Incident of my first week

During the previous week, the school went through many changes. One of the changes was a different grouping style in all the classroom. Before the change the children were in 5 groups, two groups sit with the teachers while the other groups play freely in the corners. Now, they divided the children into three groups and each group have to sit on a table doing specific activities and swap to other tables. An Arabic table , an English literacy table  and the third table for craft or any activities. So the children have to sit during the circle time for about 15 minutes and then move to the 3 table and sit in each group for 15 minutes!!

The first two days of doing this method I felt that it could make the classroom more arranged and quiet but it was the opposite. The children were trying hard to sit in each table and do the activity but after they finish they start to be so active because they sit for too long.  

This incident took a place because it affects my teaching style negatively. I taught the first week using the same way the school asked the teacher to do. Using flash cards, white board and other stuff during the literacy group. I felt that I was not enjoying the lessons that I was teaching. Moreover, what is the most important thing the children were not having fun. Forcing children to move from one table to another without having any choice or free play made the children restless and a lot of miss behavior appeared. This incident create a negative climate in the school because not all the teachers agreed on this change which may affect their teaching as well.

 

As a trainee teacher I should have asked the teachers to teach the way that I believe and explained for them my point of view. If they did not except other ways of teaching, I should also try to integrate my teaching style and what I believe with any system.

From this I learned that the teacher should not do what she think it’s not beneficial for the students. I should do the lessons the way that I believe will enable children to learn and have fun and not give up on what I believe because a change in the grouping system.

 

Others perspective of the incident

Dr Neil observed my lesson and he said that my teaching moved backward and the grouping strategy affected my teaching and the children’s learning. He added that we should do the lessons the way we believe in. My mentor also did not like the new grouping activity but she said that we can’t change the way of teaching unless they let us change, I told her that I want to use more art and craft for numeracy and she said that she will support me on that. my colleague Reem had the same point of view but the  Arabic head teacher when she knew about that we want to change she said : no way to change the grouping method!

 

Look how the children feel about this!!!

 

 

I’m joking these pictures are from previews feelings lesson =p

Patterned Paper Snakes (Cooperative)



I hanged the snakes outside the classroom with children's help



During this activity I tried to integrate numeracy with literacy, the numeracy target is to complete a  pattern and the literacy is to Identify different letters in  (Snake) word e.g. I say the /s/ sound and the child have to point at the letter. It’s  simple and the children enjoyed it.

Materials needed :

·       Colored card papers

·       Tape

·       Yarn

·       Googly eyes

I did this activity in pairs because through my observations I noticed that most children cooperate better while they work in pairs. I showed the children a model and then I asked them to do it independently each child choose a color and then I started the pattern for them and they have to complete it to create a patterned snake. They were talking and when they finished they had to glue the snake eyes, they decided that each will glue one eye!

 

two children  making a snake



After they finished the task I asked them to play cooperatively with the snake and I added two tales for the snake so they can play with it. During this activity the children were familiar with cooperative activities because they were experiencing it during the three weeks. They cooperate very well and my mentor noticed that too and she add cooperation in her activities too.



   

children playing with the snake togather





   I think  that this activity was good because the children were doing the activity together and they play with it afterwards. This adds to the activity more interaction not just during the task. This activity can be done with the whole class during the circular time by giving each child colored papers and start the pattern and let children complete it and then we can add yarn ends for each child and they can play with it all. It sounds risky but why not !

 

Finger Paint

Another pattern activity that I did was the finger paint cooperative activity. I started the activity by asking two children to work together in one paper. Each have to choose one color and they have to make a pattern by finger painting, they have to take turns in order to complete their pattern.

After each pair finished their pattern, I asked them all to do a finger paint pattern in one paper. Each choose their favorite color. My target was to encourage cooperative learning and review pattern. The children cooperated well, they were taking turns in order to complete the pattern the activity was very simple and they knew how to work with each others. It was more challengeable when I asked the whole group to work together in one paper and they missed the pattern however, they were excited about doing this activity together.

 I could take this activity a step further by differentiating it. The low ability children choose one color but the high ability children choose two or more colors because I noticed that the activity was easy for the high ability children so by differentiating it  would  be more challengeable.

Cooperative Handprint Flag

Another activity that I did for my action research and it was observed by my mentor teacher was the UAE's flag hand print. First of all I thought of doing it on the ordinary way were each child put paint on his hand and then print it on the sheet but I felt there will be no   cooperation and interaction between students. Therefore, I decided to do it in pairs, I called two children and each child had to paint the UAE flag colors on his friend's hand and then the other child paint for that child. I did this activity outside and children were very happy to do it there.  I was amazed how the children were talking and when a child put a wrong color on his friend's hand he was correcting for him and then they saw a house in front of the school were the flag was on the roof, they were looking and copying the colors.

  They were discussing and talking about the colors. The activity went smoothly and I think the reason is that they had clear instructions, I modeled the activity with one child and showed them how they should work with each other's and be good friends and the new place played effective element in this activity.  Another reason why I think the children cooperate well in this activity because the activity cannot be done individually they understood that they have to paint each other's hands and help each others to put the colors in the right place and print their hands.

 In future lessons I may do pairs activities in the same way and link it with numeracy or literacy. In my opinion, for this age group children we should not just provide activities and expect them to work cooperatively, they should have clear activities that encourages cooperative learning.

Hide and Seek !

There wasn't enough time to do whole lessons during this week so I did some activities during play time. I suggested for children to play hide and seek so that I can observe them and they were very excited. I asked two children to hide their eyes while other should hide together.

It was a very fun game children enjoyed playing it and they were playing cooperatively. The girls who were searching for others were talking and making plan of how not to let the other children  win. Also the children who were hiding they decided to hide in one place and they were talking all together where to hide.

I noticed that this kind of games which encourage children to play cooperatively and it has physical movements seems to be more effective with this age group. Such games children cannot play it individually they have to interact and cooperate to play. Whereas, other activities that I encouraged children to do it in pairs while it can be done individually most prefer to do it individually. I will try to do such games and include some learning with it.

Numeracy Cooperative Activity

The activity is about putting the UAE’s flag colors in a pattern.  There were three children in the group. I asked them to work together to put all the colored balls in a pattern.

I did this activity for two groups one group did the  activity very good they cooperate and when one of them put a wrong color they were correcting for her maybe this activity worked for them because they were close friends and they accept each other’s help. On the other group  one of the children was a high ability child she played the role of the teacher where she was stopping them and showing them the pattern when they put a wrong color. However, the lower ability children did not accept the high ability child to explain for them and they told her that they want to do it the way they want!

It would be better if I introduce the activity by giving each child a role. It will also will be more affective if I put a  reward children who cooperate well during the activity. Children need more cooperative activities and instructions to be able to do cooperative activities independently

The Weekend with Tutu the Turtle




Afra with Tutu during the weekend



I started a project with the children where they can take a toy home for the weekend and take pictures with it. Children present these pictures during the circle time and talk about their photos. When I  started the project the letter of the week was/t/ therefore, I brought a turtle. I asked the children to give it a name that starts with the letter t, and they named it Tutu.

since then every weekend one child take Tutu home and play with it and bring it back on Sunday for show and tell activity during the circle time.

 

I tried to integrate this project with my action research which is (cooperative learning) I tried to add to it a sense of cooperation by asking children to ask the child who had the toy about their weekend with the turtle. The children are very excited about this project and Tutu became an important member of the class. It also affected children's behaviour positively because the good behaved child get it. I label children's photos on the wall and I noticed that it trigger their curiosity and they go and look at the photos and ask that child more questions about them. They also discuss what they will do with Tutu if they got it.

In the future lessons I will make it more cooperative by putting Tutu in the home area and I will choose three children to play there cooperatively. I will observe them and see how well they cooperate. It will be also good to teach children cooperative manners during play time.

Letter for children's parents send home with Tutu