Please respond to the 2 discussion post

Post 1

I have had experience working on a team when I worked at Merrill Lynch as a Tax Analyst. I was on a team with two other women. We were responsible for daily tax aggregation worksheets and reconciliations, and while we were individually responsible for those, we worked together on other assignments such as training the annuities specialists during tax season. A more recent example is in my role as a teacher. While teachers are in many ways quite isolated (it's just us, by ourselves, in front of the kids almost all of the time), we do work in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) by grade level. These grade level teams are responsible for making sure that we are scaffolding instruction in a consistent manner from grade to grade, deciding grade level summer reading assignments, and agreeing on some curriculum decisions so that students who transfer classes maintain some consistency.

At my current school, the PLC works very well. The PLC lead is a friend of mine and we share very similar educational philosophies and approaches. This year we also have two new teachers to mentor, but we both enjoy mentoring. The experience is positive and exemplifies the best qualities of collaboration. However, I wasn't always so lucky. Six years ago I was teaching at a school with a deeply toxic English department. Teams tend to take on characteristics from the tone set by leadership, and the Department Chair was a vindictive person who created bitter factions in the department; PLC groups could not agree on summer reading assignments (or much of anything, really), to the point that there were often tears, recriminations, and people storming out of meetings. It was a very negative experience overall.

My experience has led me to believe that a positive team environment can be created by valuing everyone's input, setting a positive tone, and allowing people to contribute in their areas of strengths. It creates unnecessary stress to force a team member to work outside of their comfort zone if they can make contributions elsewhere.

Johnson (2010) notes that teams go through stages, e.g., forming, norming, storming, and performing (p. 17). In the first stage, she posits that it is more important to build trust and relationships than it is to immediately begin assigning roles. I would argue that this is true; however, in the context of our classroom team arrangement, the extremely foreshortened timeframe doesn't leave a whole lot of time for trust and relationship building. That said, I think we're off to a good start. Johnson (2010) also notes that all teams must find a way to manage internal conflicts; if they avoid conflict altogether, the team is actually weaker. I concur with Johnson (2010) that we need to encourage open discussion and appreciate achievements. These factors will help build trust and create a stronger team.

 

Post 2

What experience (if any) have you had in working as part of a team?

I have extensive experience working as part of a team to accomplish a particular task. I have been part of an informal team such as hosting family gatherings to a formal organization coaching a sporting event. There are challenges and benefits working in a team environment

What aspects of the experience were positive?

One aspect is viewing different perspectives and thought processes by each member of the group. The idea of collaborating could ease the workload carried by each person in addition to the feeling of reaching a goal with others. What aspects of the experience were negative?One aspect of working in a team environment is the impact of people in the group resisting compromise. I believe that is important to effectively resolve conflict and not take feedback personally. Ultimately, the goal should be to reach the 'goal'. 

What tips or best practices from your experience or from your readings can you offer that you believe can be used to make the team experience in this course a positive one?

I would suggest that everyone accept feedback as constructive, and more importantly, provide constructive feedback that is helpful and directed in a professional and e manner. Everyone deserves respect; even while providing constructive feedback. This could established by creating group norms so that everyone has a clear understanding about proper decor when providing. I believe that it starts with FORMING. As Penny Johnson put it, "Caution, Courtesy, and Confusion are dominant" (Johnson, 2010, p. 17) at the outset so it will be vital to the group's success

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Status NEW Posted 25 Jul 2017 07:07 AM My Price 10.00

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