Team
QuinntenButterfield Elementary School, MA, United States
JordanButterfield Elementary School, MA, United States
MichelleButterfield Elementary School, MA, United States
JadeButterfield Elementary School, MA, United States
Age Range
12 & under
Coaches
Christine MullenButterfield Elementary School, MA, United States
Gretchen HaibonBUTTERFIELD, MA, United States
Category
History & Government
Social Sciences & Culture
Audience
All ages
Language
English
Site Features
Online Activity / Game
Quiz
Team Collaboration
Our project almost didn’t happen because right after we chose our topic, two team members quit. Luckily, we had two new members join. We all sat down to choose a topic, and the new members agreed to use our original topic. Then we all talked about what had to be done for the website. We divided up all the pages and each picked different things to work on. Next we had to decide how our site would look, so we looked at different ideas and finally agreed to combine the two things our team liked best.
We helped each other by picking up work to do if someone was getting behind. We learned how to work together as a team.
Some of the problems we faced were we sometimes spent too much time talking and fooling around instead of working. We also had a hard time finding pictures to use for our site. Many of the pictures we wanted to use were on news sites like newspapers and TV sites. These pictures were copyrighted and we couldn’t get permission to use them, so we were limited in using pictures. Or there was no author or copyright information on the pictures, so we weren’t sure if they could be used. Another problem we had was we sent out several interview requests and sent letters to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton asking if they would answers some questions for us, but only got back two responses. This meant we had to change part of our site since we didn't get a point of view from any politicians. Time was also a problem because we only had a limited time in our computer lab at school to work. Also, the last week we had to work Quinnten was sick and couldn't finish some of his work. The rest of us all pitched in to help so that our project would be done on time.
We did learn a lot while working on the site. We learned a lot about doing research and writing. We also learned a lot about how mean people can be to others just because they are different. We were shocked to read about all the cruel things that were done. We were surprised to learn how world leaders have acted when genocide was happening, and we learned that anyone can do something to help stop genocide.
Team Diversity
Although our team members all come from the same area, we are all different in several ways. Some of us really like sports, while others are more into music, even though we like different types of music. Some of us have computers at home, but others don’t get to use computers at home. We all have different strengths. Some of us are better at reading and researching while others are better at writing. We used our strengths to work together and help each other out. We learned that differences don't matter if you don't want them to. We learned that even though genocide happened in different parts of the world, and to different groups of people, the people doing it all had the same basic idea. They didn't like someone because they were different. It didn't matter if people are old or young, rich or poor, anyone can become a victim of genocide, just because they aren't the "same" as someone else. It was the idea of someone being "different" that started problems.
