw us different photos of organization in a class that they took in a school. I think that the idea of make a sheet evaluation was a good point too and was interesting because any group had made yet.

I think that the presentation was very fluent and they know about the things that they were talking about. They introduced that there are some rules that are for the group and other rules that are more individual but they don’t explain it because in the final activity we would to talk about this rules. Other thing that I remember about this group is that they talk about the importance of that all students are winners and there aren’t losers. In a TGT there are different winners and different awards for example: a prize for the child who have resolved more questions, an other prize for the child who have said the most creative answer etc.

To end they did an activity that was very funny. In groups we had a ball and we pass the ball to an other member of our group and the person who had the ball had to say a rule that we have to follow to work in a good way in class. Then a person of each group went to the blackboard and wrote the rules that he or she remembered. Then we said if they were rules group or individual. This activity I think that was interesting because we were playing but at the same time we were learning different rules.

CRÓNICAS VIAJERAS

I liked so much the presentation of this group. They did a presentation that was focused on a trip, I mean, they talk about cooperative learning but telling us an history. We are going to go to a trip and we need to bring a suitcase with different things. This things are for example: the different groups that we can make in a class, techniques etc. I like this type of “metaphor” that was related with the name of the group.

I think that their presentation was very clear, with a good power point. They explained vey well the main ideas, they talked about rules, they gave us a definition of cooperative learning etc.

But without any doubt, what I liked most about this group was their activity. The activity was called: the suitcase. We had to take to class something that we keep of a trip and that was important to us. In our group we discussed what we had brought and then chose a person to explain the things that had brought someone else in your group. I think this activity is very good to know more of our classmates and also learn to listen to others when they are telling us what they have brought , why they have brought that, etc.

UNKNOWNS

This group did a presentation with a prezi. I liked the format that they chose. I remember that this group explained an excellent thing that was the importance about the different roles and that is very important that this roles need to be rotating. An other thing that I have learnt is that the teacher is like a guide and he/she try to guide their pupils in each rol.

They explained the difference between 2 differents techniques: TAI and jigsaw. They introduce an other thing that any group talked before: they talked about the importance of having feedback at the end of each work.

At the end they explained their activity. Their activity was like the activity that the team perk did. We had to pass a ball, but in this time in a big circle with all the students. When we had the ball we had to say a thing that we like to do, something in which we are not really good etc. With this activity we participated with all our classmates and in the same time we was knowing more about they.

DUMBLEDORE TEACHER’S ARMY

This group is based on Harry Potter and the style of their power point was related with their name. They make like pages of the newspaper that appears in this film. Although was very original, for me I think that there is a lot of images from the film in each slide and sometimes was a little bit laden. About the theory that they talk I think that they made different tan the others groups because they talk about more things and not only the things that appears in the text.

One thing that I liked is when they talk about the importance of have a face to face interaction for at least part of the work. They talk about new structures like: peer lead team learning, laboratorios and projects etc. However, I think that they wasn’t very prepared because sometimes I couldn’t understand nothing and sometiomes they had to explain in Spanish, so there are things that I haven’t got very clear.

Finally, the did their activity that was in pairs. We had to made an interview, they gave us some questions. When we finished they chose a pair and they had to go to the blackboard and introduce their partner. I think that this was a good activity to know an other person better.

MODERN STUDENTS

This group I really liked it because they did like a poster with the main ideas and it was all very clear. The theory was more or less the same in all groups but they also introduced new things. They talk about tips for teachers and I liked this so much. There are differents tips like: promoting positive interdependence, help students to develop teamwork skills, talking about group problems etc. 

Then they talk also about the difficulties of the cooperative learning because cooperative learning like all the things, have difficulties too. The other thing that they mentioned was the importance that have to trust other members in the group.

However, what I liked most about this group was the final activity . We were everyone in a circle with our eyes closed, they were going to stick a sticker from one colour to each one. Then we had to find people with our same colour but we couldn’t speak. In this activity we can see the difference between cooperative and competitive, I mean, there were people who didn’t help others because they only wanted find to their group, however there are other people that worked in a cooperative way because they tried to find their group but at the same time they helped others.

WANDERLUST

This was the last group but certainly not the least important. I loved this presentation because they were very original. They presented the theory trough of videos. They were recorded explaining the different groups that can be done in class, different techniques etc. I think this is something very visual and very entertaining and I think that when we teach children this can be a good idea because they will always cater more to a video than a lecture, so congratulations.

Finally, they made their activity was like a little test. We were put in groups that made bringing a paper with a number that could be 1,2,3, we joined our group. We had to write down what we had learned of cooperative learning things and then we had put ideas with everyone in our group. This activity was a little boring but it was fine for did a review

Comments about Cooperative Learning Projects-SEVİNÇ ÇİSEM YÜKSEL

Hello! I’m Çisem. I want to say that each group worked hard and did a great job. Congratulations to all of us! Here you have my comments about all groups. 

Musical Chairs

I think as a first group to present their work, Musical Chairs did a great job. Because there were no clear ideas in our minds about how to present or how to do the activity. But they were very good. They spoke fluently and explained the theory with their own words and this is very important because cooperative learning is about working with all different types of learners and this means that even if the theory is the same for all of us, our interpretations are all different from each others.

The activity was the best activity ever done. It was both informative and entertaining. And also  they arranged new groups different from our base teams. So we had a chance to work with another people.

In general, I really liked that group. The presentation was good, the activity was fantastic and the relationship between group members was also really good. Congratulations Musical Chairs, you did your best!!

Team Perk

I think the best thing about their presentation was that they divided the general rules into 2 categories: the classroom rules and the group rules. That was a new information and it was really good because even if we obey the general classroom rules, we also have some responsibilities within our own groups. Team Perk did this discrimination very clear and I liked that . They used some pictures for teaching how to organize our classroom equipments in order to get the best performance from cooperative learning. I think visual materials are always better than the written ones. So it was very good using that kind of materials rather than just talking about that or showing the written criteria for this.

The activity was about finding some rules both for the classroom and the groups. We did it with a tennis ball. The last person holding the ball from all groups, wrote down 2-3 rules on the board and then we discussed them together. It was good to learn new rules and discuss the function of any rules. But I didn’t find the activity cooperative, it was more like an individual game.  

In general, they were good. Congratulations Team Perk, you did your best!!

Cronicas Viajeras 

Their presentation was good. They presented it in an entertaining way. They supported their ideas with so many different examples and this strengthened the meaning of both the techniques and the cooperative learning.

The activity was good. It was related to their group name. We were supposed to bring something from our travels. I didn’t know that we had to bring something so I didn’t participate this activity but it was really interesting to hear the others’ memories related to these things and it helped us to know each other better because with the help of this activity, we learned who went to where or who gives value to what.

In general, they were good. Congratulations Cronicas Viajeras, you did your best!!

The Unknowns

First of all, I should say that their group name is fantastic. I really like that name. Because it shows that whether we have something in common or not, we can be a group and study together. And the gist of the cooperative learning is that.

And about their presentation, they were really good. The format of it was very interesting and creative. They took some quotes from some celebrities. This was an excellent idea. I really love quote while I’m speaking or writing. They mentioned about 10 rules to produce a good work. That was a new information. The best part of it was the ‘acception the majority’s decision’ rule. It is very important when you are in an heterogeneous group in order to get rid of conflicts. And also they informed us about the rules of preparing team plans. This was also the new information and it was very important so it was good to see them in the presentation to make them clear.

The activity was good. We made a big circle including all the students in the class. We said something about ourselves and threw the ball to another person. It was very good to know the others better.

In general they were very good. Congratulations The Unknowns, you did your best!!

Dumbledore’s Teachers Army

The style of the presentation was very good and related to their group name. And also I really like their group name also because I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter. They gave us many new information. So the presentation was very informative for me. They talked about some rules of cooperative learning process like ‘there should be a face-to-face interaction, individual accountability and we should promoting positive interdependence’. They were the main rules of cooperative learning and it was really good to see them. And also they teached a new technique called ‘problem sets’. It was like a support team to motivate the students.

The activity was good. It was a pair-work. We worked with another person apart from our base teams members. So it was good to meet somebody else and know her/him better.

In general they were very good. Congratulations Dumbledore’s Teachers Army. You did your best!!

Modern Students

Their presentation was very good in terms of new theoretical information. The best thing was that there were different skills which we should have in order to cope with the cooperative learning in a good way. They were: trust-building, leadership, decision making, communication and conflict management. They gave some tips for the teachers to reduce the possible problems. It is also very helpful for us if we want to use cooperative learning in our classrooms. They were well organized and the objectives&language were very clear.

The activity was entertaining and very appropriate for children. I think there wasn’t a clear objective of that activity but we had to cooperate with our colleagues to complete the activity. So it was good in terms of our focus. That was a sticker game.

In general they were very good. Congratulations Modern Students. You did your best!!

Wonderlust

There aren’t so many things to say about their presentation. They were perfect, the best among us. They worked hard and made a fantastic work. They supported the theory with videos, drawings and speeches. They talked about the techniques by using their own videos. They were funny and informative at the same time. They showed the progress of students who work with cooperative learning very well. That was very good and a new thing told in presentations. And also they gave us another new information about how to organize the tables.

The activity was good. They wanted us to write a kind of summary about what we’ve learnt so far both indivually and in the groups. That was a good idea because they are the last one of that project.

In general, they were fantastic and amazing. I really liked the way they present the work and the energy of them. Congratulations Modern Students. You’re the best!!

OUR WORK OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING.

Hello!

The first work that we've done is about cooperative learning which is a new method to work in the class. We've done a presentation by using power point to explain what we've learnt and the important things about how to implement cooperative learning in a good way in the class. 

We've learnt new techniques to work like: jigsaw, peer tutoring, teams-games tournaments etc. Also we've learnt that we have to be respectful and have to listen to the others' opinions and fulfill our responsibilities in order to produce a good group-work.

Finally, we've done an activity called "Diana". This activity is useful for the first class because the group members of each group don't know each other very well yet but with the help of this activity, they can get to know each other better by answering some questions about themselves.

To sum up, we've learnt that there aren't any losers in an activity which we do in the class with children, there are only winners. All children should be the winners even if their gains, behaviours and performances are different from each others. This is the thing that makes our learning proccess cooperative rather than competitive.

And also, we put some photos of the activity and at the end of the presentation, you can see the rules and the steps of it. We hope you like our presentation!

To see our presentation you need to click Here

And we put some photos about the activity.