As a new year begins, the time has come for teachers to take a deep breath and think of the challenges that lie ahead and how they will prepare to tackle them successfully. On this occasion, I would like to devote a few lines to reflect on the notion of ‘teamwork’ for a language teacher.
Educators are part of an entire team of teaching professionals in any given educational organization. This team have goals to achieve and join efforts to fulfill: meetings, joint projects, you name it –-they are all part of the effort to ensure overall success. However, we cannot forget that they work in a singular kind of a team: they do not perform together; each of their class groups is also a team in itself, and they are the obvious leaders. Steering a class involves a series of responsibilities that they must assume. Here are some of those special concerns:
- Getting to know the team and setting the learning goals to be achieved. This involves patience, use of techniques to gather information about the current state of the students’ learning, and flexibility to adapt our original plans to something more ‘achievable’ in whatever period of time we will spend in charge.
- Organizing the team. This involves finding out the best ways in which we can get students to work more efficiently: Do they work best when they get into smaller groups? Are there any students that struggle to be an active team worker? What roles can students be assigned within study, enquiry or project groups? Can the rules be somehow negotiated?
- Encouraging tolerance. In many teams, there will be members who will not agree with some decisions made. Teachers should be aware of this and emphasize the importance of learning to ‘agree to disagree’ and forgo personal views when something bigger like a team project needs to be done.
- Creating an environment in which everybody learns. Although teams have a hierarchy, with the teacher at the top, this does not mean that the leaders do not learn anything while a task or project takes place. In fact, during the closing stage of an activity, teachers can share things they themselves learned from the discussion. This is a humbling exercise and one that should renew our spirits as lifelong learners.
Now that we are getting back to our teaching duties, let’s not forget about the real teams we lead, and focus our efforts on creating unforgettable experiences that will enable learning in a pleasant, safe and well-organized environment.
Now it’s your turn
How do you promote team building and team identity in class?
Share your experience
