Forms of World Literature
(CMLIT010)

As you work in teams throughout the course, there are some things you can do to ensure your team works well together. Click below on any of the following links for more information:

GETTING STARTED
What should we do at the first meeting?

TEAM WORK
How should we divide up work?
What should we do if we have questions about the assignment?

TEAM TROUBLES
What should we do if a group member is not contributing much?
What should we do if a member is dominating the group?
What if the meetings are getting dull?

 

So you are meeting for the first time in your group. You are nervous; you are unsure what to say! You have never talked about literature with other people (and talking to your grandmother about Danielle Steel does not count!) Well, never mind any of worries. Before going to your first team meeting, read these hints which may help you with the first sessions.

Tips for your first meeting:

Start first meeting at a social gathering place. Introduce yourselves (and I know we all hate ice-breakers, but we are social animals). Tell your team members your name, your year, where you are from and why you are taking this class.

Review the grading policies regarding teamwork. Remind each other that you will be graded by the professor and by your peers. Clear any questions right at the beginning so that you all have the same expectations. If you talk about how the grade is set up, you will avoid problems at the end the semester with Johny Smith, who received a D in teamwork (never mind that he did not do any work all semester.) You may want to decide:

• Place where you will meet
• How often you will meet, for how long, and at what time
• Who will facilitate each meeting - take turns. Each team member must lead the discussion during the course of the semester
• You may want to set up a recorder to take notes for each meeting. Again, you may want to take turns being a recorder. If someone hates taking notes, you may want to think of assigning that person two facilitator slots.
• Create a contact list of e-mails and phone numbers
• Always set up the discussion topic or for the next week or tasks to be completed at that time.

One way to divide up the tasks among teammates is to assign roles to the team. This way each person has their own responsibilities and the rest of the team understands what each person's responsibilities are. Here are some roles/responsibilities that you might want to assume:

Other roles you may want to consider:

Time Keeper: Sets the limit for how much time is spent on each part of the project and makes sure everyone is participating

Devil's Advocate: Researches opposing ways of approaching the project. The devil's advocate may want to challenge how the project is being carried out and offer another outlook.

Use your TAs; they may have interesting ideas to bring to each assignment. The can help asnwer questions about what you are expected to do or give suggestions on how you can improve your assignment. Invite your TA to one of your meetings. The TA can then evaluate what is working and what needs work.

Another strategy is to talk to other team members in your class. Your TA can also get you in contact with another teams that can share helpful information.

Johny Smith is not showing up for the team meetings; he is not submitting
work and you have relied on him since as a team you decided to split up the work. In other words, he is absent from the picture.

If you are Johny Smith, just stop and be considerate for your team members. Otherwise, read the grading policies for team work and if it is still too overwhelming, talk to a TA before you give up altogether (maybe you are shy talking in small groups, but in large groups, i.e. Players, you are quite the social butterfly);

As a group, send Johny Smith an e-mail letting him know of your expectations. Give him a chance and after that, let your TA know that one member is absent from the discussions and what grade he/she will be receiving in team work.

One of your team members monopolizes the conversation and you want the opportunity to contribute.

Whether you are the monopolizer or feel like someone else is running the show, remember that you can facilitate and ask questions to get others to share their opinions.   Direct questions to groups members who are less apt to speak up. If the team is still having problems, set up a time-management scheme: if someone is making a presentation on a poem, make sure that he/she only takes x number of minutes. After that, the team is free to discuss the assignment, the presentation.

As a facilitator, you may want to take personal responsibility. Instead of the same-old discussion talk every time BE INNOVATIVE: research the text you are dealing and find video clips/movies/documentaries/music/web pages that deals with the topic. Bring those results and show those clips at your place (the TA can also arrange to reserve a TV for your team)

Finally, maybe your discussions are becoming dull because you are tired of the team in its academic setting. Have one meeting time where you just socialize.