10 Tips for Working in Student Teams
10 Tips for Working in Student Teams
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Learning to work in teams is vital to academic and career and job success. The key to successfully working in student teams is following these 10 tips.
Chances are pretty strong that you'll be placed in student groups and teams in several of your classes while in high school. Successfully working in teams is not only a vital skill to learn for your academic success in high school, but a career skill high-valued in today's workplace.
So, how can you become a successful member of a team -- whether it's your first group experience or your twentieth? Review these 10 tips for working in student teams.
1. Choose Team Members Wisely.
In some cases, your teacher will assign students to teams, but in many cases, students will be given the option of choosing team members. You may feel some pressure to choose your neighbor or your bestie, but your choice of team members should revolve less around who you are friends with than who has the right skills and motivation to excel in the team assignment.
2. Get to Know Your Team Members.
One of the best things any team can do to help individual members bond as a team is to share information about each other and seek out common experiences, cultures, attitudes, etc. A team-building, team-bonding session is important for the overall functioning of the team -- especially by the end of the project when things sometimes get a bit crazy.
3. Exchange Vital Information.
Share all the key communications information -- phone numbers, email addresses, IM screen names -- as well as other important pieces of data, such as class and work schedules, and best times to meet. Create a master list with all the key information and distribute it to each team member.
4. Choose/Agree Upon a Leader.
For some team projects, the teacher may appoint the leader. In situations in which no team leader has been identified, take the time in an early team meeting to identify and choose a team leader (or leaders). Regardless of the size or composition of the team, every team needs a leader to make certain the things that need to get done get completed.
5. Identify Each Member's Strengths.
Depending on the context of the assignment, identify each team member's strengths. For example, some people are better writers while others are brilliant at researching. Some people love to make presentations, while others would rather design the presentation (but not partake in it). Once you have identified each other's strengths, divide the critical tasks according to abilities and interests.
6. Actively Participate/Complete Assignments.
You cannot be mad at other team members who do not complete their work (the so-called slackers of the team) if you do not actively participate and complete your assignments. Even if you dislike the class or dislike your team members, or even if you are simply taking the class pass/fail, put all that aside and treat the work with the respect it deserves. You'll learn more -- and the team should earn a better grade because of it.
7. Don't Monopolize Conversations.
Even if you think you have the best ideas -- or even if you are the best student in your group, do not monopolize the team meetings. The best teams are the ones in which team members bounce ideas off of each other, leading to collaborative -- and often better -- ideas and decisions. As an extravert myself, I know how difficult it can be to sit quietly when you have something to say, but some members who are shy or introverted will not speak up if you don't stop talking.
8. Don't Pout/Retreat When Ideas Not Chosen.
Group projects are ALWAYS a compromise of ideas, so you should go into these situations with the notion that even if you have a brilliant idea for the project, it might not be chosen by your teammates. Be flexible and open to compromise. The key here is accepting the idea and moving forward with whatever decisions the team makes -- and fully supporting those efforts.
9. Monitor Team Progress.
Sadly, almost all teams have social loafers -- so-called slackers at the high school level -- that will not complete their tasks, or not complete them well. Certainly if you are the team leader, one of your key roles is making certain every one in the team is completing their assigned tasks. But there is no reason for you not to check in on the progress of the team when you are not the leader; remember, it's your grade at stake, so request the team leader keep the entire team abreast of every member's progress.
10. Use Peer Pressure to Motivate.
While the better students will often be motivated to perform their teamwork to the best of their abilities for the grade and/or the value of the learning experience, other students may need to be motivated to complete their work -- or complete it at a higher level. Because these students are most likely not motivated to work like you are, the best tool you have for encouraging them to work harder is using peer pressure -- using the power of the entire team to motivate them to work harder.
Final Thoughts on Working in Teams in High School
Working in teams is something that most people will do their entire lives, so it should be a welcome opportunity to get the practice of doing so while in high school. Teamwork can be exhilarating, educational, challenging, and frustrating -- all in the same team experience. The key to successfully working in teams is following these 10 tips. And the more team experience you gain, the more comfortable you'll be working in groups.
Alright, I like what you have here. This post on Teamwork really helps and gives us(students) a clear image of a leader should be like and how teamwork should look. I feel confident with team building in this class. -Sonya Vervoorn
ReplyDeletei like the structure and organization of this article. i will definitely use this article in the future
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThese tips are ones that I think will be very useful in helping us (the students) to work well in groups, as working in groups can be one of the hardest things about high school. I especially connected with choosing a leader, as in my experience one person always ends up being the leader anyway. The comment made about not being able to complain about people not working if you are not working was also very resonating with me.
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely pros and cons to working in a group. For example, working in a group allows for many more ideas. However, with more ideas will probably cause more conflict. The leader of the group should be able to ease this conflict and help to create a compromise. The leader of the group plays a vital role, and should be chosen wisely.
ReplyDeleteI like working in teams, it makes big projects easier. I don't like working by myself, I get distracted and feel overwhelmed doing a huge assignment. This article says that sometimes it's fun to work in groups with your friends, but you might not all have the skills to do the project that you would if you worked with people that weren't your friends.
ReplyDeleteThis is very useful. My team is going to use this to avoid conflicts and be good workers. As a team, we need to learn how to work together and become a great team.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of working in groups and being able to pick the people that you work with is a great idea -Rebecca Hughes
ReplyDeleteThis article was telling us how to work on a team. When working on a team we should play to our strengths and figure out was everyone else's is. This article was beneficial to me because I like to control things. We shouldn't do that, because projects are better when everyone's ideas are involved. We should also do our tasks to our best ability, and use what we did to make other people work harder. I have a habit of saying "you aren't doing that right, let me do it". We shouldn't do that. We need to let everyone do their own work so they learn the material too,
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis article is telling about how to work as a team. If this is done properly it can lower the work-load for everyone. But it can also have a negative effect and one person could be doing all the work and everyone else just sits and does nothing but still get credit. A good thing about working in a group is that you get so many different perspectives on the subject and that can be a really good thing.
ReplyDelete-Liston Bennett P.4
I like the idea of working together with students from their class, but how can we get for a student we have in our class to not be so shy and share with their group?
ReplyDeleteI think teamwork will help
ReplyDeleteFirst things first, if we choose to be on a team with our friends, then getting to know them will have already been accomplished. I understand that this often causes more socializing then working, but sometimes when random people have to work together, the project doesn't end u as well as it could, because everyone becomes more shy around people they don't know. A great example of a team of friends creating a great project would be Colorguard. Judging by number 10 ( use peer pressure to motivate) peer pressure must not be bad thing. So yes choose wisely, but it's okay if choosing friends is a wise choice.
ReplyDeletethis article is showing us how a camcorder and a phone camera are different from each other. like the lighting on the camcorder is way better then the camera on the phone. its just better than a phone camera .
ReplyDeleteThis just shows hoe team work is good. The only bad thing is if you have someone that doesnt wanna help or is to scared or shy.
ReplyDeleteThis will be a great way to get to know everyone in your team.
ReplyDeleteits best to have good team members who will put in just as much effort as you for good succsess
ReplyDeletei believe that team work can be perfect at times and others it can be a fight waiting to happen because there are day that you just wanna work by yourself and bust the work out but all in all i thing team work is perfect
ReplyDeleteTeamwork seems like an interesting idea i think if we all do this "Teamwork" this class will be a lot easier and it will be easier to get along with everyone
ReplyDelete^^^best out of 10
DeleteTeamwork is so important in life! It can help you overcome so many social fears. The better you get at speaking to more people, the better you will be at presenting to your teacher of future bosses.
ReplyDeleteThis tips are really useful, certainly this is the best way to make a good work in a team. Sometimes I prefer work alone but if the team work it's a good one with people that really participate I don't see disadvantages.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything stated in this post. I am really glad we get to work with groups through out school, because we'll have to in the working world. In the working world we'll need to be polite and work with others to get the job done. If you don't get the job done, you get fired.
ReplyDeleteI like team projects much better than individual projects. I don't get so overwhelmed with all the work. When picking out team groups I do think it is a good idea not to choose friends but people who are fit best for the project.
ReplyDeleteI believe that teamwork is a really risky thing. Most people just want to be with their friends and goof off. Usually you don't get work done. But if you really put your mind to a project you can get it done in a jiffy.
ReplyDeleteThese tips seem very useful and meaningful. I will definitely use this in the future. I agree with what this says, you need to pick people to be your teammates that will participate and work together as a team. I really dislike being in groups with people who slack off, because then they put the work on the smartest person there and that's not fair.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great points and ideas for when you're working in a team. Extroverts, maybe try to get the more introverted members of the team in there (I'm one of those). A good team needs a strong leaded for sure, someone that will be able to manage working process and keep everything rolling at a smooth and efficient pace. The best of leaders can't lead a group of slackers, though. So choose your teammates wisely!
ReplyDeleteI think teamwork is a good thing in a class. I didn't know you could peer pressure could be used to motivate someone in the group.
ReplyDeletei believe that team work is impotent and it teaches people how to work with others
ReplyDeleteI think that these steps will help make the project at hand much more successful
ReplyDeleteI agree with this blogpost, but some people want to do all the work, some work, and no work at all. I would rather be with a friend because I feel like i can talk about the work, but if i'm not with someone i at least know, i would feel very shy.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good article. I think if everyone would follow these steps working in teams would be much easier. You get to know everyone and I think this is really important. It's a way to make everyone feel comfortable with talking to his other group members. That's a good thing I think that is very important.
ReplyDeleteI believe that teamwork is good and a lot of it, because with a group of people doing the work and put more work into it you will get a better grade. Groups are 95% of the time okay. When they are not is when people choose the wrong people and they end up doing all the work or people fighting about the project.
ReplyDeleteThis post has a lot of great points about teamwork. Working as a group is a good way to meet new people and learn to work harder because now people are depending on you to do your work also. I don't personally enjoy group projects but it is a great way to talk to new people and not have all the work put on you.
ReplyDeleteI think that working with people can be really fun. Only if everybody did their job the right way. It can be really annoying if there is an individual in your group that does nothing. Working alone is sometimes preferable for me just because I don't have to consult ideas with anybody else. But working alone can get boring really fast if there's a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteI love how it is very organized.
ReplyDeleteIt also very nice that its helpful.
These tips are ones that will be useful in helping us as students to work well in groups .I think working in groups, is good sometimes more than others. Smaller groups are easier to collaborate with one another, where as big groups just become chaotic and stressful. I believe with choosing a leader, the most powerful and controlling one (not in a bad way) always takes that role. It is also hard to get a group who all works well together, without having one that does nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteI like working with people that I know because you can let them know what they need to do and count on them to do their work. If you have people in the group that don't do their job it can be frusterating.
ReplyDeleteComments: I like to work in groups a lot. Group projects personally are very fun and help me learn better too. Everyone should get to like work group projects because it helps you participate more in the class. Plus it is always fun to work with your friends! This article was very helpful.
ReplyDeleteComments: I think this is very helpful for us, the students to know what the main points of doing a team project is so they at least know what they are doing. I also think that they gave good tips to follow by like in paragraph #5
ReplyDeleteThis article will come in a lot of handy not only in the future but now as well. Everyone can probably agree at times they aren't the best group partner they can be and this will help remind us to fix ourselves. My only concern is that others won't find this article as serious as some of us, but like it says we just need to calm down and focus on being the best group partner that we can be and not get upset at other "slackers".
ReplyDeleteI prefer to work alone than with other people. I'll only go out of my way to work with close friends. I don't know why, but i just prefer to keep to myself and work alone.
ReplyDeleteThese guidelines seem easy to follow, and I'm interested to see how these rules play-out in each team. The only concern is, what if a certain group-member doesn't pull their end of the rope? Is the whole team punished?
ReplyDeleteI like how organized and complex it is. It is very helpful and gets right to the point. I like to work in groups as long as everybody participates but it can be frustrating. Working in groups is fun because you either work with your friends or work with other people which allows you to meet new people.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog is really good for groups and activities. I am definitely going to use it for future reference. I like how it gives good ideas for a group to be able to work together such as having a leader of the team. The ideas on this blog will help a lot of groups work more efficiently together too. I think that it also will help with organization.
ReplyDeleteThis blog really helps me get an idea for what a good group should be like to work in group activities. I will keep all 10 of these steps in mind every time we do group work in class. I'm very glad that Ms.Bryce had us read this article.
ReplyDeleteI like this article and it's more easier to be in a team it gets the project done faster and easier especially if you put a lot of work into it, it will get you a really good grade, teamwork is really good it brings more ideas in better than just one.
ReplyDeleteworking as a group is very helpful because if you don't understand something you can ask your group members so they can help you out.
ReplyDeleteworking together can be beneficial to you and the people around you
ReplyDeleteWorking in groups is fun and can be helpful to your education.
ReplyDeletekat owens
ReplyDeleteIf you get to pick your groups for an assignment, you should focus on who you will work hard with and get things done. Not really who your best friends are. Also choosing a leader or two could help. They would make sure everyone is on task. This article was good and talked about pros and cons of being in groups. You can all work together but some people could get by with not doing anything, so you have to keep them in line.
ReplyDeleteWorking in a group can be helpful if you follow these guidelines. If you are curious as to what you are supposed to do, you can ask help in your group and they can help you. It is also helpful because if there is a lot of work to do you can split it up between your group and you can get the project done. You should choose your group wisely and hope your group will be responsible and do their work.
ReplyDeleteI think that working in a group can be very helpful if you do follow these guidelines. When working in a group if you don't know a certain thing odds are your partner will. At the same time it can be challenging if you have teammates that slack witch is why I like picking my own partners.
ReplyDeleteWorking in groups can be both helpful and frustrating. When everyone in your group is cooperative it makes things both fun ans easy to get the project done. But when one or two people of the group are participating, it frustrates the others and no one wants or gets any work done. That's my experiences with group projects.
ReplyDeleteWorking in groups is something you'll have to do a lot of in the real world so it's a good thing to learn how to do.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is all true you will need teamwork your whole life and you need to learn to work together. If your a slacker you need to change your ways. And I know how hard it is to change something that you have been doing for a long time, but I over came my problem and it had nothing to do with school. Change is difficult, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. Be like the little train that could. He believed in himself and conquered the mountain he had to get over. You can do that to, just believe in yourself and anything can be possible.
ReplyDeleteThese tips are very fascinating. i think this one is very true, don't monopolize conversations because if you don't listen to others, they might have great ideas to not just you.
ReplyDeleteEma. F is Emalee Freeman
ReplyDeleteThis post is extremely helpful. All through out school and the work force we will have to work with others in a group. This tells us how everyone has a strength with group work and they work best when using this strength. Working with your friends may cause a lot of socializing but there is advantages. Getting to know each other is already done and you all know how to work with everyone in the group. This is a good tool for every one to know not just high school students.
ReplyDeleteI choose LAurel for my partner
ReplyDeleteI believe if we all follow these steps carefully, we would be able to accomplish thorough work.
ReplyDeleteI think if we are working in a group everyone should do the same amount of work and if one person doesn't do their part then they should get points taken off of his or her grade not the whole group.
ReplyDeleteI think its good to have a group to work with its fun and everything. But some people just dont do their own part i thin k points should be taken off for those people because its not fair for the rest of the other group.
ReplyDeleteI like you point!!!!!
DeleteTeamwork is very important in life, it can help you learn in a couple different ways. For example, if you have questions, you can ask your partners instead of not knowing.
ReplyDeleteTeamwork! It's tricky to find the right teams to work in but when you do, you have to be willing to commit. You need to be able to compromise and make decisions for the entire group. Also, you need to be able to step in and stop any conflicts that may occur or step back and don't add to the problem.
ReplyDeleteTeamwork is very important in alot of aspects of ones life. Teamwork helps with socialising and helping people with their needs. In school I feel like we don't get to pick our own teams.
ReplyDeleteTeam work is very important. You just have to make very wise choices when you are picking your class mates to work with.
ReplyDeleteI think teamwork is a great idea, depending on whose is in the group.
ReplyDelete