Dion McCullum, CTP Blog #3

Being a student at Alverno College will help you to become a better team player. At Alverno College they are focused on social interaction and getting to know each each other. They want you to be able to stand on your own and work well in different group atmospheres. I thrive in a group setting as well as individual taks. I really enjoy being in a group that allows us to be ourselves, have fun, and get the work done all at the same time.

http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/raven-symone-in-talks-to-join-the-view-as-new-co-host-2015215

Last semester I took a small group behaviors course. The instructor was big on social interaction and group work, as are all Alverno instructors I'm learning. She set us up in groups of five on the first day and told us we would be working together for the majority of the semester. We all had assigned tables we sat at each class period. Our casual conversations began to become more personal and we started self disclosing. Through self disclosure, we found out we had a lot in common. This set the tone for our working environment. It was a friendly, very joking, but hard working group of people. Each class we knew more and more about each other so we learned each others working style.

http://bookboon.com/blog/2013/12/5-myths-realities-good-teamwork/

We did mini group assignments like analyzed papers, small presenations on the chapter, and skits on small group behavior. These mini group assignments helped prepare us for the big final group project. The final project turned out better than we all expected. Everyone was able to showcase their part in the project and work together. I believe the effectiveness of the group was due to the ideal group conditions concept. That is when everyone knows what to expect from each other, each person's working styles, do's and dont's, and each group members strong points. The fact that we had been working together all semester long helped us to build our ideal working group. Those ideal working conditions not only helped us work better together but helped us solve conflict if it arose. We were able to communicate with each while being open minded.

When disagreements arose in our group we faced them head on. We dealt with problems how we dealt with group assignments. We stated the goal, we found out who was having the problem, we let everyone state that opinion and feelings, we cleared up any confusion, laughed it out and got back to work. We had become friends so no argument was bad enough to last more than a day. I enjoyed this group because everyone was willing to put in the work and reveal themselves to make the experience that much better.