Team Work Approaches @ The Young Readers' Club

Collaborative learning for all types of readers

There is excitement in the air. It is team work day at the Young Readers' Club. Some want to get paired with their friends. Others are fine with working with anyone. We decide to take the random method of selection to be fair. Teams are decided and rooms allotted.

When I step into team A's room, there is much chatter. I hear them decide who should take up which task. I step out and stepped into team B's room. There seems to be a little confusion. They are unsure how to start and which element of the activity to start with. One child needs help understanding what the requirements are. All questions sorted, the team begins working. It is time for me to give them some time and space to figure things out.

The timer runs out. Team A is done. Team B begs for more time. Extra time is given but it never seems enough.

What went wrong?

Team A strategized on dividing the tasks between them as a means to efficiently finish the activity within the given time. They even checked if all elements were completed before turning in their findings.

Team B got a little too involved in the tough elements. They had divided the tasks between them in a different fashion. One looked for information and the other waited to write down the findings. Hence at any given time, there was one person sitting idle. In contrast, Team A had everyone working. There was no one sitting idle waiting to play one's role. They took help when they needed but made sure there was not one idle moment. They finished, checked and submitted. Then it was time to sit back and relax.

"What do you think of your approach?"

Team A explained that their approach worked perfectly well and wouldn't want to change anything. Team B said the same.

It appears that Team A's attitude towards the activity was in the lines of, "What's the best way for us to do this activity well within the given time?"

Team B had a completely different perspective. Everyone needs a task. Allocate each team mate a big task. Completing within time wasn't on their radar at all.

Team A also made sure that elements which had individual contributions were filled in. That meant both teammates thinking and writing simultaneously in the same google slide. Their slide got filled up parallelly.

Team B focused on filling the slides with some text, not all the time in accordance to what was specified. One person looked for information, dictated and the other wrote. Original individual contributions were not even considered. When original contributions were insisted upon, they picked one example and modified it in to two ways and wrote it down.

Could reading for pleasure have played a role?

Given the small numbers, it is hard to generalize. Team A comprised of avid readers from a young age. Access to books has never been an issue. They either have steady library subscriptions or are used to regular visits to bookstores. They were able to navigate through complexity of language in some parts and decipher information. Team B comprised of readers who read a bit when asked to read. They enjoy reading together but reading is not an activity they do willingly. They don't know yet what it feels like to spend time with a fascinating book. They are yet to find the book that matches their interests but access to books is limited.

It is possible that Team B found the task of looking for information, deciphering what was required and putting it all together perhaps as a mammoth task. Although they worked together, they found it difficult to comprehend information and hence needed more time. Nevertheless, their experience gives some food for thought. Could it be a vicious circle? Not willing to read is because of the inability to understand and being expected to read books that don't match reading levels. That results in an aversion to reading. As a result could there be a tendency to stay at the same level as years pass by? Could that just make them feel helpless in many similar situations in academics too?

Donalyn Miller in her book Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child explains why reading is about the children and books and uses the following anecdote from an English teacher.

As an English teacher at an alternative high school, I have seen many students who are non-readers become motivated to read simply through having the opportunity to choose their own books. In my view it is vital for our students to have easy access to books to which they can relate. When students find such books, they suddenly can't put them down. I love when this happens. - Terry, posted February 15, 2008.

That's such a fantastic heartwarming outcome for a teacher. It may raise concerns among the parents though. What if my child spends most of his or her time reading and academics get neglected? Valid concern. Becoming a proficient reader boosts their reading comprehension skills as well as their ability to absorb concepts. Needless to say that when this happens, time taken for academic work becomes shorter leaving time for other activities. It is a perfect win win!

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