Working in Teams

As I design my new prep for this Fall, I'm planning a heavy team emphasis. The class is a leadership-type class, so it works for team projects. I remember one of the classes on which I worked the hardest had a team-oriented structure, and I think the concertive control element was one of the reasons I worked as hard as I did. So I'm going to try to do the same, except perhaps without the oppressive peer pressure that's often associated with concertive control. I'm thinking of having teams decide how to weight the various assignments and having them decide attendance policies for members. I'm going to give Readiness Assessment Tests throughout the semester, both individual tests and group tests to keep them accountable for reading. But of course, that puts pressure on me to make sure I'm not just rehashing the material--I'm really going to work to have high impact activities and guest speakers to really help students apply material. This class will be an experiment.