Going beyond reading together.
Book Clubs enable children to come together to talk about books and perhaps even read together. It can also be a rich place to learn important skills for the future- Collaboration
The desire to win is inherent in everyone of us. Who doesn't like to win? Who doesn't like all that recognition and applause? That desire helps us build a competitive spirit. That's great as a little competition always gives the incentive to work hard in order to succeed. But does success have to be individualistic or for an entire team? Does winning mean only for an individual or for the entire team? True the leader or the star player of the team is crucial to win but this person however amazing he or she is, cannot win if his/her team mates don't feel motivated to support him or her.
Children's stories and movies have a lot of offer not just for children but for adults as well. Take the example of the movie, Cars where the protagonist, Lightening McQueen the racing champion is self absorbed, cares only about winning and does not believe that the crew as important as the racer. Although he gets that precious advice from a legend, he ignores it. What follows in the movie is his journey to the realization that the team matters, it's just not him.
Collaborative work requires empathy- the willingness to listen and not be a "know it all"
Recently at the Young Readers' Club a highly competitive situation rose when we attempted a team work activity that involved role play as part of a vocabulary building activity.
The focus of both teams was to win of course. But there was an obvious difference. Team 1 saw one member speaking for most of the time not allowing the other member to contribute in any manner possible. Team 2 on the other hand saw both members contributing almost equally. Team 1 did a better job at the role play in terms of creating original, realistic situations. Team 2 weren't as original and at times the fictitious situations they created were far from being logical.
Who won? The team that created realistic scenarios or the team in which the teammates supported one another?
This is hard question to answer. If the end result matters the most, then team 1 clearly won although it wasn't exactly teamwork. The reader who did all the work without giving the other reader a chance even to participate might have felt good winning but definitely the team as a whole did not have the same satisfaction. Perhaps the win was sheer chance but not sustainable. Had the other reader been allowed to present her side, the output might have been much better. But we will never know unless we have a rerun with a complete change in approach.
If working with others to achieve a desired goal was paramount, then team 2 would have won although their end result was not exactly satisfactory. But could there be tweaks done in their approach? Perhaps there was a lack of understanding of the requirements or the objective. Might be a communication gap in the brief given. Multiple possibilities here.
Nevertheless the amalgamation of multiple ideas and perspectives and learning to navigate through resulting conflicts to arrive at a desired result has higher chances of being fruitful.
The future needs more and more collaboration- it is happening already
Be it peace efforts or combatting climate change or space research or use of AI in boosting food production to feed the growing number of hungry people, there is no single individual who is making all the difference. It is teams of people across the globe, working together for positive change.
Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) replace teamwork?
A quick query on Chat GPT gives the following answer:
"AI can assist with many tasks, but replacing teamwork is more complex. Teamwork involves not just the execution of tasks, but also creativity, collaboration, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving, which are uniquely human traits. AI can enhance teamwork by automating repetitive tasks, providing insights through data analysis, and even suggesting strategies, but it lacks the empathy and interpersonal skills that make effective teamwork possible."
It also goes on to elaborate why it is less likely that AI will replace teamwork:
collaboration,
emotional thinking and
out of the box thinking to solve complex problems still requires human intelligence.
If it is true that the future is going to be more and more about collaborative effort towards progress, where should our inherent desire to win be? To win as an individual or to win as a team?
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