Learning to Work Together

Working as a team is not something that comes naturally to most people. This is a skill that has to be taught. As we move into a world where many students are learning remotely from home, this skill becomes harder to learn. Specific lessons need to be planned where teamwork is expected and encouraged. Group projects should be planned where each person has a specific role to complete the project.

The teacher can group students according to unique strengths, common interests, or ability levels. Each group should be carefully formed and can be changed for different projects. Groups should be 3 - 4 people.

Projects should be carefully planned where there are specific tasks to be completed by different members of the group. The final goal should be clearly stated so students will know what is expected of them. In addition to the specific tasks for each member, there needs to be a Leader of the group to bring everyone together at the beginning and the end. There should also be a Timekeeper to make sure everyone is keeping on track according to the time allotted. In addition to those roles, there needs to be a Presenter who will present the final product to the class. If a fourth person is in the group, this person could be the Organizer who puts all of the parts together in order.

Students need to be taught how to come together and check on the progress of the project. They need to learn how to brainstorm and support each other when obstacles are encountered. They also need to learn how to give constructive criticism to each team member without offending the person. Then they need to learn how to bring all of their parts together to make the final product.

Rubrics work well for evaluating group projects and individual members of the group. I like to have each student self-evaluate using the rubric in addition to my own evaluation. This teaches students to look carefully at their own work and the group’s work as a whole.

How do you teach teamwork? Please share.

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Collaboration

(During the summer months, I like to take the alphabet and come up with words and see how they apply to education. I think it’s a great exercise for teachers and students to give this a try.)

This is one of my favorite words for education.

When I was growing up, there was a focus on working independently and doing the work all by yourself. Teachers didn’t want you to work in groups or with other students. They wanted to see that you could do things on your own.

I think that is a good skill to have but it should not be the only skill you have in order to be successful in today’s society.

In today’s world, employers are looking for people who can work on a team. They need workers who are able to collaborate with others.

Collaborating is a skill that needs continuous practice. It involves using people skills as well as personal strengths.

When I was growing up, I remember my mother helping me with a problem and saying that sometimes two heads are better than one. She was teaching me that there are times that it is okay to ask for help and to work with someone else to achieve your goal.

Too many times my students don’t want to work with others because they are afraid that they will look stupid or their classmates might make fun of them. I try to explain that this is a natural feeling and everyone feels that way when they join a new group.

The important thing to remember that everyone has different skills and when joined together, the group can be better and stronger. I relate this to a football game. Can one player beat an opposing team all by himself? No, he can’t. With a team, they can work together which makes them stronger than one person.

I also have my student imagine that they are parts of a car. Each one may be a strong part by itself but can the car run with only that one part? If you put all the parts together, the car will be able to run.

When we tell students to get in a group and collaborate, many of them do not understand what is being asked. They do not understand what they need to do in order to collaborate and this needs to spelled out for them.

This is what students need to do:

• What is the problem/goal? What is the group trying to achieve?
• How much time do you have to do this?
• What materials will you need?
• Break the job into smaller tasks.
• Have people volunteer for the smaller tasks.
• Assign different manager roles such as Task manager (assigns each group member their tasks), Time manager (keeping track of the time), Materials manager (gets the materials needed), Record manager (keeps track of any notes and task assignments)
• Work on individual tasks.
• Meet together and put all parts together.
• Proofread their work.
• Turn in the finished project. 

How do you teach collaboration? Please share.

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Team Work

Recently I attended a virtual education conference and one of the sessions was creative collaborative classrooms. One of the first things we learned was about individual roles in the team. I really like this because it gave each person some responsibility and it had nothing to do with ability. It let each person be an integral part of the team. I like that each team had four people on a team. If there are fewer, people can share the fourth role or someone can double up on a role. Each time the team meets, the roles can be rotated or kept the same.

Here are the four roles:

• Resource Manager
• Task Manager
• Facilitator
• Recorder/Reporter.

The Resource Manager is responsible for gathering, distributing, and returning all resources. This includes handouts and equipment. If the team needs the help of the teacher, this person will contact the teacher.

The Task Manager is responsible for keeping the team on track. If team members are off task or going off on a tangent, the Task Manager reminds them of the team’s purpose. The task manager makes sure that the job gets done and that everyone is included. Informing the team how much time is left until the deadline is important.

The Facilitator gets the team started. This person might restate the directions or read aloud the question. This person makes sure that everybody understands what the team’s objective is. Different parts of the task may be allotted out to different team members.

The Recorder/Reporter is responsible for all written or oral responses of the team. Once the team agrees to the response, the Recorder/Reporter writes down the answer(s). If the team is called about to share the response, this person is the one who shares it to the class.

You can randomly assign the roles or you can specifically assign which student gets each role. It depends on the abilities of your students. If all abilities are equal or unknown, I would assign them randomly. When deciding who gets which role, the team was instructed to go alphabetically by first names and then assign the roles in that order.

How do you handle teams in your classroom? Please share.

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33 Rules

In Old Advice: Johnson’s  Rules in Blue Skunk Blog, Doug Johnson shares,

“Taking the form of rules and laws (in the spirit of Murphy's Law), all the statements…are original as best I remember, formulated over 40 years working in education.”

Here are my rules:

1.     Hensley’s Disclaimer: Anything that you don’t like, stop reading.

2.     Hensley’s Thoughts on Job Assignments: Give the worst jobs to the people who complain the most.

3.     Hensley’s Observation About Public Speaking: Make it short. Nobody really wants to hear your long drawn out stories!

4.     Hensley’s Rule of Technology Reliability: Always have a backup plan.

5.     Hensley’s Question About Fairness: Nothing in life is fair. So get over it and move on.

6.     Hensley’s Observation About Office Climate: Remember that your boss deserves your loyalty because that is the person who hired you…and can fire you.

7.     Hensley’s Rule of Sincerity: People always know if you are not sincere so don’t fake it.

8.     Hensley’s Rule on Coasting: Coasting doesn’t always get you to where you hoped to be.

9.     Hensley’s Rule of Creativity in the Workplace and Classroom: Others don’t always appreciate it but if you enjoy it, go for it!

10.  Hensley’s Rule of Indispensability: Always look busy so no one can think that you are not needed.

11.  Hensley’s Rule of Technology Perspective: Try to plan for tech problems ahead of time so they won’t seem like a big problem.

12.  Hensley’s Observation about Progress: Remember your goal and if you reached it, then you have made progress.

13.  Hensley’s First Rule of Effective Advocacy: Try to show that your advocacy will positively affect the most people.

14.  Hensley’s Observation on Internet Resources: The internet is just a tool and not the person who uses the tool.

15.  Hensley’s Law of Searching: Always bookmark the page you like because you may never find it again.

16.  Hensley’s Caution on Collaboration: Respect the other collaborators, even if you don’t agree with them.

17.  Hensley’s Common Sense Economy: Do away with busing children to school. Get back to neighborhood schools. Use the money saved from busing to improve that school.

18.  Hensley’s Observation on the School of Hard Knocks: Realize something is wrong if you keep making the same mistakes over again.

19.  Hensley’s Observation of Policy-Making: Those that determine policy should have to spend a week in the place their policy affects.

20.  Hensley’s First Rule of Change: Change is inevitable, and most people won’t like it.

21.  Hensley’s Second Rule of Change: Change is good and eventually people will accept it.

22.  Hensley’s Third Rule of Change: If enough people don’t like it, someone is sure to rebel.

23.  Hensley’s First Law of Effective Supervision: Know the people you hire and trust that they will do their job. If they don’t, get rid of them.

24.  Hensley’s Law of Consultants: Look for strengths within your employees first before hiring from outside.

25.  Hensley’s Rule of Projects: Make sure your project has a real purpose and that you aren’t doing a project just to keep people busy.

26.  Hensley’s First Law of Presentations: Do not read the bullet points on your slides.

27.  Hensley’s Second Law of Presentations: Use one word on each slide to give you a clue on what you want to say.

28.  Hensley’s Third Law of Presentations:  Use interesting graphics to catch the audience’s interest.

29.  Hensley’s Fourth Law of Presentations: Take notice of your audience and adapt what you are saying to their needs.

30.  Hensley’s Law of Assessment: Make sure you are assessing student’s understanding of what you have taught.

31.  Hensley’s Law of Taking Responsibility: Be willing to own up to it if you plan on doing it.

32.  Hensley’s Relationship Advice to Children: Honesty and trust will get you through the bad times.

33.  Hensley’s Law of Stress Management: Don’t ignore stress because it is there. Figure out a way to handle it or it will handle you.

What other advice would you offer? Please share.

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High-Leverage Practice 5: Assessment

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

“HLP5 - Interpret and communicate assessment information with stakeholders to collaboratively design and implement educational programs.”

As much as many people like to assess student’s strengths, weaknesses, and progress, it means nothing if we don’t use this information to design a program that will help the student be successful.

It is also very important to include all the stakeholders in designing this program.

Many people think of the stakeholders as just school personnel but we need to include everyone that is a stakeholder, even outside of the school.

The parents will have input that is very valuable to the program. They may have some goals that they would include in the program and by using the assessment information, it may be helpful to see if these goals are realistic or not. They may be goals that are realistic and the school personnel never thought about including. Parents will be able to discuss what has been done at home to address some issues and what strategies have worked or not worked at home.

The student is the most important stakeholder. I think it is important for a student to know as much as possible (depending on the student’s developmental age) about the assessment results. Asking the student what goals are important to him/her can help the student feel included in the process. This empowers the student and can help give motivation towards success. This collaboration might also help see whether the student has realistic goals or not and the team can help the student work out the steps that might be needed in order to reach this goal.

If there are any outside agencies that will be affected by the student’s educational program or if the program will be affected by these outside agencies, they need to be in on this collaboration. They have some other resources that are available to help the student succeed in the program.

I think it is also important for everyone to realize that the program is not written in stone and all stakeholders may have to meet many times to look at new assessments, modify some things in the program or even change the direction the student is going in. New assessments may show that the student is progressing slower or faster than expected.

Having this collaborative team including the student shows the student that he/she is not all alone in this process. There is a team hoping and encouraging the student’s success. This team will not give up on the student.

What other stakeholders should be included in this collaboration? Why? Please share.

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High-Leverage Practice 3: Collaborate

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

“HLP3 -  Collaborate with families to support student learning and secure needed services.”

Working with families is an important step to ensuring student success.

I start out the year by contacting all of the families within the first 2 days of school. I introduce myself, share some basics, and give them my contact phone number. If teachers do not want to give their personal phone number, they can always use a Google Voice number or other free online options. This helps open the lines of communication between us.

I also want to impress on the family that their input is important. We need to work as a team in order to help the student and that it is our teamwork that will help the student succeed.

I ask the family what strategies they use at home that might work in the classroom. Having consistent strategies may help the student at school. If I find a strategy that works at school, I let the family know what I’m doing and how it helps the student.

I try to call the family on a regular basis. Usually, during the first quarter, I call every other week. I like to brag about their child, and this is a good time to do this. If I do have a problem, they are usually more receptive and less defensive because I’ve called so often with good news. After the first quarter, I might call once a month if all is going well but if I see the student needing more positive reinforcement, I may call more often.

Sometimes if I think the student needs a positive boost or does something especially successful, I will make a special call to the parent right in front of the student. The students love this, and it helps others work harder for their own special phone call.

How do you collaborate with families? Please share.

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High-Leverage Practice 2: Collaborate

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

“HLP2- Organize and facilitate effective meetings with professionals and families.”

One of the scariest things I had to do as a new teacher was to set up and facilitate a meeting with other professionals and families. Luckily, I had an interim principal (filling in for my principal who was on medical leave) who was a great role model and ran my first meeting for me. I took lots of notes on the procedure and who she handled the meeting. Many years later, when I began teaching preservice teachers, I tried to do the same thing. We had mock meetings so they could feel comfortable when the real situation occurred. Then I started coming up with a “recipe” of sorts on how to facilitate the meeting.

Of course, the district has specific procedures on the invitation paperwork, who to invite, and deadlines to follow. Once everyone is invited, the date and time set, it is time to figure out what to do next.

I also ask someone to take minutes of the meeting while I run the meeting. These minutes are official notes about our meeting, and I ask everyone to sign them at the end of the meeting.

Agenda: Before we meet, I like to come up with an agenda to follow during the meeting. This helps keep everyone on track during the meeting and helps it go smoothly. I usually make contact with the parents before the meeting to see if there are any issues, they would like to address during the meeting so I can add it to the agenda.

Greeting and Introductions – After everyone is seated, I like to introduce myself if necessary and then ask everyone around the room to introduce themselves and state their positions.

Meeting Agenda – I review the agenda and then ask everyone if they have anything to add to the agenda. I also make it clear that we will not meet more than 1 hour and if it goes longer, we will need to reconvene so that we can cover all the items on the agenda.

Review IEP goals – I always like to review the goals and tell how the student is progressing.

Other professionals – I ask that the other professionals if they have anything they would like to add.

Issues – If there are any issues, we go over each one of them. I like to address the issues from the parents first in case we run out of time. I want them to feel that their issues are important to us and that we will address them.

Closing – I like to review what we covered during the meeting and will ask the person taking notes to read aloud the minutes. I ask if anyone has anything they would like to add to the minutes. If everyone is agreed with what was read or added, everyone signs the minutes.

Thank you – I thank everyone for attending the meeting.

Do you facilitate meetings? What would you add to the list? Please share.

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High-Leverage Practice 1: Collaborate

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

“HLP1- Collaborate with professionals to increase student success.”

Having open lines of communication with other teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff is important to my student’s success.

Many times, I have come up with my best ideas while waiting for the copy machine and sharing ideas with other teachers. I usually ask someone what their class is working on and then discuss how I might adapt that lesson for my students. It is amazing ideas what other teachers can come up with. Usually, if it is a topic or subject that they enjoy, others are more than willing to give suggestions for my class.

When I work with my paraprofessionals, I make sure that I ask for their input. Many times my paraprofessionals can look at something from a different point of view and can help me try to find different ways to help my students. Since they have different backgrounds and experiences, their input can be very valuable.

Collaborating with the support staff has also been very helpful with motivating my students. At one school, the janitor took an interest in my students and would ask them about their day and their work. When they were angry or discouraged, he was able to talk with them and give them some good advice. Sometimes just an encouraging word showed my students that he cared. During report card time, he really bragged on the kids who got good grades and encouraged others to do better. When the students got a good grade on a test, they would request to show it to the janitor.

The library staff was a great group to collaborate with. If I went to them about a topic that I was teaching, they would suggest resources that might enhance my lesson. The library staff was such a great resource for me to improve my lesson.

How have you collaborated with other professionals to help your students be successful in your class? Please share.

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It’s Okay to Be Different

In Ambidextrous from Seth Godin's Blog . Seth Godin  shares,

“Anthropologists have found that we’re very motivated to divide into teams, and once on a team, we’ll work hard to degrade the other team.”

I see all this talk about politics, cultures, and religions and it seems like everyone is on one team or another.

I guess I don’t know why everyone has to be on one team or another. Why can’t we all agree to disagree and then not be on any team?

I guess that is why I hated to participate in team sports. Whenever we played a game and there was someone on the other team struggling, I wanted to help them. I know that is crazy but I never felt so competitive that winning was the most important thing in the world. Whenever I watch school sports, I want whoever has the ball at the time to score a point. I want everyone to be a winner! I know this is unrealistic and not real life but that is how I feel at times like this. I somehow feel that competitions should not always be a life or death situation like a military action.

I’m more of a collaborator than a competitor. I feel like when I’m on a team and everyone has different strengths, we are a stronger team than one where everyone thinks alike and has the same point of view. It doesn’t bother me if people are from different cultures and I’m curious about our differences. I want to know more and learn more about a topic I don’t have enough information about.

I want my students to learn to collaborate with others and celebrate their differences. I want them to see that differences can be strengths and not something to degrade. I want to give them situations where they have to use their individual strengths to be a stronger team.

How do you feel about teams and differences? Please share.

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