Assignment Paper

Assignment 7C
The assignment wraps up the collaborative activities you have been practicing in the previous weeks. You will write a 4 page summary of the activity you chose to focus on and share the results of your efforts.
INSTRUCTIONS
Assignment Instructions
A COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITY WORKSHOP
A Collaborative Activity Workshop
For this assignment, you are going to design and complete a short-term collaborative activity and implement a simple collaborative project with stakeholders in your organization focused on issues relating to establishing effective teams. You will then reflect on the process in a short (4 page) paper.
Note: There are 2 parts to the assignment. In the first part, you will choose and implement an activity. In the second part, you will write a paper analyzing your experience.
Part 1: Preparation
1. In order to complete this activity, you will need to define the group you want to work with. It can be an existing group within your organization that you can lead in an exploration of effective teaming or it can be a small group of colleagues who you bring together just for this activity. Read through the entire assignment before deciding what group you would like to work with.
2. Next, decide on a strategy that you would like to “try out” in your chosen group. Choose your activities from ones discussed in the assigned readings that are focused on establishing an effective team or deciding on the work of the team.
• Examples would be:
• Assessing the status of your organization, your individual or organizational readiness for collaborative teaming.
• Reflecting on and taking steps to establish trust within your group.
• Defining a specific mission and goals for your group activities.
• Defining protocols for your meetings.
• Analyzing data and deciding on how to use it to address your goals, etc.
3. Additional activities listed below are specific examples of activities that would work for this assignment but there are many others in the texts for you to choose from:
• Establishing Team Norms.
• Establishing SMART goals.
• In Learning by Doing:
• Laying the Foundation on pages 47–50.
• Critical Issues for Team Consideration on page 69.
• Building a Collaborative Culture Through High Performing Teams on pages 80–82.
• Smart Goal Worksheet on page 101.
• Using School Improvement Goals to drive Team Goals on pages 105 and 106.
• In Transforming Teamwork:
• Grounding on page 36.
• Final Word on page 37.
• Structured Conversation on page 54.
• Belief Systems on page 58.
• In Group Dynamics for Teams:
• Attitudes Towards Teamwork on page 17.
• Successful and Unsuccessful Teams on page 39.
4. Schedule 3 meetings with the group to complete this assignment.
• Meeting 1: Introduce your plans and explain what your participants will be doing.
• Meeting 2: Implement your plan. Try out the activity that you have chosen.
• Meeting 3: Ask your participants to reflect on the activity and provide feedback on its effectiveness.
• Did they find it useful, valuable?
• Did you accomplish the purpose of the activity?
• Would they suggest revising any of the processes?
Note: Although there are three meetings described here you can combine 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 or, depending on the strategy you decide to practice, you may need one more meeting. Plan for about 30 minutes for each meeting and use that as a guideline when scheduling your meetings.

Part 2: Evaluate Your Results
Write a 4-page paper in an informal or first-person style. Do not write an essay. Instead, use sections and bulleted lists for describing your process and evaluating the results of your project.
This activity is about “doing” rather than “writing.” While you do need to provide a summary and do your own reflecting (referencing the literature as appropriate) you do NOT have to submit a lengthy written report.
Your final paper should follow this format:
1. A title page in APA format.
2. Introduction: In a brief paragraph, identify the purpose of your project, the process you will follow, and/or the issue you were addressing.
3. 4-page report (no more than four pages) using the headings below.
• Schedule and Participants: Provide a list of your meetings and a brief introduction to the people who worked with you in the completion of this activity. 2-3 people and met with each person 3 times this week for 30mins each virtual.
• Process: A detailed list of the steps you followed or the strategies you used to accomplish your project. Also, explain the practices and skills you deliberately included in the collaborative activities. You should cite the literature you have been reading in support of your ideas in this section.
• Colleague Feedback: Provide a bulleted summary of the feedback you received from your colleagues including the benefits of the process you followed, any suggestions they might have had for the continuation of the project or for revisions that might be made if it were to be in a different group in the future.
• Personal and professional skills. Analyze the personal and professional leadership skills that you were aware of as important to the success of your collaborative activity.
• Afterthoughts:
4. Share your impressions of the process you designed and participated in.
• How would you change your plan if you were to do it again?
• What did you learn from it, not only in terms of your instructional strategies but also in terms of planning and implementing collaborative activities?
5. Provide a list of references that you have used in the preparation of your report.
Additional Requirements
• Font and Font Size: 12-point Times Roman, single-spaced.
• Length: 5 pages.
• References: As needed.
• APA Style and Format: Informal bulleted lists using appropriate APA formatting for citations and references. 7th Edition