Adjourning

Adjourning

This week’s assignment will be a bit difficult for me because I have only been involved in maybe two activities or assignments which involved groups.  The first one I was involved in was very difficult because there was no trust, communication or leadership.  This actually made me have negative feelings regarding group assignments.  The second time that I had the opportunity to work with a group; it was not related to school.  This activity involved taking part in our annual family reunion.  I along with five others was responsible for the entertainment for the three day family reunion.  It took us two months to get everything planned, because we had live entertainment.  We all met once a week for two months, we had a leader or one person who was in charge.  We had to consider the various age groups of the people who would be attend the reunion, the cost, how long each group would perform, etc.  We all had a lot of fun and we all got along well.  We valued one another as well as each person’s opinions; we trusted one another’s judgment and everything ran very smoothly. 

This was our first time working together for this part of our family reunion.  I felt that is was important to achieve closure on a positive note, which we did.  It was not so hard to adjourn at the end of the reunion because we were family and we all lived in the same town which meant we would run into each other frequently.  This was an event that was held once a year and it was something that we looked forward to each year, only with different responsibilities in each area.  I think the hardest part was seeing family members that lived in different states and being able to see many of them after several years because their schedules did not permit them to attend our family reunions each year.  This is why it was hard to say good bye to those family members. 

After completing my master’s degree, I feel that the adjourning process will be very sad for me because I have enjoyed and appreciated the relationships that I have developed.  I have learned a great deal from working with my colleagues and I also feel that it has been a privilege and an honor to work with so many outstanding knowledgeable professionals.  I have even gotten to know a few of them on a personal level.  I found out the areas where my strengths were as well as my weaknesses.  I especially liked the diversity of the group and how we got to hear various opinions, ideas and views in regard to different subjects which allowed us to prepare ourselves for the children that we work with in order help them become responsible and successful adults.  I am looking forward to putting faces with names upon graduation.  Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it allows each person to get closure and look back at their accomplishments.  Most times they feel good about what has been achieved and what they learned from each other.