A Pig In A Poke

I will not go through the mechanics of this session. The whole purpose behind this project was the social and emotional responses of children interacting with each other. It was remarkable to see the patience of our "teachers" dealing with the enthusiasm of the Grade 3 students. There was a great sense of calm (amongst the noise) of direction and support provided by our Y5 student "teachers". They were firm but considerate and the overall tone was of help and ideas to progress the Grade 3 students in their learning. This is a Real World Outcome where students learn to develop an idea, test the idea and it's functionality, then take it to a Real World situation and deliver an outcome. The Grade 3 students had a great a ability to reflect on what was to them a great experience and the Grade 5 students had a fantastic ability to reflect on what they had done well and what they would like to have done better. What impressed me the most was our "teachers" describing how hard it was sometimes to get the younger students to listen to the instructions and reflect on how hard it must be for their teachers when "students don't listen." I was also impressed by the resilience of our "teachers" not to become frustrated or angry then an idea didn't go to plan. When there was an issue our "teachers" spoke calmly to us and asked advice as to how to solve the problem they were dealing with. Some Grade 3 students accidently broke things due to lack of experience but our "teachers" calmly solved the issue and continued on with the instructions. It must be said that our "teachers" were expecting a small number of students to deal with be were in fact blitzed with the turn out rate from the Grade 3 students. While there was a certain sense of nervousness and concern in the room before the little folk arrived when they turned up our "teachers" rose to the occasion and unflinchingly soldiered on. It was remarkable watching our "teachers" helping place fingers on keyboards, describing objectives and gently lead their younger charges through the process. The sense of pride exhibited by our "teaching staff" was palpable at the end of the session.