21st Century PBL Cohorts, ya man

Tomorrow brings the fifth day of Malvern Prep's inaugural Summer Institute. For each day that has already passed I have met with a smaller cohort of 3 other educators to design a PBL. It has been really nice to have time set aside for these group meetings as it has allowed me to see a bit of the narrative that describes the group dynamic.

The 1993 movie Cool Runnings, a comedic retelling of the 1988 winter olympics, was one of the first times that I learned about group dynamics.

On the surface it was a cookie cutter comedy: a famous name to attach (John Candy), a mismatched group totally out of their element, and an endless stream of repeatable one-liners. In reality, it was one of the first opportunities I had to observe the intricacies of building group dynamic. To me, it seems like the process is broken into a number of stages.




Stage 1: Who are you and what is bobsledding?
Early on in the movie Sanka sets up a projector to play a movie explaining bobsledding to a bunch of people totally unfamiliar with the sport. This culminates in just about everybody running away in anxiety and fear. What remains (our heroes) represent two things that you find when there is a good group dynamic: diversity and a common desire to experiment. The four members of my cohort started one of our first meetings by taking about the Myers Briggs Personality Test results that we had taken. Our "scores" indicated that we would probably address our work from different perspectives, but that we all had common ground as well. More importantly, having a common goal (however vague) is what allows the group to actually start growing. In this case my colleagues represent a self selected group of ambitious educators that volunteered their time to discover what it means to be a 21st century educator. Without identifying that common goal, although extraordinarily vague, and being prepared for various ideas, preferences, and opinions from your group members you are not ready to be a group.

Stage 2: No seriously, what is bobsledding and what did I get myself into?

It usually takes a decent amount of time when you first start working together before you realize that no-one really knows what they are doing. Every group experience is different and innovation comes with anxiety. What helps power through the initial road blocks, creative differences, and frustration with not really knowing what to do is when we all admit to ourselves that we are in uncharted water and that no one really knows the way. St. Augustine would probably say this moment of humility is needed before any genuine progress can really be made. After about 2 or 3 hours of trying to decide how we interpret 21st century education and what we can do to further its cause, we all reached a point where we were ready to take a few steps back. Instead of randomly choosing directions for the group we started spending time figuring out where we wanted to go. Since then all of our meetings have been so engaging that we have not been able to end them on time. We are ready to go bobsledding.

Stage 3: This may look crazy, but lets all try it together

The Jamaican bobsled team in Cool Runnings faced opposition and even scorn, where as my cohort has been provided nothing but support. Either way, it is imperative to get into some kind of rhythm. Every group works best in different conditions so you need to be willing to try things outside of your comfort zone to find a good combination of roles. We came up with some group "norms" a few days ago, but those tended to be more like a list of rules (when to meet, how to get in touch) than a description of our group's best practices. Just like the Cool Runnings team we had to have time with each other to get in the same rhythm. Luckily we have been given plenty of time to hit stride, but I could certainly see the difficulty in trying to collaborate without enough time to get over that starting hump. When you work with others you will eventually play to each other's strong suits and habits, but you need to have time up front to learn them.

Stage 4: This isn't how it was supposed to go, but lets roll with it

No one in  my group, including me, has any idea what direction our PBL is going. What we do know is that we are all facing that direction together. We probably flirt with the idea that we could really do something Earth shattering (like winning the 1988 bobsled competition as the underdog) but in reality we know that our PBL will probably be in constant flux and could end without revolutionizing education. That is fine, because with the right attitude the end result is always a positive one. We won't have people cheering us on like we are carrying a bobsled across a finish line, but we have gotten to the point where we are eager to see where the project takes us. A must for any successful group work.

I think there are probably more nuanced ways of describing the types of relationships you build in small groups but most of us have a deep understanding forged in childhood. We all read stories and watch movies about groups coming together, despite growing pains, to do something great. Whether through The Lord of the Rings, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Cool Runnings we have seen countless examples of strong groups forming to take advantage of great opportunities. This always requires embracing (not just overcoming) personality differences and being willing to move forward without knowing what exactly lies ahead. I'd like to think that a little while from now we will look back at what our group has accomplished and be able to tell a great story.