How did I lead and follow in the collaborative task?

Week 1

Group task reflection- Leader vs follower

I began the task as an active co leader while we were making decisions on how to construct the movie. I took on this role as some of the other group members had limited knowledge about apps that could be used. We began to lead the task while having conversations with all group members. At this stage they were happy to follow our lead. As the task progressed the group dynamics altered and the followers became more engaged as they became more familiar with the app. I then took on more of a follower approach so all members had a chance to experiment themselves. What made our team task successful was the fact that we all had a common goal, we had some expert knowledge and we had people willing to trust each other's decisions. I felt I contributed to our team in several ways. Being able to help make executive decisions so we could get underway promptly was an advantage. I also gained satisfaction from being able to teach others how to use the app. They gave trust to me at the beginning of the task so it was great being able to take a step back and allow them to learn the skills and be more actively involved in the task. There is a dynamic relationship between leaders and followers and each of these require certain qualities in order to allow a group to function appropriately and achieve a task. It is important that we give children in our classes opportunities to develop both leadership and follower roles and strategies to deal and cope with each of these roles. Also allowing children to reflect on group task dynamics as well as task completion.