Friday, August 10, 2007

Cooperation, not Competition

My focus during the first week of school has become to mold my students into the opposite of what they naturally are. Fifth graders are competitive. I refuse to spend the entire year battling this. So, during the first week we do all sorts of team building activities to start off on the right foot. (I'm not convinced it will work, but it seems worth a try.)
These feet are trying to figure out how to sort out their traffic jam. Watching ten year olds struggle with a problem is alternately hilarious and mind-numbing. I spend a lot of time biting my tongue to keep from telling them how to do it. Their joy upon finding a solution is astoundingly contagious. I'm not sure any real lessons will be taken from these activities, but I think they are worth our time.

1 comment:

Mister Teacher said...

That looks like an interesting exercise. Could you post a little bit more about the rules and expectations and what exactly is going on?