WORKING TOWARD GROUP WORK

Following a discussion about the benefits and beauty of trees, the children expressed interest in drawing trees. I encouraged some drawings from memory (non-observational drawing) at first, and encouraged them to think of something from our discussion while drawing. I have been trying to teach them ways in which to work in pairs or in groups, so I planned on two or three children drawing their own tree on the same piece of larger poster board, as a beginning to some group collaborative work. They argued and complained profusely, preferring to draw their own poster board tree! Not giving up on my plan I did manage to encourage two girls to compile a collage of paper and wooden items. What made this project more amenable to them? Perhaps they are at the age where expressing their own creativity is still more important than working together. The end products did turn out wonderfully but I guess it's something to ponder and something to keep on enouraging!