Groups!

     This week, we took at look at the five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.  After learning and reading about these stages, I then took a closer look at the adjournment stage and reflected on some of the groups that I have been in and what occurred or did not occur during the adjournment stage.
     I do feel that the higher performing groups were really hard to leave, mainly because trust, respect, and relationships had been built in those groups, which is why they worked so well.  However, I do think that in many of the higher performing groups that I have been a part of, many of us were excited that we had reached our goal, but were not ready to split up as a group.  This often led to my groups deciding to set and pursue a new goal.  We saw that we had worked so well together and this led us to work together on other things instead of adjourning.
     I have left many groups before they ever got off of the ground, and this was easy to do.  I have been in groups in which I didn't agree with the goal that was set.  I may not have been able to deal with so many individuals in a group pursing their own individual goals.  Many times, I have not been able to get past the storming stage and have felt that I didn't want to be a part of a group that seemed to operate in this manner.  Leaving groups that never get past the storming stage has always been very easy for me.
     When I think about closing experiences in groups, I feel like the groups that end in a celebration are the ones that are most memorable for me.  When in groups, you are working very hard to reach a goal.  When that goal is reached, there should be a celebration to mark the fact that the goal has been accomplished.  This is a great way to adjourn with happy and positive memories.
     I feel bad saying this, but I have never had a hard time with adjourning from any of my degree courses and I don't feel that adjourning from my Master's will be any different.  I have never attended any of my graduations and I have never really met any of my fellow students or teacher's face to face.  This makes it very easy to not develop relationships and to not feel as if the others in this same group as me really play a part in my experience.  I am sure that it would be much different if I had actual in-seat classes.