In the afternoon, four different classes rotate for "fun" classes. I am teaching STEM, which involves a ton of hands on activities. I told my classes that we would always be working in teams or pairs, so we needed to practice working cooperatively. The first thing we did was brainstormed (using Kagan 4's strategy) a list of qualities of a good team member. After that, I gave the students "The Cup Challenge."
The Cup Challenge
I tied four strings to a rubber band and each group of four had to work together to stack their cups. There were arguments. There were tears. There was a little screaming.
But then I saw it. There was teamwork. There was communication. There was celebrating. The kids were engaged and learning, and that's all I could ask.
During our debriefing, we talked about a lot of things. The main thing I focused on was the difference between arguing and disagreeing. I told my kids, "I want you to disagree. (Puzzled looks) However, I don't want you to argue about it." We had a great discussion about how we could communicate what we are thinking when we disagree, and I made this poster to continue to remind my students throughout summer school.