A technology support team for teachers and students has been established at my school, and I am part of that team. It is not perfect, but it currently consists of three teachers, the IT technician, and the principal. The main members that are working together to put together the site’s technology vision and technology professional development are the three teachers and principal. Last semester, we were unable to meet together because one of the three of us was always teaching or in a meeting when the others had technology resource time. Finally, this semester, we have a period to spend time working together. We have already met several times, and we have been able to collectively work together to begin synthesizing our site’s technology plan. I have seen glimpses of synergy because we work well together, we trust each other, and we are able to collaborate. It is all very exciting. However, the main difficulty that prevents us from working together is distraction. We all have several roles on campus and it is inevitable that when we want to meet - one of us is off campus at a training or needs to spend the time working on another urgent school project. This is frustrating, but we working on keeping that time for collaboration. I wonder: how can we expect to be able to synergize if we do not take the time to do so? That is something I want to work on because I have seen glimpses so far of synergy with our group. I want to see more, and I know it is possible. We just need time to practice.
How will I help the Mayan GB team to understand what synergize means and help them practice it? Well, I have realized recently that my team has needed more team-building activities to help them trust each other and cooperate to complete a task. I put them into teams for specific projects at the beginning of the semester to try and help facilitate their chance to collaborate. However, it has not gone according to plan. Some of my students have needed to read (for their AR program) instead of doing Mayan GB projects. Some students had little to no direction on their projects because I was off campus at meetings for a week and a half. So, the potential for synergy is a tough thought for me with them right now. At the same time, their student-led Mayan GB Bootcamp (student led conference) is coming up in April. I am also back on campus and have no more scheduled meetings the rest of this semester. I am hopeful that the Mayan GB team can come together as a team to help this event be a success. I am confident that I can help and excited to encourage each member of the team in being a part of this project to make it a successful event!