Choose the one you want ... or

In one of my classes, we were asked to write a paper of case study analysis. Dr.C read the four cases aloud briefly in the classroom:

1. A 12 yrs old child with deaf impairment from Japan living her with family in Oahu, with difficulty at home, neighbour and school.
2. A 10 yrs old Hawaiian Samoan kid with severe mental disorder living at the Big Island, with difficulty at school.
3. A young adult from Micronesian family, with the prolonged depression and extreme mood swings studying at the UH Manoa, and this young adult also fell in love with the neighbour with the same gender.
4. A middle age veteran soldier returning from the third tour of Iraq, with physical injury and traumatic brain injury.

After Dr.C reading all the cases, she asked us to choose one we wanted. Four cases, eight paper copies were distributed from Dr.C to the classroom, and we were told to choose it democratically.

I rated those cases in my head when Dr.C was reading:
- The Japanese culture is close to Chinese culture which is what I am familiar with;
Rate: 3, great chance,
- The Hawaiian Samoan child is really where I am curious about since I am living at the center of the pacific islands;
Rate: 5, probably will pick up this one.
- The young adult mental development and woman study are part of the area I am curious about;
Rate: 4, not a bad choice
- The veteran soldier with Africa-American heritage seems like the most foreign and challenging one.
Rate: 2, this is way too foreign.

By just listening to the cases, I was already overwhelmed by the tough situations and hoped it's not real case. Subconsciously, I decided for the Hawaiian Samoan case since somehow I could learn and seek the local community nearby.

Meanwhile, the class entered into a discussion about the possibility of the forth case. Some of my classmates commented that "no way for an African-American veteran back from Iraq without a job" and "it did not make sense."

By the time I almost picked up the Hawaiian Samoan case, one of my classmates, A, said that she didn't have any preference and would love to let those who felt strong about the case they wanted to choose first.
"Me neither, would love to be the last to choose." I answered, and put down the case I almost picked up.
Dr.C commented that we were socialist.
Big laugh.

Thanks for A's reminding to be humble, courteous, and to be the last.
Yet, it's always lucky to have a chance to choose,
but is that really important to choose,
or it is just happier to see other people chose the right one he/she really wanted?
Somehow, it's just so easy to be running in front of everyone, without the second thought of other people's choices.

At least, there is a great peace, when I got the case I rated the least.

Straw Tower - team play

Have you ever played the straw tower game? It's a remarkable team team game, and it sparkles me to think about the team work.

We were separated into five teams to play the Straw Tower.
Game rule:
Given two bags of straws, two tapes, each team with 4 - 5 people was signed to build a tower as TALL as possible in 10 MINUTES.

By the time the rule was explained, we started.

I gave a structure of two straws taped together, for it's bendable straw and the tape can make the straw stronger and more stable, while S. gave another structure of one straw inserted into another. Without second thought, I gave up my idea and followed with S's structure, for the goal is the height in a limited amount of time. So both S. and I started inserting one straw into another and producing the straw strings. In the mean while, team member A gave an idea of making a basement of the tower so that the tower will stand without falling. We were all supportive to the basement. I didn't know who took the strings I made or where the strings were put on that tower. At the end, we won (otherwise, I wouldn't write this entry).

The tower was not good looking at all, but it stood on the ground with a significant height among the teams.

Do we have a team leader?

There wasn't enough time to elect a team leader. Actually, the whole team seemed like working as a "chaos". S and I started two structures at the same time, the basement work seemed like taping trashes together and it's accomplished at the last second. The leader might be the conception of "making the tower as tall as possible", and the team work really was like a programming team fighting for the project deadline.

After the game, we were actually not that bad, and honestly quite successful. There was a creative tower made in an artistic way but can not stand on the ground; there was an extremely stable tower with the fantastic triangle structure but short for its height; there was also another chaos tower similar to ours but lost at the height.

What makes a good team?

1. Team leader? Yes, if it's for long term, the leadership is very important. Though different field has different perspectives signed to a leader, in general, a leader has to be respected among the team members.

2. Contributors - They are doing the mechanical work, but they are the foundation of the team.

3. Communicator? It's very important. In this case, as a contributor, honestly I had no idea how long should one string be like, while A, as the communicator, helped me to determine the vision of the string length. If it's not her, I might just keep making the string longer than enough, while forgetting the goal is to make the tower, not the long string.

4. Collaborator? They were the ones taping the strings together AND stable them with straws.

So many to say about this game.

The team work is about playing the role whole-heartedly, be creative as it's allowed, and be compromising when it's needed.