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I just got back from a week of camping in South Dakota with my 8th grade students.  We slept in tents while it was 100 degrees in the Badlands National Park and near freezing in Custer State Park.  We cooked and ate outdoors.  We toured, swam, hiked, climbed, played games, and even went spelunking (explored caves).  We saw bison, mountain sheep and goats, wild donkeys, bull snakes and rattle snakes.  But most importantly, we got to know one another and ourselves as we worked through the different stages of group dynamics.

This trip is in its sixth year at my school.  The purpose of it is to help the 8th grade students build themselves into a cohesive unit that allows them to serve as the leaders of our school for the year.  We do this through several purposeful activities which include breaking the kids into teams to cook, clean and sleep, while separating out the cliques to break down their tried and true ways of interacting with one another.  In essence we are observing the stages of group dynamics as developed by Bruce W. Tuckman, a respected educational psychologist who first identified the stages of group dynamics in 1965.

These are the four stages:

·      Forming – the early stage when everyone is trying to fit in and avoid controversy at all cost. Though some of our students had been in class together for as long as nine years, they had been apart for the summer and were getting reacquainted.  The night we left on the trip, each one just wanted to have fun and be a part of the group.  There was nothing but laughter and silliness as we pulled out of the parking lot at 11:30 p.m. for our 14 hour ride to Wall, SD.
·      Storming—is the stage in which certain individuals can only act nicely to others for so long and then they have had it.  Problems arise as minor confrontations occur.  Ironically, the onset of this stage took place for us in Badlands National Park, a place in which we historically have experience severe storms.  Issues arose when the tents started to go up and certain students were clueless or unwilling to help.  The strong leaders of the group took over, often in a huff, while offending the weaker links.   The Storming continued into the evening as the girls – seven in one tent – scrambled to secure a sleeping spot on an air mattress for the night.  The strong leader for the tent set-up found herself as “odd man out” when none of the girls would include her on their mattress thus making way for three.  In order to avoid further conflict, and I am sure to act as the martyr because she is only a teenager, she chose to sleep directly on the floor of the tent.  While this seemed a satisfactory solution to the rest of the tent occupants, my leader certainly wasn’t pleased.  As chaperones, we ultimately sat down the two of the offenders and discussed the situation and how they could have helped resolve it at the time. 
·      Norming—is the stage that groups begin to understand their role and play by the rules of the group.  They are learning to understand, appreciate, and support one another.   Our Eighth graders certainly found this stage as our trip progressed through the week.   Our cooking and cleaning teams needed less instruction from the chaperones to get their jobs completed by relying on each other.  Students were willingly helping one another prepare for the time away from camp by reminding one another what was necessary to pack.  The students also broke down their self-imposed gender barriers and began to play games together.  Further, the six-mile round-trip hike up Harney Peak united the whole group as we all struggled, stumbled, and supported the others.
·      Performing—is the stage that a group becomes so connected and in tune with one another’s behaviors and talents that each can act independently because of the trust that has been built.  According to Tuckman, many groups never reach this stage. 

After being on this trip six times and watching the effect it has on the students over the course of the school year, my bets are being placed on the students.  I know they will reach the Performing stage and spend the final year in their childhood academic home proving just how loyal they are to one another. 

I know, because I’ve seen it happen time and time again. 
 

Margaret Andersen is the mother of three teenagers and is a middle school teacher somewhere in the Midwest.  She is a regular ShareWIK.com columnist. For more Margaret Anderson articles, click here.