The Goldenbridge Girls
Thank You cards from the girls
“I would like to work in groups in the classroom.”
That was the verdict of one second level student following her first experience of the Bridge21 learning model. Last week, 25 1st year girls from Mercy Secondary School in Goldenbridge spent three days working with us in Oriel House. Some of the girls had worked as part of a team before but for many, it was their first experience of collaborative project work. They worked in teams of five and had a deadline to meet each day. Through the first two days, ideas such as assigning roles within the team, making decisions together, presenting their work and meeting deadlines were introduced along with learning some new technical skills such as sound recording and video editing. On the third day, each team had to put all these ideas together to carry out a Geography research project and present their findings to the rest of the class.
Before they left, we asked the girls to write a little about the whole experience. Here is some of what they said:
“It is fun to make movies and having fun while learning.”
“We have fun while getting all our work done.”
“I gave ideas to my group.”
“I learned how to make a film.”
“I learned about saving things to your file and I learned more things about India!”
“I can stand up and talk in front of people.”
“I need to try and improve my pronunciation.”
“I need to speak louder so everyone can hear me.”
“How to pitch your ideas to other people.”
“We didn’t mess and we were quick on our work.”
“I learned how to use team-work.”
“Overall it was a great experience. I would recommend it.”
Mercy Secondary School has been one of our partner schools for several years now. We have worked with most of their students and many of their teachers to help introduce the Bridge21 model into school activities. It was great working with the new 1st years and we’re looking forward to seeing them again soon, hopefully working in groups in the classroom!
