FINAL BRIDGE BUILDING REFLECTION |
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On April 21st, our group – 1B – went to a beach and worked together to build a bridge so we could get a bag of “treasures” (SPOILER: they were plastic animals) by building a ‘bridge’ like structure by tying logs together with various knots and not touching the water. Overall, this was a significantly difficult endeavor, but I believe our team did very well.
Some of the highlights of this activity were:
Since it is only the start of the camp, I don’t know my teammates too well, but after this activity, I think I got to know some of them a bit better, as well as getting an insight into their type of thinking.
During the task, I believe I partook the roles of the ‘Idea Person’ and the ‘Helper’.
I feel like I was the idea person because I contributed quite a few ideas that were built upon, and I tried to listen to a few other people’s ideas, because I knew others could have some great ideas that would be beneficial for the team, and even just suggestions that might make other people’s plans a little easier to complete.
Despite that, I believe I was more of the helper, since I went around a little, and asked if people needed help with anything, I helped quite a bit with the tripod building and the knot tying, as well as the moving of the tripods in the water, helping pull some of the ropes so we could pivot them to the spot we wanted them to be at.
During the activity, I realized that the team- in the beginning- was working well during the planning and building stages. However, I did notice that we didn’t spend much time on the planning, and what we did do – which was just a basic plan of what we wanted the bridge to look like – we didn’t follow in the end.
Our team did well on communication, and always tried to stop and listen to everyone’s ideas, so we could all be heard. There was a small exception to this around the middle of the day, when people started getting weary, and a little impatient with each other, some people started working on something by themselves without consulting the rest of the group, and some split up into small groups doing different things, but we managed to bounce back up and complete the challenge.
Next time we do an activity like this, we should probably work on planning a bit more, since the lack of a plan was one of the main things that brought the team down, and despite the fact that we did improve on our communication, I think we need to work on the inclusion and make it consistent, because although we did listen to everyone, often, people just dismissed quite a few ideas and just went ahead with one without much discussion.
Some of the highlights of this activity were:
- Completing all 3 tripods because after the knot tying and the tiring job of making it as tight as possible – apart from maybe the one that didn’t turn out being as sturdy as the others – and everyone had been working hard on making them all in the hot sun.
- Actually moving the tripods was a great accomplishment for the team. We had tried a few times, so when we finally got our technique perfected, all joined in together to work effectively as a team, and managed to move the tripod where we needed it, I was so relieved and felt quite accomplished.
Since it is only the start of the camp, I don’t know my teammates too well, but after this activity, I think I got to know some of them a bit better, as well as getting an insight into their type of thinking.
During the task, I believe I partook the roles of the ‘Idea Person’ and the ‘Helper’.
I feel like I was the idea person because I contributed quite a few ideas that were built upon, and I tried to listen to a few other people’s ideas, because I knew others could have some great ideas that would be beneficial for the team, and even just suggestions that might make other people’s plans a little easier to complete.
Despite that, I believe I was more of the helper, since I went around a little, and asked if people needed help with anything, I helped quite a bit with the tripod building and the knot tying, as well as the moving of the tripods in the water, helping pull some of the ropes so we could pivot them to the spot we wanted them to be at.
During the activity, I realized that the team- in the beginning- was working well during the planning and building stages. However, I did notice that we didn’t spend much time on the planning, and what we did do – which was just a basic plan of what we wanted the bridge to look like – we didn’t follow in the end.
Our team did well on communication, and always tried to stop and listen to everyone’s ideas, so we could all be heard. There was a small exception to this around the middle of the day, when people started getting weary, and a little impatient with each other, some people started working on something by themselves without consulting the rest of the group, and some split up into small groups doing different things, but we managed to bounce back up and complete the challenge.
Next time we do an activity like this, we should probably work on planning a bit more, since the lack of a plan was one of the main things that brought the team down, and despite the fact that we did improve on our communication, I think we need to work on the inclusion and make it consistent, because although we did listen to everyone, often, people just dismissed quite a few ideas and just went ahead with one without much discussion.