Global Collaboration: What I have Learned

At the elementary level, we do a great deal of instruction that does not directly involve a reading or math curriculum.  One of the areas we focus on is working collaboratively in a group.  Students as young as kindergarten can state the importance of listening, patience, cooperation, and flexibility when working with a team. 

One would think that if you are teaching and encouraging this on a daily basis, an individual be somewhat of an expert in the area.  After my global collaboration project for a graduate course, I felt like that was not the case for me.

The content was not a challenge for me.  Our topic was one that I am passionate about.  I am comfortable with all of the tools and resources we used.....I LOVE Powtoon!  I found the the hardest things for me were the skills I work on with K-4 kids everyday.......

In order for this project to be successful, I needed to become more regular at checking my UNI email.  I do not check it daily.  Up to this point, I checked it once a week.  That was not enough when it come to collaborating with a team cross-country.  I have added my UNI email to my bookmarks bar so that I see it everyday.  That has been a good reminder when I am on my computer Monday-Friday.

As a working mother that is very involved in the community, my calendar is PACKED!!!!!  Between PTO, band competitions, violin lessons, and teacher leadership, I am gone almost every night of the week.  I have made my Thursday night classes a priority but making time to meet with 2 other groups throughout the week was difficult for me.  I am fortunate enough to have an extremely understanding family, but I felt like I had little flexibility when it came to scheduling group Zoom meetings.  I recognize that this was an area where I let my team down, but I am not really sure how I could have created that flexibility without compromising even more of my family obligations.

My teammates did a great deal of the work for this project.  I know that I was patient and open to any and all of their ideas.  I gave feedback and provided some data that helped guide our process.  I need to be comfortable with the fact that I did not take on a leadership role for this project.  That is outside of my comfort zone.  Historically, I am the member of the group that takes charge.  I feel anxious and often have little faith in the rest of my team to do things correctly on their own.  I see this as an area that I made improvements.  I did not loose sleep at night worrying about the progress of the project.  I was confident that my team was putting together something that we were all proud of.  In the end...I was right!