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The present articulates it proposes certain parameters to work in team inside the classroom it is a simple alternative as introduction so that each teacher continues to experience in his class different options of living the docencia, to foment the participation and the tolerance, the objective is to present to the teachers basic tools and dynamics to be able to establish a different form of recreating a living room of classes, this invitation tries to bring near to the educational one to the knowledge of what suggests the work in team in ten characteristics that you explain next this way: Initially it is presented the team concept; the why the work in team becomes a necessity to form from the school; the importance of the professor's paper in this task; definition of collective vision; how he / she conforms to a team;the organization of the classroom; norms that favor the dynamics of the team; lists, commitments and responsibilities of the members of a team; an evaluation alternative for the product that he / she carries out a team; and finally they spread some techniques to work in team.
This article was born from an investigation carried out at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and was carried out at the San Luis Gonzaga Fe y Alegría Educational Center in Bogotá to a population of 240 middle school students. This article proposes certain parameters for teamwork in the classroom; It offers an introduction, so that each teacher continues to experience in his class different options of living teaching as well as ways to encourage participation and tolerance. The objective is to present basic and dynamic tools that establish a different way of recreating a classroom. This invitation tries to bring the teacher closer to the knowledge of what teamwork suggests, in ten characteristics, which are explained below: The concept of team;why teamwork becomes a necessity to train from school; the importance of the teacher's role in this task; definition of collective vision; how a team is formed; the organization of the classroom; rules that favor team dynamics; roles, commitments and responsibilities of team members; an evaluation alternative for the product made by a team; and finally some techniques for teamwork are deployed.and finally some techniques for teamwork are deployed.and finally some techniques for teamwork are deployed.
1. Concept of team: The main thing that a teacher must do to enter to develop team activities is to clarify the meaning of this type of work. The District Secretary of Education specifies that this competence consists of “Working in coordination with others according to established agreements and goals to achieve a shared objective” (2004, pg. 37); At the same time, she says that achieving teamwork implies:
A concerted effort to reach common goals, ways of working, and mechanisms to regulate behavior. Working as a team is not being gathered in a space, at the same moment; it is to share ideals, forms of work and interests, it is to have a common purpose to which each one contributes.
Working as a team involves identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the group and not only of the parties and seeking mechanisms to continually improve the dynamics that exist among the people who comprise it.
The teacher must not only be clear about the concept of teamwork, but also, once he understands it, must project it to his students in a simple and clear way, relying on the concept that man is a social being and therefore Motive for learning depends largely on the neighbor, because through him he achieves communication, the exchange of ideas, and the construction of knowledge.
2. The need to work in a team: Teamwork is based on collaboration since the human being lives with different people every day, a circumstance that leads him to develop skills that allow him to carry out work with other individuals. This need can be established from the following parameters:
- Group action is usually safer and more effective than individual management or the simple addition of individual actions. Through collaboration, the pedagogical aids provided to students are more possible to optimize. Collaboration, through teamwork, allows analyzing problems They are common, with greater and better criteria. It demands among teachers who educate the agreement in common approaches as well as sufficiently coherent criteria and principles of action.
These requirements are possible with adequate coordination that provides the collaboration of teamwork, resulting in cohesion. This condition is justified in them as a mechanism to provide an atmosphere that encourages students to work with enthusiasm and feelings of property and belonging towards the school; Collaboration through teamwork is an unavoidable objective in education because from there a social need is cultivated.
Teamwork in an educational institution goes beyond joint actions with one or more others, the purpose is to achieve the same goal from all levels: managers, teachers, students and parents.
In this sense, the collaboration between teachers who share their knowledge about work in the classroom serves to unify criteria and project themselves to students, not only for a single-subject disciplinary work, but to carry out interdisciplinary plans where they get out of the routine, offering better tools and environments for the construction of knowledge, an aspect that would bring practices closer to meaningful learning. It is important to bear in mind that this way of working among teachers presents difficulties due to the different actions that teachers carry out inside and outside the classroom; however for the students it is significant to observe how a work with different teachers becomes emotional when sharing resources to achieve specific purposes during a certain period of time,which has the following main characteristics and requirements: a) It is voluntary. b) It is established between equals; there is no predominance by any of the teachers; It is done in accordance with circumstances, regardless of ranges or administrative situations. c) It is based on loyalty and trust. d) It implies, therefore, a certain school time outside the normal classes. e) It supposes, unlike simple cooperation, to carry out jointly, participatively, the design of the objectives that are intended to be achieved or developed; likewise agree on the work methodology and discuss and evaluate in common the process and the results.there is no predominance by any of the teachers; It is done in accordance with circumstances, regardless of ranges or administrative situations. c) It is based on loyalty and trust. d) It implies, therefore, a certain school time outside the normal classes. e) It supposes, unlike simple cooperation, to carry out jointly, participatively, the design of the objectives that are intended to be achieved or developed; likewise agree on the work methodology and discuss and evaluate in common the process and the results.there is no predominance by any of the teachers; It is done in accordance with circumstances, regardless of ranges or administrative situations. c) It is based on loyalty and trust. d) It implies, therefore, a certain school time outside the normal classes. e) It supposes, unlike simple cooperation, to carry out jointly, participatively, the design of the objectives that are intended to be achieved or developed; likewise agree on the work methodology and discuss and evaluate in common the process and the results.jointly, participatively, design the objectives to be achieved or developed; likewise agree on the work methodology and discuss and evaluate in common the process and the results.jointly, participatively, design the objectives to be achieved or developed; likewise agree on the work methodology and discuss and evaluate in common the process and the results.
With all of the above, a work team consists of a group of people working together, who share perceptions, have a common proposal, agree to work procedures, cooperate with each other, accept a commitment, resolve their disagreements in discussions. open; the above does not appear automatically, but must be built little by little. We are talking about a collaborative action where discussion is not the objective but the means.
3. Role of the teacher: The first one who has to convince himself of teamwork is the teacher because he is going to be the driving force behind the activities. It seems clear that the teacher's task in relation to teamwork is essential to ensure that it works and that the learning and personal satisfaction of all its members is achieved. An organization of the classroom that encourages teamwork of the students requires the teacher aspects such as: careful planning, leadership, special methodologies, differentiated intervention and post-experience analysis.
Planning involves making important decisions. These decisions deserve some kind of reflection, such as prior learning of the procedures and attitudes necessary for collaboration. The degree to which group work is part of an activity shared by a group of students and teacher. Formed teams can ensure that varied and contrasting points of view emerge, so that the interactive dynamics are rich enough. An important aspect to take into account in planning is the composition of the groups: Should we intervene in it? Should students be left to decide who they want to work with? As always, it depends on the objectives that are intended to be achieved. However, we must reject the idea that the only teams that work are those that form spontaneously.On the other hand, we know that heterogeneous teams allow students, in addition to contrasting opinions and arguments, living with different people, a circumstance that favors the acquisition of non-discriminatory attitudes. The teacher can intervene in the formation of the groups whenever he considers it convenient.
Through their intervention, the teacher can tend to establish good interpersonal relationships; helps to keep the team's attention on the objective pursued and assesses the relevance of the actions taken to address it; in the same way it collaborates to reconsider the exercise of certain roles such as that of the slightly dominant leader or that which allows itself to be imposed; In short, it can contribute to making the task a challenge that fosters the development of the team, proposing new objectives or different conditions of achievement. It should not be forgotten that teamwork allows the teacher a certain distance from the continuous management of the class in order to favor the observation of their students in the collaborative situation.In this situation, he can notice behaviors that are less likely to occur in individual work, or in tasks that involve the team: knowing who asks for help, who incorporates it, who offers it, who organizes it, who teaches it. You can also see how the group responds to its own proposals.
This knowledge is of great value both to get a better idea of the capacities of different students and to serve them in a diversified way; In this order of ideas, interesting strategies are often learned from the interaction that the students have with each other.
A very important factor linked to teamwork and the performance of the teacher is the analysis and evaluation that he / she carries out of the experience, in order to incorporate the elements that said analysis reports to subsequent proposals. We refer, then, to the reflection on the practice carried out, always important in the completion of any activity done in class, it must be borne in mind that the procedures and attitudes involved in teamwork require a slow and progressive approach, hence the importance of using the various experiences in a formative sense, in order to improve the proposals.
4. Collective vision: One of the important tasks of the teacher is to promote the collective vision to develop the tasks undertaken. Group dynamics is fundamental given that man is by nature social and, in fact, lives in society. Education cannot be complete without the study of this field; the interdisciplinarity of knowledge, recognized today more than ever, implies a team task; the increasing complexity of today's society, on the other hand, forces shared responsibility and decision. This is how the active learning methodology is constituted as a team is the fundamental vehicle of approach that allows the adaptation of the training process within the classroom.
Some considerations for the proper functioning of teamwork are: Study in real contexts, take care of participation, do not create dependencies, be active and cooperative. In the same way, the exercise must show results, as content and process must be completely integrated.
Preparing students to be the type of professionals that today's society demands is the task; for this reason the formation of work teams in the classroom and the achievement of objectives that account for the task performed, hence the following options are required:
a) Encourage learning autonomously. Achieving this objective involves: Taking responsibility for your own learning, enhancing the critical spirit, learning from error, recognizing your own teaching needs and identifying personal objectives regarding the curriculum.
b) Solve situations of their future professional activity and relate the real world to theory.
c) Carry out collaborative work: Plan your own work, participate in decision-making about the process and tasks, assigning specific roles.
d) Developing communication skills (arguing, proposing and interpreting)
e) Develop interpersonal skills.
Achieving these goals is based primarily on active learning. For this type of learning, a series of conditions is necessary on the part of the student, the teacher, the program and the environment. The student must be aware that at any given moment they will have to face only their professional reality; For this reason, the primary objective is to enhance his ability to self-learn, that is, to learn to learn.
We must not forget the attitudes considered as objectives of the teaching-learning process: responsibility, quality, collaboration, attendance and punctuality, autonomy, etc., all of them fundamental in the exercise of their future professional activity.
5. Creation of the team: Working as a team is a complex process and requires a good understanding of the most relevant aspects: the decision of the tasks, the number of participants per team, the degree of homogeneity, the role of the teacher and, finally, how to evaluate both individual and team learning. Not all tasks lend themselves to sharing and teamwork; therefore careful planning is necessary. The composition of the student team itself plays an important role. How many students? The number of students is one of the first factors that is obvious. Any decision regarding this work in the classroom requires this preliminary step. Three? Five?
I wish there was a magic number that guarantees a pleasant and profitable teamwork. The choice of the number of components of a group must always be adjusted to the type of task and the learning objectives.
Complex tasks may exist where large teams are needed: careful resolution of different procedures and too much excess of these aspects encourages students to carefully distribute work; depending on the case, the teacher participates in its distribution.
Although there are no exact rules for the formation of teams, the teacher must be clear about general conditions: in various tasks, students can voluntarily establish according to their affinities, this allows better control so that students do not jump from team to team each time. they want. An ideal number to work with can range from four to six students; ideally, the team should be mixed.
6. The organization of the classroom: To accommodate multiple groups within a classroom, spatial distribution is paramount. For the group to function properly, it is essential to have modular tables or round or oval tables to promote interpersonal communication. Although it is difficult to find classrooms of this type, it is necessary to create the appropriate environment and the ideal is to organize a circle with all the groups to facilitate mobility. An interesting factor in the recreation of the classroom is the proxemic "the word proxemic serves to designate the interrelated observations and theories of the use that the subjects of a certain culture make of the spaces (…) On the other hand, non-verbal communication of the type gestural, comes to play a determining role (…) The interesting thing about this fact is the need to affect our body, the body and the mind of the listener.”(Jiménez, 2003, P 160). According to the same author, there are data that reflect the vision of the students when the classroom space becomes proxemic like that of teamwork. Transforming a classroom into a circle means for students:
- Discuss with each other, which improves discussion and communication Greater communication with the teacher Better understanding given visibility Better focus of attention Improved breathing due to freedom of space Greater organization of space Greater freedom of movement
The above reasons reaffirm that the ideal is to transform the classroom space to create that desired environment in the development of effective work. Also, it is good to emphasize that the classroom is not only made up of the four walls of a room; It is essential to organize extramural activities.
7. Rules to promote team dynamics: In order for the team to function properly, the dynamics are geared towards students arriving by themselves, through analysis, observation, reflection and their own experience in achieving objectives. The confrontation of ideas, opinions, means the vitality of the group and the possibility of progress, this allows greater cohesion as a team. The success of its operation is directly linked to the quality and number of interactions as well as the intensity and equality of participation. The teacher who works with his students as a team should keep some rules in mind as indicated by Antonio Medina (2003, P, 80).
“A) Teach students to work together: show them the behaviors that enable cooperation.
b) Assign tasks to each member of the group and teach how each can help another.
c) Follow group activities and make suggestions when necessary.
d) Control the composition of the group, to avoid incompatibility situations.
e) Select the topic and tasks for the group.
f) Encourage conversation during group activities.
g) Arrange the organization of the classroom in a way that allows proximity between students, but also work ”
For a teacher who is involved in teamwork with his students, it is important to give step by step the guidelines so that later each team not only works autonomously but creates its own regulations; the teacher only guides and gives ideas, but the transcendental task is built by the group.
8. Roles, commitments and responsibilities: Another important part of the teaching work is to explain within each group the roles that can be performed and the tasks that correspond to each one. At the beginning of the work, the teacher can suggest some guidelines, but later it is up to the team members how it works, how the roles are performed, role changes and work rhythms; in such a way that it grows in the collective identity and consolidates itself from their own experiences, taking into account that the roles must be rotated, this allows everyone to develop the same skills and it is not always the same student who serves as rapporteur or moderator. Likewise, by rotating the roles, the participation of all members will be strengthened in the team,the production increases and the cooperation and contributions of all the members is made from the multiple ways of seeing the problems.
In addition to the above, when roles are rotated, the responsibility of the team increases since it will not be the same student who always assumes the commitment in front of the course in general, as well as the self-esteem of each of the team members is increased by It is shown that everyone can play and fulfill any role, thus preparing a comprehensive team that does not depend on some of its members.
9. Evaluation of the team's product: It is understood that the evaluation of teamwork has a clearly pedagogical function; that is, it is at the service of regulating teacher intervention and self-regulation of student learning and that of the group itself. From this perspective, it is essential that they can use group work to implement autonomous learning strategies.
The evaluation is perceived to serve this process and has certain objectives: to ensure that the proposed task is appropriate for the team that must undertake it; Ensure that students understand and share goals with teamwork. Therefore, there must be an initial or diagnostic evaluation with which fundamental aspects of the team are verified, such as: the degree of cohesion, the level of mastery of the subject, the ability to propose and autonomy, the management of interpersonal relationships, planning and production capacity. The guide must make sure of the state of these parameters in order to carry out the planning of the tasks and, in accordance with this verification, look for strategies that allow improvement, not only in the subject matter of work but in the enhancement of teamwork skills.
The teacher's intervention here is very important so that the evaluation process is completely in line with the development of the activity. It is, at the same time, a formative evaluation because it allows the teacher to learn from the group's difficulties and intervene in such a way that it contributes to overcoming them; Likewise, the action of the teacher helps the students to become aware of the reason for the activities in teamwork, which by means of these is enhancing many capacities that not only the school but society in general requires. This allows teams to meet their difficulties and self-regulate their own process to move forward.
The observation of the process, on the other hand, offers numerous indicators to examine the assessment that is made of the result of teamwork, therefore the observation should be made based on parameters that the teacher establishes in conjunction with the teams, these can be: fulfillment of the objectives, effectiveness in the methodology outlined by the team, capacity in the exchange of roles, management of interpersonal relationships, good use of a registration instrument. These aspects take on an appreciable value if one takes into account that not only the practice of teamwork is based on a theme, but that the theme is an excuse for training in this skill. Setting parameters with the course and making them visible allows self-regulation and continuous reflection among the team,Because they clearly know the indicators to be achieved, the partial elaborations with respect to time, the quality of the work, the way of communicating or supporting it, in other learning environments this is called the construction of an evaluation matrix.
Achieving the above allows to have a visible and valued result, which was born from the same team, which was built and evaluated among all, these aspects allow to grow in the group and at the same time have feedback about the result, not only by the teacher but also by all the colleagues. It should be borne in mind that at the beginning, students will find it difficult to establish relationships for the construction of the evaluation matrix since it will not only observe performance in the subject but also improvement as a team, learning to cultivate the self-critical sense.. In this aspect, communication must be clear and the teacher must lead the discussion, debate and proposal so that all teams can learn from the experiences of others; of failures,errors and successes.
In this sense, the evaluation related to the product elaborated by the team, acquires all its pedagogical meaning and contributes to the students knowing the criteria used to evaluate their work, as well as its management. For teamwork, evaluation strategies can be introduced that take into account the social dimension of the task; It is about taking advantage of teamwork so that your evaluation includes, for example, the exposure that the team members carry out of their task in a social situation. Such a situation allows evaluating procedures and attitudes that would otherwise escape the teacher's observation capacity. The aim is to ensure that the team is able to self-evaluate its operation and the result of its work by promoting collaboration between students around a task,and promoting autonomous learning strategies, a path that leads to an education for life training and not only for the moment in which the activity takes place in the classroom.
Self-evaluation based on the evaluation matrix allows control, regulation of the task by the team, its redirection when necessary, and forces not to lose sight of the objectives pursued. Learning to self-assess is difficult.
It can contribute to this learning to the extent that habitual activities are used in the classroom, for example, the correction of tasks or duties prepared by the students, the criteria that are taken into account to evaluate it and the measures that should be adopted from the observed. Such reflection is beneficial for teamwork between students and allows the promotion of cognitive aspects, improve the ability of autonomous learning and improve constructive relationships with others. TM
The matrix built by the teams helps the self-assessment process by providing guidelines and guides that allow them to establish a balance, both of the process followed, of the difficulties encountered, as well as the resources used to overcome them and the result achieved. It is important to note that to guide teamwork there are no infallible recipes; perhaps the only thing that works for all cases is the recommendation to reflect before, during and after the proposal, on whether the decisions that were made to achieve the purposes were the most appropriate, of course leaving everything systematized so that future experiences are more productive not only for a teacher but for the institution.
10. Techniques for teamwork: The technique is the design, model, from which it is intended that a group works, is productive and reaches the objectives. The techniques are made up of various elements that guide the different groups to achieve their goals. We consider that the success or failure of the application of group techniques does not depend only on the technique itself, but also on the experience and sensitivity of the person applying it.
There are many working methods and tools that can be applied to teaching teamwork for specific purposes: Antonio Medina tells us that the determined technique must be adapted to various requirements "a) Personal characteristics of the components; b) group environment and size; c) objectives pursued; d) ability of the group leader ”(p 284) The same author teaches us five techniques that are most used within the classroom:
1. Discussion group: free topics or organized conversation on a school subject.
2. Round table: it is about confronting positions on a topic.
3. The symposium: several students present divergent opinions on a topic and the listeners make comments or questions about the exposed.
4. Philips 6-6: Divide a large group into subgroups of six people and discuss a topic in six minutes. After the sharing all the groups enter to generate the discussion.
5. Role-playing is a role play where students discuss what is observed and propose solutions.
Regarding the technique that is going to be used, the main thing is that each teacher understands what he wants, there are many ways in which one can work as a team, even the teacher can recreate the classroom with activities that he himself develops. An ideal aspect and where the students are going to be motivated is the leisure class, understood as “an attitude, a predisposition towards life, towards everyday life. It is a way of being in life, and of relating to it in those daily spaces in which enjoyment, enjoyment occurs, accompanied by the relaxation produced by symbolic and imaginary activities such as play, jokes, a sense of humor, art, and another series of activities (sex, dance, affectionate love) that occur when we interact with no other reward than the gratitude that these events produce. ” (Jiménez, p 16-17);it can be specified that the following processes are promoted from the play:
“Capacity for abstraction and critical judgment to be innovative and creative.
Ability to understand new models of communication and teamwork.
Ability to promote peace, cooperation and solidarity processes.
Ability to understand systemic and dynamic problems.
Capacity of wonder and curiosity.
Ability to promote action and management processes at the social level.
Ability to imagine and fantasize.
Ability to link the operational with the emotional and with the cognitive.
Ability to handle and process information, not to memorize.
Ability to read and write the new codes of modernity.
Ability to produce new knowledge. ” (Jiménez p 35)
Every time the playful element is used in a session to work as a team, the teacher transforms his living teaching space into a dynamic setting where students go to learn and have fun. There are many techniques, such as: case methods, problem-based learning, classroom projects, debate, simulation games, research, conversations, interviewers, etc. The interesting thing is that each teacher turns any technique into a pedagogical strategy in order to understand what they plan and evaluate so that in the end they realize an outcome.
The traditional classes where the teacher is the only one who participates and speaks do not show the construction of knowledge because it is based and builds on interaction, for this reason the classroom must be brought to life with multiple alternatives, among them, the teamwork.
In order to carry out this learning of teamwork, it is necessary for a series of conditions to be met: by the student (aware of the usefulness of what he learns), by the teacher (facilitator, motivator, creative, counselor…) these two elements They are possible to achieve if the one who leads it, that is, the teacher, manages to infuse, channel and dream.
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