For the past two weeks, students have been collaborating with a partner to create safe, strong, beautiful structures in the blocks area.
During our first week of building with a partner, students took turns being the Master Builder and the Gopher. A Master Builder makes a plan of what she will build, decides what blocks are needed, and describes where each block should be placed. A Gopher’s job is to gather the blocks and place them exactly where the Master Builder has described.
There are challenges in both of these roles. While the Master Builder gets to make many decisions, she can not actually touch any of the blocks. The Gopher gets to build the structure, but he may not make decisions about how it is constructed. The Master Builder has to practice careful diction and articulation while the Gopher works on actively listening and following specific directions.
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| What block do you need now, sir? |
During our second week of partner block building, both students were able to make a plan together and take part in building their structure. It took effort to discuss, compromise, and come to an agreement on what was going to be built. Students worked hard at bringing their ideas together. Instead of either a tower or a jail, "Let’s build a tower with a secret jail in the basement!" Instead of either a castle or a restaurant, "Let’s build a castle with a pizza shop on the roof!"
In the end, we found that practicing collaboration and communication skills can be a fun challenge.
