Communication is Key

Experiencing the power of working together as a team is the start of creating a safe and inclusive working environment for all students at the beginning of the school year. This helps us to collaborate and cooperate effectively as a class for the whole year as we continue to rise to success.

Kaylah talked about: communication is handy because if there is a problem, we need communication and to speak up to help solve the problem instead of feeling like a snitch. It is important we work together as a class to get the most out of the learning. When communication fails, it can cause people to get upset or angry because they might interpret it differently due to the lack of communication between people. In Freedom Catch, there has been some miscommunication and people not playing to the rules as they did not understand them properly. We solved this by having a chat with the class, setting some goals to work on, and making sure everyone knew the rules. 

Kase shared that cheering people on makes them happy when playing games or encouraging them in their work. 

The whole class had set the goal to work on effective communication skills. 

Kase learnt that communication is key when trying to solve problems and that using our words will help. Kase summed this up by saying using words to communicate to my buddy worked better than just pulling at the skipping ropes.

Riley learnt from Miss Nicholson that you “Get what you get and you don’t get upset.” This means that you need to be grateful for anything. 

He reflected on making choices in a game that can result in an outcome. Instead of being upset that you have been tagged and out, you deal with it and then can participate in the game again. This is a bit of a life skill.

The first time the class played Freedom Catch emotions got the better of some individuals. Not everyone likes to take part in cooperative activities. Devon expressed how her  emotions get the better of her. She removed herself from the game, got a drink of water and then rejoined us.

Devon stated it is important to not walk away and get grumpy at people because you lost a game or didn’t get your own way. Getting grumpy at other people doesn’t help the situation or make you a better person, instead I could have a break from the game, or tell the teacher how I am feeling, and she can help to solve the problem. It is important to work with other people that are not always friends. 

As a class we completed the plus and minus charts 2 times to see how we thought Freedom Catch was going. As a whole class we set some goals that helped us to have a focus on the game that made it  more meaningful than just playing a game. The most recent plus and minus chart for Freedom Catch shows development of the game in teamwork.  It got hard for the tagger to make contact as the rest of the team were releasing their teammates.