Cooperative Learning: Booth

Lesson Idea #1: Team Building- It’s a Mystery

• Lesson Goal: The goal of this lesson is for students to work as a team to complete activities. This lesson will require students to find a way to work together and will have them learn about one another along the way. I will be doing this activity at the beginning of the school year to start to create a positive learning environment.
• Lesson Plan:
  • As a class, we would create a list of expectations for the activity such as: being respectful, listening to each other’s ideas, working together as a team, etc. I would record their responses on the board so that they would be present during the activity. (I would then copy them onto a poster board and have them displayed throughout the school year.)
  • Students would be divided into groups of 4 and I would then tell the students the directions for the activity. I will also tell them that the only way they will reach the end is if they work together as a TEAM.
  • I would start the timer and students would be off to start their challenge. Students will have to solve riddles, solve puzzles, and mini team building activities during their experience. I would use the activities that can be found on Pinterest but would also include getting to know you activities such as the groups finding one thing they have in common between all of them.
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  • They would not get the next clue until they have successfully completed each challenge. The reward for the groups would be CHAMP dollars that they have to divide among their groups. (These are fake dollars that the students can use to purchase items at the CHAMP store at our school.)
    • 1st place= 20 CHAMP dollars
    • 2nd place= 16 CHAMP dollars
    • 3rd place= 12 CHAMP dollars
    • 4th place= 8 CHAMP dollars
    • 5th place= 4 CHAMP dollars
  • After the activity was complete, each student would have to fill out a reflection form reflecting on how their group worked together, what they learned about their teammates during this process, and what they liked/disliked about the activity.
  • If the students enjoyed this activity, I have found a couple of websites that explain how to adapt this activity for content lesson plans such as:
    • https://www.readitwriteitlearnit.com/single-post/2017/03/16/ELA-Escape-Room 
    • https://www.theescapeclassroom.com/
    • http://mskcpotter.blogspot.com/2016/07/classroom-escape-room-review-game.html 

Lesson Idea #2: Zoom/Book Box- Holes by Louis Sachar

• Lesson Goal: For students to work together as a team to brainstorm what our upcoming novel will be about. Another goal is for students to examine the different perspectives of their classmates.
• Lesson Plan:
  • I would divide the students into groups of four. We would go over the expectations for groups that the students had previously created. Each student would be given a role in their group. I would provide the students with a card with the description of their job. I would use cards such as the ones that can be found below. The only job I would not assign would be the recorder/scribe.
    • https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Group-Roles-Badges-and-Job-Plates-2909760 
    • https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Small-Group-Roles-Jobs-2658144
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  • Students would then break off into their groups. Each group would be given an envelope of the same pictures: a lizard, a shovel, a pig, an onion, and a pair of shoes. Each group would have to write a story using all of the items.
  • Each student would be given a colored pencil/marker of a different color. The students will have to pass around the paper writing a line of the story.
  • The groups will then present their stories to class and they will have to read the lines they wrote. We will then watch a trailer for the book and have a classroom discussion about their stories and decide which story they think will be the closest to the novel we are about to read.
  • As we read the book, I would use the Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning activity that can be found on the Cooperative Learning Models document in the module. I think that this activity would be very beneficial during classroom/group discussions for the students to guide the conversation. After each chapter, the students will write down a question to ask their group and the students can then have a meaningful conversation around that question. Students will be assigned roles, just like as before, and a recorder(s) will write down what their group discusses. We will then come together as a class for the groups to present what they discussed.