We All Want to Feel Important!

Yesterday I began a unit in cooperative activities. After many years of teaching Project Adventure style lessons, I should not be surprised at the power of cooperative education, yet I am..... My fourth grade students were playing a game in which "donations" of particular pieces of equipment were necessary if all classmates were going to remain in the game. So this required students giving up something to another classmate, without anything in return, except a "thank you". I was amazed at the ease of the "donations"! Students loved the game and played it easily and with great joy! At the end of many of our cooperative activities, I ask students to share how a particular event made them feel. At the end of this game I asked students how they felt when someone "donated" to them. The responses included "good" and "happy", but one response in particular surprised me. One student responded "important". Upon further discussion, we all agreed that when a classmate "donated" to them, they felt as if they were important enough to the game to be included! We all want to feel important.......the ability to make this happen is truly the power of cooperative education!