Appendix

Literature

Team work is a professional skill that is mandatory throughout a range of careers. In the teaching profession, teachers need to work within a variety of different teams throughout each school year. Whether it be as a year level team, a sports carnival team, the administration team, an upper primary team or working together as a whole school, knowing how to work together and value others opinions and skills is essential within the school community.

CQUniversity (2010) states that a graduate who demonstrates teamwork “evaluates own strengths and weaknesses as a leader/team member, and/or autonomously working in a team context.” Therefore if you demonstrate team work you are better able to critically evaluate and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your own experiences which will ultimately enhance your knowledge and expand your ideas. When a school community is able to work together within a team, the workplace is essentially a more positive and enthusiastic environment to work in.

Soto, Muller, Hunt and Goetz (2001, Cited on DETE Website) listed these points as essential for effective teamwork: regular team meetings, all members contributing to development strategies and ideas for achieving mutually defined goals, shared understanding of roles, a willingness to be flexible, mutual respect, effective communication, and use an action-oriented approach. So, to work as an effective member within any team, these factors are important to ensure that each person feels valued and that the team will be a successful one.

Evidence

Throughout the year, I have been involved in a variety of different teams including the Year 6 team, administration team, support team and the ICT team. These teams have helped me to develop an understanding of how important it is to have the support and help of others within the school community. When teachers within the school work together, the students are ultimately the ones that benefit from having more creative learning experiences, as well as receiving more opportunities to extend themselves in extra curricula activities.

Weekly team meetings helped throughout my internship to ensure that I was kept up to date with everything that was happening in relation to our particular year level. These meetings helped me to gauge whether my class was keeping up with the others in relation to lesson sequences, enhanced my ability to moderate assessment as well as teaching me the planning and information needed when it comes to planning extra curricula activities such as excursions and discos.

My Mentor Teacher has commented on my outstanding ability to work within a variety of different teams. Throughout the year, I learnt the importance of working as a year level team to share resources and lesson ideas, splitting the work load so that everyone participates and the task can get completed quicker, and finally, I feel that the most significant aspect of working as a team is the support and assistance that occurs within that team in times of stress and need.