Social and Team Building Activities
Are there any publications that would help an instructor with planning some team building activities?
Try using FISH. It is used as a management training tool but I have found some great teamwork activities in the manual that can be replicated for your type of coursework
I find the internet a very effective tool for finding team building activities and sparking conversation about relavent topics in my classes.
Hi Kristin,
Have you wondered what life was like before the internet? It seems as though you can find any and everything on the internet. I have used the internet to find various activities to use in my classes. A relative of mine that is a first-year teacher said the internet has really helped her in so many ways to become an effective teacher. The interntet is certainly a very powerful tool.
Patricia
I too use the internet. I have found quite a few activities and such on simple searches.
Plus another good resource is The Complete Games Trainers Play by Edward E. Scannell & John W. Newstrom published by McGraw-Hill. There are a lot of team building exercises in that book.
Hi Cori,
I feel as though it would be a good guess to say all educators use the internet. What would we do without the internet? Thanks for sharing the resource. We have a personal development course where we do a lot of team building exercises. I am excited about exploring this valuable resource. How do you use this resource in the coures you teach?
Patrica
I believe "Team Building" activities should be applicable to the course or area of study. I teach the first twenty weeks of an AOS degree in Graphic Design and I teach "Team Building" as an applied Gen Ed focus. We have had students break into smaller teams. I have helped negotiate that, always the goal being to pair students with specific strengths with students that don't demonstrate those same strengths YET. One of the Team Building Activities we've done is to pick another department to "Brand" or at least design a poster for that department. All the teams work on the same department but design with a different concept or "Big Idea". They would seek a consultation with the department heads and some students possibly... take photographs and/or illustrate. They would also write the copy and have rough stages approved. They would compete and the department not me would choose the poster they felt worked the best. Student teams critiqued and graded their team members. This was in the first twenty weeks of a 90 week course. What comes out of the activity is an experience that closely replicates what will be the process they will be experiencing in their chosen field and out of that comes a natural working socialization. As far as publications google your chosen field. Join organizations and ask others. If all else fails bring in junk (milk cartons, meat trays, just junk) and glue guns break into teams and give them an hour to build what a safe and encouraging learning environment would look like. Have them write a paragraph and have them present it to the other teams and possibly others in your school or department. That's it for now.
Hi Lauren,
Team building activities should be related to the course of study. We have a personal development course where we do a lot of team building exercises. Students tend to really learn alot and enjoy doing team buiding exercises as long as the exercises are applicable to the course of study. Students want to see how the team building exercises are going to help them in their field of study. Even with the team building exercises, sometimes we do the exercises in groups.
Patricia
I find that team building is very effective in my class. I am usually the first instructor that the class meets and my class is usually thier inital class together. As we are a culinary school we teach that team work is one of the keys to success.
I normally divide the students into teams and then give them an activity to complete on the third day of class. Afterwards we discuss the results. What many of the students fail to notice is:
1. The work is easier and finishes quicker if they all work together.
2. Many of the ones who take a leadership role early on many not have the best ideas.
3. Many of them did not understand the activity but failed to ask questions.
When I give the same group other activies later in the session I can see where they are incoroprating thier new found skills.
Hi Shani,
What a great way to build the key component to success in the industry of culinary. It is evident that your students really grow from this great activity. Continue to be creative as an educator!
Patricia
First day in class, our students are seated at tables with five to six persons per table. One of the first things I do is make the students introduce themselves to everyone at their table and then move from table to table to meet the rest of the new students and exchange first names. Then the table groups break for about fifteen minutes and create a race team, which includes a team name, a logo, and a team moto.This breaks the ice and gets everyone talking and starts forming teams and friendships.
Hello Harold,
What a great excercise to help form teams, friendships, relationships, etc. It is important for students to know each other in the class, therefore a certain comfort level is established. Students tend to work better if they are comfortable with each other.
Patricia
Building social relationships within the first class certainly adds to the overall morale of the term...especially for beginning students. One activity that I've found useful is the icebreaker tic-tac-toe board. It highlights different characterisitcs/trivia that students must find a respondent for. This not only serves to introduce students to each other, but it also helps students recognize the relative strengths in each other.
Hello Ben,
I am unfamiliar with this icebreaker, but I certainly undersand the benefits of it on the first day. Thanks for the idea.
Patricia
I would also be interested in sources for team building and ice breaking activities. I have used some from the internet in the past. Since my classes are only 12 wks, I need short activities so we can spend more time on classwork. Health related activities would be great. Any ideas? -Jeanne
A friend of mine recently gave me some material that she obtained from her husband who is a boy scout leader. It gave a scenario, the "works" plane crash, survivors, limited supplies, etc...The task to list the items in order from most important to least. The different teams spent several minutes listing the items in the order they felt where correct, plus they were to add their comments as to why they felt it was important. In the end I read them the answers and why, and you could see the "little light bulbs go off in their heads". This was an exercise for 12-13 year old boyscouts and my class of adults students had a blast with it.
First day of class, we play "Welcome, Bingo".
I have a bingo card with squares that have different criteria about other students.
Examples: Find another student who:
graduated from a Florida high school;
has 2 brothers;
is left-handed;
was born in a country other than US, etc.
They are given 15 minutes to walk around the room and find out more about each other
I have prizes in a "prize bag" for those who achieve BINGO during the time allotted.
It seems to be a non-stress and fun way to get to know each other.
Along with internet activities we use "group exercises" wherein small groups of students "brainstorm" over presented problems and then present a unified answer to the problem. By varying team members they have more exposure to differing opinions, problem-solving techniques and personalities.
Hi Cori,
I have also found books at most book stores about Ice breakers and Team building. I believe there are 5-6 that I have seen relating to diffent businesses types to fit just about any situation. They range from $15 to $22 new and even cheaper used via amazon or the bookstore websites.
