Team Interdependence
As the students get accustomed to working together, you may have questions about effectively managing a classroom of teams. The following are commonly raised questions and some possible solutions.
How can I encourage the students to rely on their team instead of on me?
When teams are functioning well, the students recognize that part of their job in class is to challenge and support their partners and their teams. They know that their work is not complete until every member of the team understands what has been taught and is prepared to show their knowledge either through questioning or through informal or formal assessment. They also understand that the success of their team depends on the contributions of each teammate. To facilitate teamwork, ask questions like the following as you visit teams:
- How are your teammates helping you with this task? How are you helping them? What can you do if you encounter a problem completing this task?
- Do you agree with your teammates’ answers? Do you have anything to add? What if you disagree?
- Did you ask three before me? Can anyone else on your team answer that question? What about someone on a neighboring team?
What if teammates work independently or if one student does all the work?
To encourage team members to work together, use routines like Chip In and Round Table to promote 100% participation. Require all team members to share their thinking processes for completing a problem. Use a Talking Stick or have the Discussion Starter facilitate this activity by modeling his or her answer and asking others to do the same. For written team-based activities, offer each team member a different color pen, and require that the fi nal product show approximately equal amounts of each color. Monitor teams closely, and publicly praise teams who are working well together or whose fi nal product clearly represents the efforts of the whole team.
How do we support/build interdependent teams?
Interdependent teams are the true form of cooperative learning as defi ned by PowerTeaching and the Sucess for All Foundation. Team interdependence happens only when students work together to learn and are responsible for their teammates’ learning in addition to their own. Team celebration points are warded, and teams are recognized for their success. The major difference between interdependent teams ad table teams is that teammates on interdependent teams are held individually accountable by incorporating an academic measure as a means to determine whether teammates prepared one another for the formal assessment. The only way an interdependent team can succeed is if all team members learn and show mastery of the concepts and skills for the learning cycle.
To reinforce team interdependence, points for positive behaviors that support the fi ve team cooperation goals are awarded and charted on a team score sheet. The goal of awarding team celebration points is to reinforce the idea that students work together to help one another learn. When teams display the positive cooperative behaviors as defined by the team cooperation goals, provide specific feedback, and award team celebration points.
These points should be awarded daily and are factored into the overall team success at the end of each PowerTeaching cycle.
