Go Team!
2/3/2018
It’s Super Bowl weekend, and this yearly battle of teams prompted me to reflect on teamwork in our daily life at PNA. We’ve all seen the inspirational messages: "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” -Michael Jordan "None of us is as smart as all of us." --Ken Blanchard "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." --Phil Jackson "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." — African Proverb Teamwork is a critical component of a person’s success in this world: in the home, in relationships, and at work: “In today’s workplace, you have to be able to work with a diverse group of people,” says Joyce Russell, dean at the Villanova School of Business. Indeed, 78% of hiring managers seek job candidates who demonstrate strong teamwork skills, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2017 survey. Teamwork is a daily expectation and necessity in our middle school classrooms. We spend our first month of school getting to know each other through various team-building activities, and we spend the rest of the year strengthening those bonds and refining social skills. While we value and teach individuals, most of our daily activities require our students to work in small and large teams. Visitors to our school at any time of day will see students talking, creating, laughing, and thinking... together. PNA’s small class size provides a daily challenge for students honing their teamwork skills. When the class size is small, students must work together with the same people, again and again. There is no hiding when personalities clash or ways of thinking don’t mesh. There’s no avoiding disagreements or disappointments. What’s a kid to do?! Persevere…communicate…stay flexible. The beauty of the PNA way is that our students build close relationships because they do work closely together, every day, in every way. Whether it’s solving problems in math class; designing and creating a bulletin board; preparing an act for Brown Bag Concert; developing ideas for a class Auction art project; preparing Valentine’s Day activities; writing a summary of an epic tale; imagining their own game at recess; or creating movie trailers for the Science Fair; every single student is challenged every single day to communicate and strengthen his or her emotional intelligence. Go team!! "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." --Helen Keller Comments are closed.
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Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
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