Time was running out. Other groups were almost finished and ready to present to the class.
Following some differences in ideas and preferences, the mood was a little low. Some of the enthusiasm that had been present at the table five minutes earlier had gone.
It was at this moment that one of the girls in the group, who had possibly not stepped into a leadership-type role in such an activity before, stepped in and said, “We need to keep going. We don’t have long left. If we don’t, we might never finish. We can’t continue with our day.”
It was a mathematics exploration lesson in my class of 5–6-year-olds. It was planned and delivered by one of my co-teachers. I am very humbled to have been able to watch and learn from it.
The focus was on the mathematical skill of classifying and sorting. However, my colleague had found ways to make it much more than that.
During the class discussion and introduction, she showed the students pictures of lots of different monsters and encouraged them to suggest names based on their appearance and characteristics. Here, creativity and English language were stretched – we are in China, and all the students are ESL learners.
As a class, we worked together to categorize them in several different ways – colour, number of eyes, and spotty versus stripy. Here, there was also an opportunity to be exposed to new English language – spotty and stripy were new words – and sentence structures.
After the practice examples as a class, the task was set: in your assigned groups, take two sheets of pictures of pairs of socks. Decide on a way to categorize them. Draw what the categories are as headings on the piece of paper. Then cut, sort, and stick your socks.
Now, this group of five I was observing was initially very excited. Between them, they collected the resources and began talking with life and energy.
However, soon challenges began to emerge. Three of them were very keen to be responsible for drawing the category titles. Although close friends, they felt very strongly about this, and some negative emotions began to stir. From the side at this point – one of the few times I involved myself – I reminded them that this was a conflict they would need to work to resolve. One of the girls worked to calm herself. The girl who would soon step in when someone was most needed relaxed herself and changed her tone of voice and language. “I am really sorry. I know you want to also, but I really want to draw this time. Is it OK? Next time, you can.”
Seeing that the other two really were unhappy, she smiled and said, “OK. It is OK. You can do it. I can cut.”
While this had been going on, another of the boys – not someone who might have taken the lead in a different situation – had stepped in and worked to manage the entire situation. “Two people cut, two people stick, one person draws.”
Seeing that her two friends were still having challenges confirming who would draw, the girl then said, “You can talk about it. Or maybe you can play ‘rock, paper, scissors’.”
The boy who had been taking the lead, still feeling tension, said, “It’s OK. You both draw. We cut,” he said, pointing at himself and the girl. “You can stick,” he said, pointing at the boy.
They seemed more assured now. The boy who was now drawing reminded the group that they needed a rule. Little leadership was being taken here initially. The idea of colour was suggested, but many colours were present across all the socks, and no obvious path to follow emerged. The girl who had said she was happy not to draw eventually suggested that they could sort them so that the socks with patterns or small pictures were in one group, and those that were plain were in the other group.
Up swept new tension, as others said they were not happy with this suggestion but needed time to think. Now tiredness was setting in. We hadn’t reached a decision. What could be done?
It was at this moment that one of the girls in the group, who had possibly not stepped into a leadership-type role in such an activity before, stepped in and said, “We need to keep going. We don’t have long left. If we don’t, we might never finish. We can’t continue with our day.”
Taking the prompting, the boy who had been taking the lead sprang into action, taking one of the sheets of paper with the socks himself and giving the other one to the girl. They began to cut. Immediately upon receiving them, the final member of the group applied the glue.
The two who were down to draw had been continuing to sit a little begrudgingly. However, soon after their friends got to work, the girl picked up the pen and drew the picture of socks with pictures on one side of the paper as the category heading, and the boy drew the one for plain socks.
Everyone got involved, helping each other with all parts of the process – cutting, sticking, and arranging. There was even some challenge when they realized the drawings for the category headings were very big and took up a lot of space. However, through some quick problem-solving, they realized that if the orientation of the cutouts was changed or they overlapped a little, this was not an issue.
We got there!
It’s important to stress also, as a teacher, that all I did was step in a small number of times to remind the group of what they needed to be doing or to ask an open or guiding question.
I made a point of having a feedback session with the group afterward, with individual praise – “staying calm,” “suggesting solutions and ideas,” “being patient and staying calm,” “eventually staying focused on progress and getting the work done,” “being flexible and accepting different ideas” – and group praise. For individuals, it is important to note that this is unique for everyone, as all students follow their own development pathways.
So, indeed, what can we learn then?
Well, first, many thanks once again to my co-teacher – an enriching example of how we can make a simple subject class so much more, to include language and communication, creativity and original thinking, teamwork and cooperation.
Second, never forget the importance of allowing students space to work individually or as a team to solve difficulties and challenges. Observe, be professional, and pay attention to when intervention might be necessary. However, it doesn’t all need to be smooth. Don’t be scared of problems and potential stepping stones for students. After all, these are what cause growth. Whether it be conflict resolution, leadership, learning the importance of compromise and cooperation, or understanding that staying on task to complete work can be important, beautiful development can happen. What’s more, challenges – both individual and collective – are normal in the real world.