This course reinforced how very little we spend in teacher education programs "teaching" adult learners how to work with/team with other adults. Our programs spend a tremendous amount of time preparing teachers for their work with young children; however, in the majority of early care and education settings there are 2 adults leading instruction as a team in one classroom and these 2 adults are part of other teams (e.g., all the classrooms representing particular age groups; all the adults working together on behalf of the young children and their families; working alongside families on behalf of a child's growth and development). We need more intentional instruction and practical applications of team working in our educator preparation programs to expose future and current educators to the realities of the profession.
This course help me to understand how group work works and how much it is an effective tool in team building and working with others you may not necessarily collaborate with.
Teamwork helps achieve a common goal. It is essential for an organization's success as a group.
Teamwork is present in virtually every job description on the planet, it is also a challenging skill to master. It is important for teachers to work through the inevitable yet necessary challenges that cultivating a culture of collaboration present.
Team building is important part of productivity.
Teamwork projects are a skill based operation. Without the proper leadership the project could very likely turn in a wrong direction.
Some of the tools of establishing team job descriptions and providing for review/constructive criticism, really spoke to me. This is a great idea to get to know each other and work through some of the team building stages efficiently.
Team work collaboration is key for group activities and common challenges. The bumps are the opportunity to re direct o re define common objectives
Teamwork can be challenging but is essential to the success of an organization as a whole. You can accomplish more together than individually.
I learned that with structure, group projects can be quite effective. I always knew the problems that come with group assignments, like 1 person doing all the work or toxic participants, from my days of schooling. This module has helped me to better prepare my learners for these same possibilities in their groups, like scheduled group evaluations to let me know if there is a toxic learner, so I can intervene before administering grades.
I loved the "Picture this" activity for team building.
In my class students do the majority of their work in teams. Most of the teams instinctively assign roles and resolve conflict, but I will use the information in this module to help guide other groups in resolving conflicts and addressing inequality of work done.
Learning to work with others to accomplish goals creates teamwork skills, promotes communications, creativity and listening skills.
Teams are generally an essential component of a research project. Not all teams are effective and congenial. Factors contributing to poor team function may include cultural differences (e.g., one being from Eastern Europe and another being from USA West coast culture), religious/spiritual differences, gender preference differences, educational level differences, and differences in enthusiasm (or lack of) for the subject of the team.
In my case of selecting a research team for a project, I have a good perspective of who would be compatible team members, but I also ask for a selected team member to suggest another person for the team. It is more successful to “hand pick” compatible team members than to have seemingly random assignments of members. Being at distance (~1,500 miles away), I don’t see the daily on-campus interactions. What I have seen so far has been the “over the top” delight in team accomplishment at end of the research project. The student (learner) may not have expected to be placed into such a role as principal researcher, but I do believe the learner will remember the positive experience for the rest of her/his life.
I will be implementing a Team Building Game: two truths and a lie during my next orientation as an ice breaker and to help build our team.
Working together in teams is very effective for the students to learn about collaboration and problem solving. This module gave some good examples that I will use in my classroom.
Comment on Stephen Gabaldon's post: I agree, teams helps in obtaining goals.
Teamwork is very important in the workforce. It is very important for student to develop this skill in the workforce because they don't pick who they want to work with.
Proper teamwork can make or break projects.
