by Jolanta Maria Nitoslawska-Romer, M.Ed.
International Director of Academic Affairs, BE+Live
Have you been somewhat frustrated these past moths as regards group work? We all know that working collaboratively usually gives better results than students working alone all the time. (Yes, they do need some personal work time, to figure things out by themselves and not always rely on others.) But how best to do this when kids are working alone from home? And when they do work together, do you really know who is doing the work? How can you really ensure that students are not falling behind or relying on their friends’ work to get things done?
Well… you may want to begin by setting up a learning community within your classroom where trust and honesty can prevail. Think about a classroom where students feel comfortable asking for help and giving it to others when needed. That’s all easier said than done because a learning community is just another word for a positive classroom environment where all students feel welcome and engage in meaningful learning. Isn’t that what we all want?
As you think about creating this learning community, here are some activities to help you begin. These activities will help you get to know your students better. Your students will also get to know each other better as well. You will also be able to figure out how united your group is and discover some of your students’ abilities, needs, fears, and joys. We do recommend that for distance learning, you use an e-learning platform that allows all students to see and hear each other. It should also allow you to “send” them into smaller “private rooms” for small group discussions.
Activity 1- “I’ve never done this!”
Each student gets 10 points. (draws 10 stars or balls or checks on a piece of paper) You give students a few minutes to think about several things that they have never done but think that others, their age, might have done. They need to write them down. Then, in round-robin fashion, each student reads one thing they have never done. If others have done it, they cross out one of their checks. If a student has not done it, they don’t do anything. The teacher (or the class) decides if some share or not. Go round the whole class to see who has most points, or who has no points left. You can request oral or written personal or group reflections.
Activity 2 – “I am a ….”
Excellent for the First Day of School! Each student has to introduce themselves to the rest of the class as an animal, describing themselves by pointing out the animal’s characteristics as they apply to that student. You can provide some Sentence Frames or Lexical Chunks* for younger or more basic students.
Activity 3 – “Weird Things for Sale”
The class or the teacher comes up with a list of absurd or weird items that could be or have tried to be on sale. Think of, for example, a comb for bald people, or a bib for a giraffe, or finger socks, or no-tear toilet paper. Each student picks an item and then has to try to convince the rest of the class to buy it. The teacher develops a scale (to judge how well each student pitched their item: 1 terrible, 2 OK, 3 good, 4 fabulous). Be sure to judge the sales pitch and not how well you like or don’t like the item! Use a polling app to get a score for each presentation, and it may be anonymous. Have fun!
Activity 4. “BE Mindful”
If you have the BE+Live program, get some ideas from the BE Mindful section. For example, in Gr 4, one of the tracks is called “Getting angry is completely normal”. You will be presenting this to the class in Session 4, but now, at the beginning of the year, you can adapt some ideas from this lesson plan to open up a sharing or discussion session. Sometimes this may be easier in small breakout groups than in a large classroom setting. Organize your small groups carefully for maximum effectiveness.
As usual, let us know if these tips are useful and helpful for you. Don’t forget to contact us if you have other suggestions or concerns. Be well and stay safe!
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