Reflection Paper On Working Together

Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success.”

In my classroom my goal is not only to teach my students, but to also have my students interact and work with each other on a daily basis. I want them to develop life-long skills such as respect, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and leadership. The beginning of the year starts with a discussion about respect and what that means in our classroom and in our school.
I teach both math and science and I incorporate group work in my class on a regular basis. My room is arranged with round tables that promote student interaction. My premise is that we all have to learn to work together to help each other out. We are all human who are capable of mistakes and we are not perfect. Therefore, we need to be forgiving, caring,
They are communicating with each other and thus learning to give and take with each other. I am not saying there are no arguments but they know that in my class they have to work together. One person on the team making the decision is not an option. In science we have lab groups and each person in the group has a job. Jobs are decided on by the team members and a student can’t be the lab leader for every lab. Each person gets a card with the name of the lab job with a description of their job responsibilities. For example, one person has the job of the “encourager.” Their job is to monitor all team members to ensure they do their own jobs. They also take responsibility for praising and affirming jobs well done. They record comments and actions that show positive interpersonal communications. The lab jobs encourage responsibility and ensure that students are focused on the lab. It also allows for self-confidence and student growth