Co-op-er-a-tion

The defintion of cooperation is  1. To work or act together toward a common end or purpose. In class we have designated what cooperation "looks like" and "sounds like". Some examples are:

• Using indoor voices
• Heads together to get an answer
• Taking turns
• Using nice/kind words and showing respect
• Focused on the task
• Students raise hands

Those are just a few examples from the list the students put together. Yesterday was a test of our cooperation skills. We really struggled to use kind words, raise our hands, participate with indoor voices.

OYE!

We spent 15 minutes of our recess time in a class meeting. We talked. We shared how we felt when our classroom came to a point of 23 bodies arguing about moving desks and that we were not "cooperating". We were "arguing". Students were very articulate about how they felt. What prompted the "arguing" and how in the end we could have and should have used our list of how to work cooperatively.

I think the meeting helped. We like each other. (sometimes a little too much!) We do want to work as a team. And in the end, I think that students just like the opportunity to have their voice heard when things are not working out as anyone would like.

In short: Moving desks is not WWF, UFC, or a party. It is in fact, a chance to show how we cooperate.