Well, although still trying to think through exactly what will happen this year, and having not kept up to date with this blog, we managed to get through day one of children at school.

With only 22 in class today (4 still absent), we started at least to begin the language that I wanted learning immersed in this year – teamwork, cooperation, respect, etc.

We also started our very first work on introducing cooperative learning roles for working in groups. There’s still a long way to go. There’s little idea of just exactly how these work, as least within the dynamics of a new class. Lots of talking across each other, reluctance to take on the given role, etc. I at least still have several management strategies up my sleeve like the Team Stop signs from Laura Candler’s Cooperative Learning File Cabinet (her site’s been on the net for a number of years now, but the resources can still prove to be useful).

I was pleased though to see the children with the “presenter” role respond well to their task. Once one got up, did their best, and found they were well supported by the class group, they started to jump at the chance for the next turn.

Still, it’s only day one. We’ve made some good progress for a few hours of work. I have been prepared to concentrate completely on these skills for as long as necessary, so we’ll continue to follow this up in the days to come.