Blog the Fifth

“Working in teams and working as a team in a cooperative manner was precisely the way Jesus engaged in ministry. It gave power and was truly transformative.”

— Stephen K. Pickard

Introduction

In October my kids celebrate their half-birthdays. That means that by October it has been six months since our family has hosted a birthday party. Six months since adrenaline-driven excitement has dominated our household. Six months since I have felt the rush that accompanies intensive party planning.

By October I get antsy. So we have celebrated half-birthdays by throwing unbirthday parties. We have hosted Halloween parties at home. We have turned our family Thanksgiving* celebration into a bigger affair by welcoming homegroups into our house for the occasion.

In October 2018 I was technically unemployed, having recently resigned from my position as nightshift caregiver while I contemplated applying to study to become a teacher. However, I was also our church’s recently inducted Voluntary Families Pastor, so I decided to put my annual October itch to good use and throw a community Light Party hosted by the church.

I announced my plan to the congregation and requested help, telling them, “I cannot do this without you.” But when people offered their assistance and inquired when they should come help I told them to arrive at 4:30pm on the day of the party.

The party was advertised to begin at 5:00pm.

That October I spent hours and hours creating flyers and doing letterbox drops, putting together games, purchasing materials, filling bags with glow sticks and lollies, organising prizes, baking cookies, and planning decorations and lights for the disco.

The day before the party I made 100 candy apples in a variety of flavours and colours.

The morning of the party I was a wreck. There was so much to do and so much was not working out. This is when the church office staff swooped in to help. They blacked out the hall for the disco, set up party games, prepared the sausage sizzle, and thought of a whole bunch of details I had not even considered.

In the end we had 140 children come through our doors. The party was a success.

But it was not my success. If things had gone the way I planned and I had done everythingmyself it would have been a complete shambles. The children of the Omanu community would have not had nearly as much fun.

I learnt an important lesson that day about the value of teamwork.

*In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October.

Teamwork

Granted a community party is very different from teaching. Much of teaching “tends to be a solo activity” – the lesson planning, the marking, the instruction are all often done in isolation from other adults (Heinemann, 2009, p. 9). In some ways there is not the immediate obvious need for teamwork. Yet as I learnt through my experience with the Light Party, talking through the planning process with other supportive adults is beneficial. Apart from the support, hearing from other perspectives can help strengthen good ideas and point out ideas that might not work so well. This is particularly important as a beginning teacher who is still learning the curriculum and developing a repertoire of material and strategies.  

If I had chosen to let other people into my party planning earlier I would have been much less likely to face the morning of the party certain I was failing the children of our church and community. Wolgast & Fischer (2017) conducted a study that affirmed their theory that when teachers combine their efforts, engage in relationships of mutual assistance, and share their resources their stress levels decrease. This mutually supportive relationship amongst colleagues or members of a team is called collegiality. “Collegiality exists,” explains Van Brummelen (2009), “where the whole staff eagerly and collectively focuses on improvements that benefit student learning” (k.l. 5164-5165). In other words, teachers’ interactions are much more likely to be supportive and positive if they are “cooperating to reach a common goal,” specifically, the goal of transformative student learning (Wolgast & Fischer, 2017, p. 101).

Metaphors for Goal-Oriented Teamwork

The Apostle Paul provides an effective metaphor for teamwork in his first letter to the church in Corinth, saying, “the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12, ESV). Norsworthy builds on the metaphor when she speaks about “the integrated parts of the human body all working together in their unique fashion” as useful for understanding connected, relational pedagogy that is “purposeful and therefore transformative” (Norsworthy, 2007, p. 33). The NZC advocates for teams in which each member has a defined role to play that is agreed upon by everyone (TKI, 2015). Such teams are effective because they are “aware that successful collaboration and problem solving require respect and trust and that they are challenging to achieve but can lead to significant change” (TKI, 2015, para. 2). We are not our students’ only teachers, nor should we feel the need to work in isolation. If transformative student learning is education’s goal, then we teachers need to work together to become a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Here’s where things get personal. The Light Party was not an unprecedented incident. Pickard comments that in order for teams to actually work its members need both grace and forgiveness, due no doubt to the inevitable differences of opinion and clashes of character that occur in any team setting (Pickard, 2009). I would argue that teamwork also requires humility. I frequently attempt to carry too great a load because I struggle to humble myself and confess that I need help. I also, quite simply, do not like asking for favours. I would rather hoist the entire burden onto my own back than burden someone else.

In Otumoetai College’s English Department I saw things being done in a different way than that to which my natural disposition inclines. While I am quick to answer offers of assistance with, “No thanks. I can do it myself!”, at OC I saw experienced teachers frequently asking for others’ input, help, or cover. Where I tend to plan and implement ideas without reference to others’ opinions (in part because I am scared of those opinions), I witnessed frequent departmental discussions about the best way to help a struggling student learn or to teach a tricky assessment standard. These teachers realised that they had a team to rely on and turn to when things became too much. They also knew that what mattered was not their own prestige but their students’ learning.

My Role

I am shortly to begin working at a Christian school, thus the biblical metaphor of the body is particularly apt. If “in Christ we are indeed ‘one of another’. . . .this will be the mark of those ministries that serve the kingdom of Christ” – that we work in collaboration in the hopes of seeing transformative learning that goes beyond the intellectual to the spiritual (Pickard, 2009, p. 225).

In another of Paul’s letters he reminds his readers that their attitude should be like Christ’s, who came in humility, gathered a team around himself, and brought about the ultimate transformation of his creation. “Complete my joy,” exhorts Paul, “by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). As I step out of this programme and into the workforce I need to allow myself to be transformed by humility so that I, too, can be used to transform.

References

Heinemann, H. (2009). Teacher: Christlike colleague. Christian School Teacher, Fall, 8-10.

Norsworthy, B. (2007). Pedagogy as person: Relational and transformative teachers. Christian School Education, 10(3), 32-34.

Pickard, S. K. (2009). Theological foundations for collaborative ministry. Farnham, England: Ashgate.

Te Kete Ipurangi (2015). Working in a team. Retrieved on 8 November, 2019 from https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Inclusive-practices/Implementing-an-inclusive-curriculum/Working-together/Working-in-a-team?fbclid=IwAR0Rvdh0VhRhTYMMSVCZc0OHbiDbb3hvclnZekMUIFtWM2nSvh39MlvzQ5s

Van Brummelen, H. (2009). Walking with God in the classroom: Christian approaches to teaching and learning [Kindle Edition]. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications.

Wolgast, A., & Fischer, N. (2017). You are not alone: colleague support and goal-oriented cooperation as resources to reduce teachers’ stress. Social Psychology of Education, 20(1), 97–114.