Teaching is a team sport. Students depend on many different people to learn effectively, like parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, specialists, and administrators.
This is most obvious in special education due to a student having an IEP (Individualized Education Program) team, which is brought together formally and with a legal document, but lots of education teams come together informally for many different reasons.
But how do we work collaboratively in teams? And do we even LIKE to work in teams?
Working in teams can get complicated and frustrating fast. Have you ever been on a team in which you feel someone is uninformed, doesn’t do their work, or sees things very differently from you?
Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, created a model in 1965 about the phases of small group development. In 1977, Tuckman and fellow researcher, Mary Ann Jenson, published an article in Group & Organizational Studies, in which they revisited Tuckman’s original 1965 model for group development, and identified five stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
Since then, Tuckman’s model has been very popular, and in 2010, Denise Bonebright reviewed the research on Tuckman’s model and explained the five stages in Human Resource Development International. Here’s a brief description of the stages:
- Forming – The team is created, orients themselves to the task, and establishes routines and relationships.
- Storming – Team members become resistant to one another and it is “a time of intergroup conflict” (Bonebright, 2010, p.114).
- Norming – The group learns to work together and takes on roles to move forward with the task at hand.
- Performing – The team works efficiently, adapts quickly, and is fully functional to complete the task.
- Adjourning – The team separates and ends its work together.
This is a simple model that can be easily applied to many different types of teams. Although I realize that group dynamics can be far more complicated and nuanced, I think this model can be an important overview for any individual team member.
Personally, I have experienced each of these stages in my education career on multiple teams, and as you may have already guessed, storming was the most difficult team phase. The interpersonal conflicts that arise in this stage bring about a lot of tension, awkward conversations, and doubt about whether the team can work together at all. Communication is hard, and collaboration is even harder.
However, little did I know that norming and performing were right around the corner of our team journey. I have experienced these follow-up stages, and feel they are the most exciting part of being on a team. This is when parents and professionals have a mutual partnership, the team works efficiently, and each person’s expertise is being utilized.
It feels like getting past the muck of storming, gives way to the clear skies of norming in which team members finally buckle down in various roles and start getting serious work done. And it’s in the sunlight of performing that I find the most rewarding. I start to admire and respect the different talents of my team members and am grateful for their collaboration on a project. Our team products come easily, are well-developed, and surpass the goals of any task.
My worry though is this: Sometimes we don’t know that better team stages are coming our way. Instead, we may decide to stop working together as a team in the “storming” phase because of idealogical differences, opposite work styles, or countering opinions. However, when possible, my recommendation is this: WEATHER THE STORM.
By doing so, you bring about incredible new teaching strategies that are beyond what any individual teacher can create on his or her own.
Teaching effectively requires all players involved, like students, parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, specialists, and administrators, to work together. Team members can bring different experiences, talents, and ideas to any given situation.
Because of this, we need to make sure no one gets lost in the storm. We need each and every one of them on our team.
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