Some types of collaborations I have engaged in as a student are collages, murals and puppet shows. One specific activity I remember doing was making handprints in second grade. Each student would dip his or her hand into different color paints and then would press it on a large banner of paper that was hung in the classroom. The final piece of our collaborated artwork gave our second grade class a sense of unity and spirit. Another project was creating a tower made of toothpicks and marshmallows. Competing towards a common goal made the students in the class closer to each other and really challenged us to think critically and listen to others opinions/strategies. In my sorority at USD, we made a collaboration together for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer office in San Diego. Each member decorated an index card saying something motivational on it, such as “Fight like a girl,” or “Just Believe.” When everyone was done, we connected all the index cards together with ribbon. The mix of different techniques and styles made the final product look great.
The experience of being on a team can teach students how to make thoughtful decisions, work together and execute a plan. Students are able to learn different styles, techniques and ideas from each other. Some students have different strengths they can contribute to the project. By communicating with one another, they learn how to compromise and develop interpersonal skills. During collaborative activities students can express their creativity by combining different media types into learning aspects, just like we did in class when making urban, suburban and rural maps.
Being a part of one of the groups that worked on a map of a suburban area affected my learning experience by teaching me how to organize and work cooperatively with my group. We first had to decide what types of buildings, stores, parks, etc. we wanted to include in our map and had to decide who would draw which things. As a team we had to work together to discuss how we would combine our different artworks together. Members of the group thought of things I would have never thought of to put in a suburban area that made our artwork more thorough and detailed. You could use collaboration in the classroom to teach citizenship by dividing groups to design different steps of becoming a citizen through artwork. When the groups are finished they can hang their artwork in order on the wall and see the steps in order to become a citizen visually. The members should think about all the details involving the steps required to be a citizen and portray those details in their artwork. In difficult social situations, members of the group might have different beliefs or views. In order to compromise when working together on a project, they must respectfully challenge each other by asking questions or using accurate information to prove their points. However, each member of the team must make a contribution to the artwork and not be excluded.
