Key Qualities of Teammates: Focused, Hardworking and Fun too

Today we reconstituted our small groups for science. One student was late getting their name into the bowl so did not get randomly assigned to a group, so I deviated a little from our standard procedure and asked him which group he thought would be the best for him. Not which group he most wanted to be in, but which group he could be most effective — and learn the most — in. But, as a means of following up on all of our discussion at Heifer about what makes a community, before I gave him the chance to answer I asked the entire class to identify what qualities they thought they brought to their groups, and then, separately, I asked them what qualities the would like their teammates to have.

Qualities students would like to see in other people in their working groups. — Figure 1. Qualities students would like to see in other people in their science working groups.

I got a number of interesting answers to the question about what they thought their qualities were. I know how hard it is to self-assess sometimes so I required that they could only put positive qualities, and allowed them to ask their peers for an external perspective.

My favorite response was from one girl who asked her friend sitting next to her what her positive qualities were, and the friend responded, “bossiness”. She thought about that for a second, then nodded and said, “that sounds about right.” When I asked them both why they thought “bossiness” was a positive quality they explained that the one girl was good at taking charge when necessary, and telling everyone what to do. I couldn’t argue with that description, because I’d observed it in their previous group work. The key part though was the “when necessary”, because while she does take charge, she’s very good at managing her group: giving everyone the opportunity for input while still being decisive. Instead of bossiness, I’d probably have used the term “leadership”.

After they had the time to compile their list of qualities they wanted to see in teammates, we compiled a list on the whiteboard (see Figure 1). Perhaps it’s just that they know what I want to hear, but it was quite nice to see that the top two characteristics were:

focused, and
hardworking.

“Smart” and “fun” were the next most popular on the list, but after some discussion I/we decided to drop the “smart” since their criteria for smart was just having a basic level of intellectual competence, and it was somewhat less important than the other major qualities listed.

Of the remaining three major qualities that they’d like to see in teammates — focused, hardworking, and fun — I asked them each to pick the one they were going to focus on developing over the next month of group work. I asked a couple of the students who chose “fun” to reconsider since it was already one of their current areas of strength.

I then let them pick a second quality to work on from the full list, and had them write their two chosen qualities down somewhere prominent, because we’ll be checking in with them regularly over the course of the next month to see what specific things they’re doing to work on them, and how their efforts are going.

Then I let the student choose his group.

The discussion took the entire class period, and we did not get much “science” done, but if it can get students to be a bit more focused on their work it would be well worth the time.

Points for Gryffindor: Houses in the Middle School

Science-houses — Keeping score of the house cup.

We were discussing the rules about how students should act when they work in groups: work to find work to do; allow people to work; be respectful; be focused on the project at hand. As the discussion evolved into what we should do about enforcement, one student suggested that positive reinforcement would be better than negative, so maybe they should get points for good behavior. Being students raised on the Harry Potter series, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would come up with the idea of separating the class into houses that could compete to see who got the most marbles/points.

Support for an inter-house competition was unanimous — after a little more discussion and explanation — and they were able to persuade me to try it. Each group would be its own house — they got to choose the names — and would earn marbles as a group.

I dug up some marbles and a few old jars overnight. I realized, however, that I’d run out of marbles pretty quickly if I gave them out as liberally as I wanted to, so I whipped up a website to keep score long-term.

They chose names. The names all ended up being Harry Potter themed — over some opposition within the groups, however. No one wanted Hufflepuff, and one group flirted with Slytherin, but we finally ended up with Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Chudley Cannons, and S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare). I think they may have, briefly, given each other individual names out of the books, but I was not privy to those deliberations.

How’s it working?

It’s working remarkably well so far. It was originally their idea, and they were forced to persuade me that it was worth trying, so I think they’re well invested in making it work. Our discussions have been much more organized, with fewer people speaking out of turn. And we’ve had much more discussion and questions among them since that’s one way to gain points.

I’ve made it a point to use the physical jars with marbles. They can hear the marbles clink when they fall in, so they get direct, unobtrusive positive feedback.

I’ve also made it a rule that they don’t get points if they ask for them — to reduce the lobbying — but they can still challenge if they did not get points they think they deserved; I always encourage them to think that they’re entitled to a reasonable response from me on any subject (its a good way of keeping me honest, and it helps them see the bigger picture).

The students were also able to change my mind about taking away points. I’d originally wanted to only give positive rewards, but they thought they could handle the negatives just fine, and were kind-of looking forward to them. And I have to admit they seem to work. Now, I’m not the only one trying to keep these adolescents in line. They’re getting pressure for good behavior from their peers; a much more potent source of influence for kids in a stage that features social development.

The inter-house rivalry is also healthy enough at the moment. They’re quite happy to see the other groups loose points, but seem to realize that openly advocating for it would not be a particularly advantageous move.

At the end of the quarter, the students want some sort of reward for the house with the most points. I told them that they should make proposals, because I had no good ideas.

In all, it has started quite promisingly. We’ll see how it goes.

September Storms in on the River

tstorm-1834 — A line of canoes float past limestone bluffs in the midst of a thunderstorm.

The middle school class has been reading The Tempest for language arts this semester. However, I had not quite realized that it was a presentiment of for our outdoor education canoeing trip. And not metaphorically — the group worked amazingly well together — but there really was a massive storm while we were out paddling on the Current River.

sfcplot_sm_20120926 — Weather map from Wednesday, September 26th, 2012.

On Wednesday morning, two hours before dawn, a cold front heading south from Canada met a warm front coming north out of the Gulf. They met and stalled, pushing waves of clouds and thunderstorms over us from the west.

The first wave hit while we were in our tents; the second during breakfast. One student recounted that his highest point of the trip was when he tasted his first pancake that morning. His lowest point was when the pancake was promptly soaked with rain.

The third wave met us while we were in our canoes.

Searing lightning, flashing across the ridges of the valley. Blinding white. Immediate thunder, roaring straight through the ears, reaching in, taking the breath, grabbing at the soul. Drenching rain — cold and hard — a deluge. One of our guides described it, afterwards, as a religious experience. I think I know what she meant.

tstorm-1828 — Our guide (Ronnie) takes refuge under an overhang during the height of the downpour.

But the kids were awesome. Drenched, cold, and scared they paddled on. I was with a small group that was bringing up the rear. We were far enough behind that, for a long time, I could not tell how the students in the lead were responding. Especially when, at the height of the downpour, the lead group went around a bend in the river and out of our line of sight.

tstorm-1829 — And there was a loud cheer.

I knew they were with our lead guide (Leah), whose skill and competence had already been demonstrated earlier in the day when one of the canoes had flipped. Yet, one always worries about how kids will react in stressful situations. Following the current around a gravel eyot, however, I heard a loud cheer. There was the line of canoes, pulled over waiting for us. There were the students, soaked and perhaps a little bit relieved, but with no panic in the cacophony of voices.

When everyone had caught up, we continued on. Eventually, we hit a landing and called an end to the canoeing. Although the rain had stopped it was still cold. So, a few students decided that since the river water was so cold, if they waited in the water, when they came out they’d feel warm. “I’m willing to deceive my body,” they said.

While we waited for the bus, we talked a little about what we’d been through. Despite the stress — or perhaps because of — there was lots of laughter and a growing sense of camaraderie. I took the chance to highlight some of the quieter voices, those students who tend not to complain or be too excitable, and who took the time to appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of what they’d been through.

While I would not have planned it that way, the storm, our tempest, forged bonds of common experience that will resonate with this group for years to come.

tstorms-1824 — The first raindrops create tiny, concentric, waves that spread out and merge gently over space and time.

Notes

Infra-red satellite imagery from Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 shows the waves of thunderstorms passing over southern Missouri (yellow dot) very well.

The individual images come from NOAA’s GEOS archive: http://www.goes-arch.noaa.gov/

(From our Eminence Immersion)