A less effective group session

This last Wednesday, our group probably had its least effective time period since I began using a stricter agenda. I started out mentioning what I had on the agenda and asking what they wanted to add - no one had any further additions. I also asked them if they knew whose project this was, they all knew it was theirs and that I was only there to assist them. I am glad that they are conscious of this, but I feel it wise to remind them that this project is all theirs.

 We were missing a different group member this time than last, which didn't hinder our work. However, the students were pretty sure she was still at school, except that she left thirty minutes prior for something. They asked me to wait, but no one could say when she was coming back - which she never did. So, we continued with check-in, which went pretty well.

Then I back tracked to what we had discussed the first meetings about our essential agreements. I had never had them sign it, and thought this would be useful in addition to having our newest member introduced to it. There were no major amendments made, though a 20 minute time out was proposed, which would essentially kick out a group member at the 2nd warning. I felt this might be too excessive and mentioned how we only had 40 minutes to meet, so we left it at 2 minutes.

I then mentioned that Madalynn of the no-gangs group had a speaker coming in a couple weeks from the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct: Karen Notsch. I spoke with her about having my group also participate in what she had to speak about since our topics were similar. She was okay with this so, and I informed my group that we would hae to be respectful while participating with another group focused on a different but similar topic.

 Our newest group member seemed disconcerted about bringing a cop to school, but we all talked about how this was pertinent to our subject matter. For some reason, he just wanted to make a big deal out of nothing. Literally, he said that the cops had "trespassed him from the city." Obviously, this could not happen, so I asked him what he meant. What it sounded like was that he and some friends were somewhere that cops told them they shouldn't be. He was never given any formal trespass notification from anywhere, which was all I could gather from some simple questions.

After this discussion, I continued on about the police officer visiting and how we should have prepared questions. Mistakenly, I made this a group discussion. In hindsight, I should have had them each write down some questions on their own and then brought them together as a group. We did come up with questions and picked a few we thought were most important. Then we chose two members who could ask them.

Then I introduced the mind-mapping concept to them - of connecting different people, places, and things that are related to our topic of drug abuse. My group seemed very distracted with too many side conversations. I could get most of the group interested at most times but they all seemed overly hyper on this day. We got a decent start on things, but by no means was our brainstorming as comprehensive as I had hoped for.

We had completed what we wanted on the agenda with a few minutes left to go over how things went. The students said that our group was not as focused as usual. They said they were not paying as much attention and that this really was something they needed to work more on. That they offered this tells me that they know what is expected of them, and that they needed to find better ways of interacting as a group to be more effective.

The students wanted to play a game toward the end. I said we would do this after we finished discussing our thoughts on today. They played a couple rounds of "ten" before the session ended at 10:40.

One stumbling block for our group cohesion was our quieter student. She offered few ideas throughout our meeting, and at the beginning she didn't offer how her week was going. She did offer after we asked her again that things were "okay." At the end, she did not want to play the game - even though she could have played to get "out" in the first round. At the end, I asked her if she could bring an idea for a game or something next time and we would try that.  Perhaps this will help if she has an idea. At least I know she wants to be in this group

What I think we need more than anything else is to gain some sort of experience on the subject matter beyond what is already known. Having someone who is knowledgeable speak to them about this subject more and offer their thoughts on what they could do might just get them thinking more. We still haven't decided on anything specific to work on yet - which is irking me. I really didn't like losing two more sessions due to field trips - it makes this much more urgent. I feel like when the group does have an epiphany it will be when we only have a week or two to realize it. It does make it more difficult to happen without a specific group time, but if they are motivated I'd be willing to meet with them more often during those stages.

Difficulty in Researching

This last week was probably the toughest group session yet. It really did not go as planned at all. For instance, we were unable to get much searching done for organizations that we could contact and assist our group in finding out more information about drug and dependency issues to include potential project ideas.

What was difficult was that students had a hard time understanding how to use Google searches. I did spend some time showing them some tips, which helped one group member find a local site. However, the others did not

Half of our group did come up with a short list of questions if we are to call anyone up. I wanted to go through a script as well - which I will have prepared for the next meeting.

Another unexpected event was the addition of a new group member. This is great news because he chose our group and wasn't simply placed in it. (He'd be the only member who chose our group first!) Still, this presents a new challenge in that none of the other group members know this student at all.

What made things a bit awkward was that he poked fun at the size of my nose. I'm not sure what kind of test this was. He even asked me if it blocked my vision. Maybe it's the oddest nose he's seen, but I didn't keep conversation there because it moved on its own. I then brought things back on track with our agenda.

Next week, I would like to do something more team building like. I would also like to do something that is on-topic to our group. Another classmate has someone coming to speak to their group and think that this speaker would be useful to my group as well. This is something I am trying to coordinate in addition to team-building ideas. At the very least, our new team member will get and decorate his notebook next week. 

Organizing the Team

This wasn't the first time I had an agenda planned for PA. It was the first time I organized each item with specific time and had a time-keeper. Things went very well, though I might bring an actual timer next time to assist things. My time-keeper used my cell-phone and couldn't help but play with some of the features.

I think what continues a great group atmosphere is our check-ins. Other groups are finding it helps in keeping thing running smoothly.

This was also the first time I introduced some of the cooperative learning roles. Students were excited for specific roles, including those we did not require for this day. However, it helps to find out their interests as well as introducing this concept of group learning organization.

We touched on our essential agreements again, with everyone in agreement of them and not wishing to add anything at this time. Consequences were never really discussed, so we talked about this and quickly agreed to these as well. What I find interesting is at the 3rd consequence, the teacher would be informed. This fear of teachers was something I didn't initially understand, but it is probably a lot like the fear of the unknown: what will their teacher do?!? (There is probably a list every students has in their head of possibilities that they dread happening, like a call home or missing out on something.)

We talked about what their lives, community, state, country, and world would look like if drug use and abuse ended. The students already know that the drug trade is an international as well local issue. They have the gist of things, which I think is excellent. However, it is the specifics we want to delve into now.

One thing we could not come up with was a group name. I don't want to push them in any direction - nor do I want a mascot of any sort. I will let them ponder this more and bring it up again in the future. Perhaps when our project crystalizes.

I brought mini-notebooks for each group member. My goal was to ensure that they were personalized, so also brought along markers, colored pens, and most importantly stickers! This worked all too well, in fact it added a bit more chaos than my group normally has. There was a great deal of sharing and politeness to it, but conversations abound about specific animal stickers.

At the end of our meeting, we brain stormed some questions we wanted to have answered and do some research on. Each student took a question to look up by next meeting. They even wrote them in their notebooks! I've been told this doesn't always work as planned by some of my fellow coaches, which means next week I should plan for additional research. Perhaps a trip to the library/media center is needed!?! (Do they have computers there also?) Still, I find assigning research questions to be an excellent first step in our group's endeavor to tackle this issue.

My goal for next week is to continue a discussion about issues surrounding drug use and misuse with the mind mapping PA project. Each question will help us see the issue in different ways. These include: Why do people tend to use/abuse them? Why do people sell them? Why do people make/grow them? Where do they come from? Which are most abused?

Thanks to Kristy, I was able to record the majority of the session! I had a camera person role, which made things even more chaotic. Some of my students were concerned about being videod, but I assured that nothing would be made public via YouTube. Only my fellow classmates would see them, if at all. I also know that the video photage will be shaky with one camera person, but not one of the fill ins. I will rotate this position because it is extremely popular!

One of the best things that happened today was my quietest student opening up a bit. She volunteered to take up a question in addition to being our recorder. As we get closer to what our project will be, I am excited for her to take more active a role as time goes on. All of my group members seem very excited to do something and I want to make sure that they all find this project to be satisfactory to their end goals! Yes, today went very well. Perhaps my group is loud and boisterous, but they remain on course!

Getting to Know Each Other

My group spent this last week getting to know each other a little better. I still start out our meeting with asking how everyone's week is going. I feel like there is a consistent trend among some of the students regarding their week. If they were feeling overwhelmed and stressed last week, it is the same this week. Same thing if their week is fine. Still, I like keeping this communication open with the group. Also, asking if they had any ideas about the project since we last met.

We all drew time lines about our "public" lives. I came with mine already done and introduced myself a bit more to them. They obviously had more questions but also didn't ask any inappropriate questions as adults even do. (Things like "Did you ever shoot anyone?"  with regards to my military experience.)

After students started making their own, some volunteered information about themselves without putting it down. Some weren't sure what else to put than where they were born. Still, having them refocus on what were important events and favorite moments in life made it easier.

These 5th graders all have had quite busy lives. Some have traveled between living in Minnesota and Mexico and then back. One student had a very difficult time in earlier grades with teachers described as "mean." One student wants to be an architect. They all had experiences of changing and moving schools. I am unsure if this is a consequence of district reshuffling, though I know others mentioned moving in the city (From apartments, to a home, to an apartment again).

With everyone going individually to present, my quieter student started to get talked over. I had to remind them that they had to be respectful of everyone and listen to what they had to say. This one word "respect" seem to have an instantaneous effect on the group. Everyone was quiet and listened.

While I enjoyed my group, I need to hone my time management skills. Therefore, I will come with an agenda with explicit times for each bullet item. A time keeper other than myself would probably be very helpful.

On this  week's agenda:

-State the agenda and ask for any other items to be added. (1 minute)

-Check-in (5 minutes)

-I will issue small notebooks for all the students to write down their ideas and notes throughout the week for this project. I will bring markers and stickers so group members can personalize them. (2 minutes)

-Introduce the cooperative learning roles that we will work with and assign roles for that day (5 Minutes)

-Revisit our "essential agreements" again and write them down on the large flip paper notebook. (10 minutes)

-Discuss our issue and what it would look like if it were resolved locally, nationally, globally, etc. (25 minutes)

- [ If time permits, I would like to bring up the idea of a group team name. ]

-Mention the draft agenda for next week  (1 minute)