MY COMMENTS ABOUT THE PRESENTATION: IRENE MEGIAS

Good morning, I'm Irene and I´m going to tell you my feelings about the first project. In general, all presentations were fantastic!

Amigos del football:

This was the second team to expose, and despite the nerves they did very well. I really liked the powerpoint, was very visual and attention; also, they added many new ideas. They explained everything very well and clearly. They English was very managed and I understood them pretty well.

To start their presentation they showed us the index that were taking place in his presentation, something which I think is a good idea. Then they talked about the definition of cooperative learning, and they did quite well. What I liked most is that, for example, they give more importance to the group daily or the notebook than in my group. 

Another thing that caught my attention was the comparison of the advantages and the difficulties that can be found in the cooperative learning. Like all things, this learning method can also lead to difficulties (which is not the same as disadvantages) and is well talk about them above all to try to overcome them and not put them aside.

Finally, they made their activity. It seems to me a very entertaining activity that can be very useful at the beginning of course to let students know each others. In groups, we had to fill a diana with our personal data (name, favorite color, favorite music, favorite movie, etc ...). In this way, we can know more about our classmates. Finally, one of each group briefly explained to the others classmates the things that in his or her group the members have in common. 

Team perk:

This team also made a good presentation and every member knew of what they talked about; when the teacher asked them something they knew to answer without problem.

Something that caught my attention was that they visited a school for taking photographs as structured class, place the tables so that the children can work in orderly and in a comfortable way. Also, another thing I really liked was the evaluation sheet because no other group did it. It was different and original!

In this team It was given much importance to the different guidelines or rules that both students and the teacher must follow in order to carry out a successful collaborative learning and work in teams. This was closely related to the activity that they proposed: by groups we made a circle, and had to pass a ball a few others saying aloud a rule to put in class. After 2 minutes, one of the members of each team had to recall and write on the blackboard all standards that had been said in these 2 minutes. It is a good activity that can be very useful for the teacher and for the students, because it allows all participate and that among all believe a series of standards.

Crónicas viajeras:

This group was one of my favorites. I liked because they explained all the contents in a simple and dynamic way, which helps us to understand it all better. The English was very good and fluid, I understood them pretty well.

The presentation was a "tour" of travel referring to their group name, something that I really liked. Another thing that I also liked is that they employed many examples to explain the theory, something which also helped me to understand better the different concepts or techniques.

Something also mentioned that other groups were not, was the characteristics that must be individually for group work, and those that we should put aside, since they could bring negative consequences to the group.

The activity was fun, and also referred to their group name again. The day before they warned us that we had to carry a souvernir or something that we buy on a trip. In groups, we had to explain the meaning of this object, picture, or whatever our fellow, and later, a member of each group explained to the rest of the class the souvenir of another companion of his working group and what it meant for him or her. It was so good.

The unknowns:

  

The presentation of this team was also very good. They explained everything very clearly and concisely. I really liked the prezi that they made, since it allowed them to make it more visual and make diagrams, making it easy to make us better run with ideas.

They mentioned something that other groups didn´t do and was the importance that each team roles should be rotating, for so all members at least once can be responsible for each task. They explained that the teacher also has a very important role, and that should serve as a guide for students when it comes to carrying out each role.

Another remarkable thing was to use different quotes from authors; I liked much of Ray Kroc saying something like: " None of us is as good as all of us togeher". For me, this is the essence of collaborative learning. We are all together are better than separately. Something that caught my attention much was the roulette made with different standards or ideas to make the collaborative learning successful. Among them they include the sharing material, respecting the different ideas, the reflection of the group, follow a table plan, etc.

Finally, like all the other groups, they did their activity. It was fun and dynamic, I liked it so much. We had to do a very large circle among all and we had to spend a ball saying things we liked and things that do not. We were a few minutes playing, and later had to form group with those colleagues who had more or less our tastes. It is a good activity not only for the students to know each other, also to the teacher to knows his students.

      Dumbledore Teacher's Army:

What I liked the most about this team was the format of the presentation. They made a very original powerpoint based in the newspaper of the "Harry Potter" film, that also is related to its name of group. Without any doubt, what most caught my attention were the gifts.

They added new information to us that not only were based on the document that Yolanda gave us; they availed themselves of more sources, something that is great. They told us new ideas such as "promotion of positive interdependence", the proper use of interpersonal skills that meet certain conditions criteria such as face-to-face interaction, different forms of assessment, etc. However, there were times that it was difficult to follow the presentation and I didn´t understand them very well, perhaps because they were nervous, something normal. Sometimes seemed were not very clear in their minds what they wanted to say and how they wanted to say. From my point of view is something that they must improve, and surely with the passage of time will make it.

The activity was fun and different. We were put in pairs and the goal was to knew better our pair. They gave us a paper with several questions that we should be doing to our partner. After a few minutes, a couple of couples was selected to present his/her pair to us.

·         Modern Students:

What I liked most about this group was the format that they exposed all the theory. They made several posters explaining all the concepts and techniques of collaborative learning in a clear and precise manner. In addition, it was very complete because the most of the concepts that apper in the document was explained.

Something that also liked a lot was that they created a section where they exposed different tips for that teachers to use this method (create labour standards, encourages respect...), something that is very useful for us because in the future we will be teachers and we need to know how to use it in our classroom.

The activity was great, I liked a lot. They put us all in a circle and asked us to closed eyes. They stuck us in the front stickers of different shapes and colors, and without talking among ourselves, we had to find those who had the same sticker than us. It was very fun, original and entertaining.

This activity can be very useful at beginning of course for the teacher, it is a way to know their students. With this game you can see who are most competitive (in this case would be those who preferred to find his partner rather than helping others) and who are more collaborative (those who prioritised before helping others find your partner or your group). 

·         Wanderslust:

Without a doubt, this group made a very good presentation. What I liked most was the format in which they exposed all the theory, since they made numerous videos recorded themselves to explain the concept, techniques of this method, etc. Apart from it take more work and difficulties than other formats such as powerpoint or the prezi, seems to me use this type of format for presenting works because it is very fun and also engages and motivates the public.

The English was very good and fluid; while some member said that it would like to improve their English in public I think that none of them had any problem when it comes to express themselves. Understood them perfectly.

Activity carried out, in my opinion, was not as fun and entertaining as the other group, however, was very useful to close and leave this issue settled. We were put into three groups of 5-6 people. In a paper, individually, we had to put 3 or 4 main ideas of collaborative learning, and then had them put in common with our group. Later, we had to make a consensus and reach agreement among all the members of the group above the main ideas which were actually or the keys to this method of learning.