Our first graded assignment of EDL 204 was to write a group paper investigating an article’s claim, premise, warrant and rhetorical analysis over our assigned topic. My group was assigned English Language Learners (ELL). I had never heard of a group paper before, and I was lost on how we would divide the paper up while also trying to establish a set tone and unity in the paper.
Ultimately, we decided to divide the work based on who lived by each other, trying to make it easier for group members to get together. the different sections were divided up among everyone, and initially everyone had the same amount of work. We held meetings once to twice a week to make sure everyone was staying up on their work and to ensure everyone knew what they were doing. A few days before the paper was due we met and put all the different sections together. This meeting did not go as smoothly as we had expected. Not only were we a few pages short, but quotes were duplicated in different sections, and one of our group members decided to bring ideas rather than written work.. This showed us that we hadn’t clearly state what we expected out of everyone. Editing our paper was also very frustrating because everyone had a different writing style, so our paper sounded very choppy with little flow.
We quickly realized we didn’t spend adequate time on writing the paper and editing it together, but we had ideas to improve it in order to move onto the next step in the project. With our same group we had to write two more papers with the same topic. We learned to better divide up the work and to set deadlines that had to be met. We set the deadlines earlier than they needed to be, in case some people forgot to do their part. That helped to eliminate last minute stress of trying to compile the paper. Also, we started working on our paper earlier to prepare for any set backs that might occur.
The next paper we submitted was much smoother. Prior to writing the paper we divided each section up for people to find quotes and supporting evidence to strengthen the paper. We met as a group and brought together the information we all researched on our own. In order to ensure everyone completed his or her section, we wrote out with details what everyone had to accomplish by a certain date and signed it. This allowed everyone to know what the group members expected of him or her, which eliminated one of the problems we had in our first paper. We then wrote the paper as a group trying to establish unity while answering all the required parts. Although this may not have been the most time efficient way of writing the paper, we decided this was the only way to have unity and a set tone.
In working with the same group I was able to see how everyone can contribute something different to a group. At first I was frustrated that we didn’t want to approach our paper in the same ways, but I realized that we’re all different learners. Some work better in pressure situations, others need complete silence or visuals, and some people prefer to outline what they are going to write. In any group there are always going to be setbacks and differences. This is what allows us to learn from each other. Had I worked on the paper on my own, I wouldn’t have the comments from my four group members. My paper wouldn’t have been as well rounded or may not have considered the examples my group thought of. In working with the same members our group definitely improved over the different papers we worked on, and by our last paper although it still wasn’t perfect, it was a lot less stressful. I came to understand and appreciate the differences amongst my group members.
Tier 2: Take initiative within a team of diverse others to resolve a problem or enhance interactions among team members.
Note: The rubric for this area describes it as a group of people with varied perspectives, values, personalities, and behaviors. Additionally, you might think about differences in backgrounds, talents, and knowledge among team members.
After nine years of competitive gymnastics, three years of diving, and two years of coaching gymnastics, I figured that I had the ability and skills necessary to volunteer as a coach at Miami’s diving camp this summer. During my two years of coaching gymnastics, I was able to learn how to transform my mentality regarding coaching to incorporate the kids with little potential who just desired to have fun in gymnastics classes. As a USAG level nine gymnast, I had always been held to extremely high standards and pushed to my limits in the sport of gymnastics. Having fun was encouraged, but all of the girls on my team had potential in gymnastics and were there for a purpose. Transitioning to coaching recreational classes was initially difficult because about half of the kids had little or no gymnastics talent. I can remember coaching them with a smile on my face because my boss told me to do so, but still not understanding why their parents would pay for their kids with little ability.
I had never coached diving beyond a few private lessons for a summer swim team, so I was excited to embark on this new adventure as part of a team with four other experienced coaches. The Miami University diving camp is designed for young divers of all ages and skill levels. As coaches, our focus was on helping all the divers learn the new dives they listed on their goal sheets. We had a large range of skill levels: some divers had never been off a diving board before, while others were working towards being able to compete at the division one level in college. To complicate the picture even further, we had one diver on medicine for depression and another diver with Asperger’s syndrome in addition to other physical and mental disabilities. The task at hand was to figure out how to use the diverse abilities of all the coaches in order to figure out how to best help all campers meet their diving goals and objectives for the camp.
In addition to having a heterogeneous group of divers, the five coaches were diverse in backgrounds, interests, beliefs, and values. The head coach, KongRong Li (KR), is also the head coach of both the Varsity Men and Women’s divers at Miami. KR grew up in China as a diver. From a diving standpoint, KR emphasizes fundamentals and safety above all else. On the pool deck, KR is extremely quiet and selective with his words. The second coach was Rich Blough, my former coach in high school. Rich is about two years away from retirement and is coaching diving mostly for fun. He dove in high school without a coach and is still currently diving in the master’s program. Rich focuses on learning new dives over fundamentals. Rich is very vocal on the pool deck and quick to criticize. His philosophy on diving is that divers need to show potential or he has no desire to work with them at this point in his life. Mike Grapner, another coach, is currently the head coach of US Elite, the diving club for high school divers that uses Miami’s pool. Mike just graduated from graduate school at Miami and has been coaching diving for seven years. Mike’s philosophy on diving is to encourage all kids but did not focus on building relationships with the kids outside of diving. The final coach, Kathy, is a mother of five who has been coaching diving for twenty years. Kathy brought her mother-like instincts to the team of coaches because she was always extremely concerned about the emotions of the divers. Furthermore, since Kathy teaches special education at the preschool level, she was particularly knowledgeable when it came to dealing with the divers with medical or social abnormalities. As I have mentioned above briefly, I come from an extremely competitive gymnastics and diving background in addition to experience coaching at gymnastics camps.
Each night, we met as a team of coaches to discuss the plan for training the next day. As the head coach and the coach with the most experience, KR often presided over the meetings, despite his difficulties with English. Initially, I found myself frustrated with KR because it seemed as if he was talking forever without any purpose in broken English. I ran remember even making fun of his English a few times because he often teases me about other things on the pool deck during practice. Rich was slow to speak and quick to listen, but it was obvious that he wanted the meetings to be as quick as possible. He was not interested in collaborating with the coaches and was often willing to accept the first idea thrown out. Unfortunately, I found myself quick to speak and quite confident with my ideas based on my experiences as a gymnastics coach. I believed my ideas were valid and did not need to be integrated with the ideas of others. Kathy spent the majority of the time listening, and therefore was able to most effectively work towards resolving conflicts. Our initial coaches meetings were slightly ineffective and therefore led to diving up the kids randomly in five groups and having each coach responsible for seven to eight divers.
After this meeting and the first day of training, I began reflecting on my experiences. I went into this experience quite confident in my abilities as a coach, but I realized quite early on that I had a lot to learn as a diving coach. For example, when I was coaching a girl on twisters, I overlooked the fact that her head was down on a takeoff. Mike, a more experienced coach, was quick to point out the error I was overlooking. I later found out that although the mistake was not an immediate problem for the diver, it was a larger problem because it can ultimately bring her close to the board. I was humbled by this experience because all the other coaches heard my mistake when Mike corrected me. However, at this point, upon realizing that I could have jeopardized the safety of one of the divers, I was eager to seek the approval of the other coaches in order to learn how to become a better coach. At that moment, I gained a new level of respect for all the coaches and their past experiences. I spent time at lunch talking with them about diving and trying to learn more coaching strategies. Upon seeking feedback, I was told that I did really well with the technical aspect of coaching in addition to learning how to give constructive feedback rather than discouraging the divers. On the pool deck, KR told me that he gave me an A+ in coaching that day.
Nevertheless, KR had not yet given me a complete set of feedback. KR confronted me in the basement of Anderson Hall to address an issue he had with me. I initiated the conversation by asking him in private about my coaching, and he followed by speaking in perfect English I never even knew he was capable of speaking. His first issue with me was the fact that I have been indirectly and directly making fun of his English on the pool deck. He told me that he finds it very offensive when I mock his words because he is trying so hard to work on improving his English. Since he teases me about other things in private, I had never even considered the effects of my seemingly harmless jokes. However, in hindsight, it should have been obvious to me that this would offend him because he barely talks on the pool deck, let alone have someone screaming across the pool deck that I cannot understand him. Besides the few times when my purpose was just to make fun of him, I often just desired to understand everything he said, but he still took this as making fun of him. This conflict of values could have been resolved much earlier with both effective communication and listening skills on my part; I failed to take the time to learn that KR prefers to have conversations in private and that he would rather a diver come over and ask him to repeat the instructions or correction. The conflict was ultimately resolved when I explained to him that I simply desire to understand him most times and he told me that he is more than willing to repeat himself if I walk over and ask him privately. I had forgotten to take into account the fact that he values the image of professionalism as a coach on the pool deck because coaches in China have been taught to speak quietly and demonstrate humility. Additionally, KR extended this conversation to note that he perceives me as being extremely critical and is worried that I am critical of the other divers on Miami’s team. I had never even thought about my desire to understand at all costs can be interpreted as being critical. Also, KR commented that I am quick to speak during the coaches’ meetings and that I should spend more time listening in an attempt to not come across quite as critical and make others feel inferior or subordinate. I definitely plan to think about what KR said, but I also consider the cultural differences and how they can impact our differences in perception. Regardless, this feedback will definitely impact my work on teams in the future. I have learned the importance of actively trying to understand others on my team and their respective beliefs and values and how that can impact the dynamics of a team. My willingness to accept and apply feedback and criticism is a strength that will certainly help me function more effectively on teams in the future.
Fortunately, although this criticism was initially hard to hear, it helped KR and I work together to help the campers the next day. We decided that I would stay and coach with KR because I have the most experience working with him. We were able to effectively combine my analytical nature with his knowledge of coaching in order to help the campers improve their dives. I could understand the technical error he was referring to after both watching the dive and listening to his commentary and then communicate with the camper and explain how to make the correction. Additionally, if I could not understand him, I was close enough to be able to ask him about it privately. This was mutually beneficial for everyone because the campers benefited from KR’s coaching and KR was less frustrated, my relationship with KR improved, and I learned a lot about the technical side of diving by listening to KR’s corrections. It was reinforced to me that my analytical brain enables me to understand diving from a technical standpoint and that I have potential as a coach. Working with this team of experienced coaches has certainly helped to cultivate my coaching abilities in addition to teaching me the values of collaboration.
After the first few days of testing the water in terms of effective teamwork strategies, the coaches’ meeting on the third day was much more productive. We were able to exchange ideas as a team and have discussions without criticism or judgment. For example, one of the coaches mentioned that there were a few campers that needed to work on both twisters and reverses. Instead of having just one coach work with the diver the entire time, we decided to draw upon the strengths of all the different coaches. We created a plan in order to manage the two-hour practice time during the morning session the next day. The divers would spend thirty minutes at each of four stations, and Kathy was to keep tract of time because she had the best view of the clock. We decided that since both reverses and twisters use a hurdle, the divers should begin by doing hurdle work on the dry board with KR because he has the most technical knowledge regarding hurdles. After working with KR, the divers were sent to work with Mike in the water belts in order to learn the right positions for reverses. Then, the divers were sent to work with Rich or Kathy to practice the reverses on 1m or 3m, depending on their goals and needs. Finally, the divers were sent to work with me on twisters because I am familiar with the techniques for twisters. In the end, the divers were able to improve both their reverses and twisters as a result of combining the strengths of all five of us coaches.
Another conflict during the coaches meeting was that KR demanded that calls were ineffective and that divers should learn all dives by spotting. KR demanded to know the speed of sound in order to make his point, so Rich diligently began to do the math and explain it to him. Kathy, on the other hand, began to explain to KR that ideally divers should have strong enough fundamentals to not need calls, but that in America there is not enough time to ensure that all divers have strong fundamentals. Rich and I insisted that calls ensure the safety of the divers to make sure they are not coming out flat on their backs or stomachs, even if the timing is a bit off. Fortunately, our team was able to reach a compromise. We agreed with KR that calls are certainly less effective than spotting and should not be overused. However, for the purposes of this camp and other situations where divers do not have perfect fundamentals, calls are the next best solution to the problem. We were unable to reach a conclusion on how the speed of sound impacts the effectiveness of calling. Fortunately, KR forgot about the issue about five minutes after bringing it up.
One of the biggest issues that also arose early on in the camp was how to deal with the diver with Asperger’s syndrome (Nathaniel) and the other divers with little or no natural talent. This was certainly a challenge for our team of coaches. Nathaniel and the rest of the beginners were first sent to work with Kathy, and she was able to help them learn basic diving fundamentals (jumps). However, since we were a team of coaches, the plan was not for Kathy to work with these divers for the entire camp. We tossed around numerous ideas during the meetings and decided to still have these divers work with all the coaches at some point, similar to the rest of the campers. However, not long into the practice session on the first day, KR came to Kathy and me and told us that he is unable to coach Nathaniel. I respected this act of humility as KR, a coach of ten Olympians, came up to Kathy and me asking for help. We decided to let Kathy work with Nathaniel because of her experiences with children with special needs. By the end of the week, Kathy was able to also help me learn how to deal with Nathaniel and how to communicate with him. From this, I learned the importance of depending on others in a team setting. Regardless of one’s past experiences, there are time when admitting one’s own weaknesses and limitations is the key to effective teamwork. Furthermore, working with Nathaniel has taught me the importance of refraining from judgment and instead striving to learn from everyone. Nathaniel had numerous social issues, and the easier choice would have been to just ignore him and let Kathy deal with him. However, I spent a lot of time talking with Kathy and Nathaniel and learning about Nathaniel’s situation. In the end, during the team building activities with the campers, I found myself listening to Nathaniel’s ideas. The take away lesson from this is certainly that I need to not emphasize a person’s weaknesses in a team setting so heavily to the point where I let it cover up the person’s strengths.
Along the same lines, a similar problem surfaced when it came to dealing with Greta, one of Rich’s divers. Greta demonstrated a willingness to learn, but she was unable to make the corrections and demonstrated little progress or potential in diving. Rich had told us at the coaches’ meeting that he plans on telling her mom after camp not to bring her back to diving lessons in the fall. After hearing this and discussing it with Kathy, she told me that she would never tell a kid not to come back, even if he/she was not making any progress. I was presented with a conflict of values. Ironically, these values represent my past and present viewpoints. All throughout high school, I was focused and goal driven. I could not understand why the parents of the gymnasts with little potential in my classes would pay for lessons. On the other hand, talking with Kathy raised a perspective that aligns with my Christian values. We talked about the fact that although Greta will probably not be the best diver, she can still learn a lot from the experience and enjoy herself. Furthermore, at the awards ceremony after the camp exhibition, I caught a glimpse of the smile on the face of Greta’s mom when Greta received her certificate. That smile in itself taught me the importance of striving to impact people rather than focusing only on goals. This has the potential to impact me in a team setting. Even when there is a task at hand, I should take time to genuinely care about and get to know my team members by listening instead of being quick to speak and addressing only the issue of immediate concern.
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