This week, one of our workshops for Situated Communication was outdoors! We were split into teams and tasked with building a den outside. The teams were split by surname which I liked as it meant that we were grouped with people that we may not yet have had the chance to work with.
My group worked well as a team and everyone contributed by giving ideas and working hard so it was difficult to pinpoint one group leader. Our group didn’t explicitly choose a leader, however, one emerged naturally. As most members of our group seemed quite confident and eager to have their ideas heard all we needed in a group leader was someone to guide us in making a collective decision and narrowing down everyone’s ideas into one final design. The group leader did this well, without ever being strict or bossy, and ensured everyone’s ideas were listened to and considered.
I think the group that explained their design to us did so very well. Only a few members of their team explained their design while the rest of their team finished physically making the den or explaining to another group. This made their explanation clearer as it meant that there were not several people trying to talk at once. Alternatively, all members of the team could have explained as long as they had discussed who was going to say what in advance. The team seemed to have completed all stages of the 5Ps. They had clearly planned and prepared both the design of their den and their explanation and had a very concise, clear and well thought out presentation.
The outdoor area was very different to the type of environment that we were used to working in at university and therefore, was quite exciting. However, I think my group managed to both get the task done and have fun. With regards to both listening and speaking there are challenges that one must consider outdoors that they would not need to think about inside a classroom. For example, it can be quite a noisy environment, thus, gathering round in a tight group can make it easier to listen and be heard. As the outdoors is very different to a traditional learning environment it is be easy to get distracted so it is important to ensure that everyone always has a job to do. This is something that we would have to be conscious of as teachers to make sure that everyone stays on task. Furthermore, instructions should be clear and concise to ensure that minds (and eyes) don’t wander and the task is understood fully.
Our group was tasked with negotiating something from another group which seemed vital to the design of their den. We were successful in our negotiations, however, it was challenging to decide who would be the best negotiators in the team and there was definitely a certain element of guilt from taking something away from your classmates.
Overall, I thought the task was very fun and I enjoyed the opportunity to work as part of a team. I felt the team worked very well together and we managed to create a den that we were all proud of: Casa De Tipi.
