Game Camp: Out-of-School Language and Literacy Development by deHaan Jonathan

Author:deHaan, Jonathan [deHaan, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Common Ground Publishing
Published: 2013-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Project 7: Developing High School Students' Assertive Communication Practices in an Out-of-School Language and Game Literacy Program

Ryoma Hanada

Introduction

No one is able to live without someone's help. Human beings rely on others and help each other every day. "Cooperation" is one important aspect of our lives and it is always necessary in school, in business, in family, in friendship and in society.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2011, citing Trilling and Fadel 2009) stresses that effectively collaborating with others is necessary. It is very important for students to learn how to collaborate with others because most students will become workers in the future. Students (and future workers) must "demonstrate the ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams," "exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal," "assume shared responsibility for collaborative work," and "value the individual contributions made by each team member" (7).

The NDT Resource Center defines teamwork as “a joint action by a group of people, in which each person subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group" (NDT Resource Center, What is Teamwork? Section). Teamwork is important and beneficial when we do something with other people. Personally, I think that doing work as a team is better than doing it by myself. I do not mean that individual activity is no longer important. Instead, I believe that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual activity.

Many artists (The Art Institutes 2012) have argued for the importance and helpfulness of working in teams. "When you’re in a team you’re able to tackle larger scale projects because you can bring in the strengths of different people’s skill sets,” and "some people are strong in areas that others are not, so using teamwork in the workplace can help to pull everyone’s strengths together" argues Winbush (as cited by The Art Institutes). Avvento (as cited by The Art Institutes), mentions "you could think of something great and that idea sparks something bigger from another person, making the product that much better than before" and "without that team you can't always see what needs to be improved upon. With other people to bounce ideas off of or to collaborate on designs with, you can reach higher and do something that will likely appeal to more people in the end."

Larson and LaFasto identified eight characteristics of effective teams in their book entitled "Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong" (1989). The NDT Resource Center summarizes these as such: (1) The team must have a clear goal. Avoid fuzzy, motherhood statements. Team goals should call for a specific performance objective, expressed so concisely that everyone knows when the objective has been met. (2) The team must have a results-driven structure. The team should be allowed to operate in a manner that produces results. It is often best to allow the team to develop the structure. (3) The team must have competent team members. In the education setting this can

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