We > Me

A Cultural Shift: Individual vs Group Mentality

While at The Boeing Company I was able to see and hear from many employees who spoke to the cultural shift from individual success to group success was a growing need. Over the next five years fifty percent of The Boeing Company's employees will be able to retire. And this poses a number of problems. One in particular is losing valuable knowledge that those retirees have. Creating that cultural shift of collaboration vs individual is no easy task as it is ingrained in the American culture as a core value. While I still see the value in individuals and I have always enjoyed the collaborative process.

At a massive company like, The Boeing Company being able to collaborate is key to their success in the aerospace industry. It is important the we as educators push all students to work with diverse group members to best prepare them for the every changing workforce.

In my classroom I find ways to constantly foster students outlook on the collaborative process. The growth in community from August to June is visible and palpable by November. I love that students discover each others strengths and areas to improve. And then with little effort from me they support each other in all areas and celebrate their individual and group success.

Quotes that I hear throughout the school year that make me smile:

"Wow, you have really improved your grammar."
"You guys we did it, this looks great!"
"You can do it, you just have to work hard."
"Wait Sara is really good at this, lets see what she thinks."

Ways I work to build a collaborative classroom  community starting the first day of school and beyond:

1. To succeed, we need: This is an activity that creates a class promise/pledge that will be present in our classroom all year. It is great because all students create it and are reminded when they are not adhering to it from their peers and me. I start by having students independently brainstorm what they need to succeed in our classroom on sticky notes. Next in small groups they compile their list with common needs they recorded. Then we create a class list compiling all ideas and students take those needs and write them on sentence strips in any style they choose; which will be posted to create our classroom pledge on butcher paper. We will recite this pledge throughout the school year to keep it alive.

2. Group Norms: Each group will create their own group norms no more than five that will aid in collaboration.

3. Snapping: When students share ideas or answers the class will snap for ideas they agree with or find interesting. Great way to build student self-esteem and active listening.

4. STEM and Problem Based Learning: They quickly learn when posed with a real-world challenges that they need the strength of others to develop a plan of action in order to solve a problem that may have multiple solutions. Through this process they in turn learn that everyone has something to offer.

I do think that it is important to find a balance as an educator between collaboration and individual tasks. There a fine line when students work collaboratively to ensure that collaboration is taking place as well as  individual learning and accountability. The key is getting students to see that everyone thinks differently and the power of actively listening to others in order to work in a collaborative setting that includes and values all members.