BEDUC 406 - 9/17, Thursday

There is a downside to cooperative learning. Not all students get along with their shoulder partner. Some of it has to do with worrying about cheating, the students have a lot of pride in their own work. So even though it isn't called for , some of the students put up their "offices", a tri-fold cardboard screen, when doing their work that is not specifically partner work. The children are getting really close, close enough to not be very nice to each other. There was an incident of one boy pinching another, who then responded by slapping the pincher. My master teacher used this as a teaching opportunity to remind the children what the correct response to bad behavior; tell the offender to stop and if he doesn't tell an adult.

Later today we had a boy say some unkind things to a girl about her voice on the playground. i had to bring the two of them together to sort it out. The girl was crying, the boy said he was having a grumpy day. The boy apologized.

And then there is the concept of personal space. We have several students who come from different cultures and some of the cultural norms around personal space are different. I problem solved with 2 students about having the girl ask the boy nicely to move back to his half of the desk. This was a little tricky, because he had also been copying her work, yet they have to work together. It will take continual coaching.