subject: Disguise Learning As Play With Classroom Team Building [print this page] The issue of teamwork is a common one for many teachers. Do you find that your students aren't working together as well as they could be? Do you find yourself witnessing more conflict and confusion than actual goals being met? If this sounds familiar, perhaps it's time for some classroom team building.
What exactly is classroom team building? Essentially it's a seminar that allows your students to learn more about teamwork through a series of games, activities, and discussions. These typically start with an ice breaking session that allows the instructor to inform the students about the overall purpose of the seminar and what manner of activities they will be accomplishing. An ice breaking session is also useful for letting your class get to know one another better through introductory activities. It's typical for the teacher to try out a few quick activities to get them in the mood for fun. These include activities such as name memorization games, call and response games, and many more.
Once the ice breaker session is over, it's time to proceed to the next series of classroom team building activities. These often include athletic games such as relay races, group tag, group blind man's bluff, crack the whip, scavenger hunts, and other fun games. Along with being able to get the blood pumping, these games help teach concepts such as leadership, decision making, thinking on one's feet, and communication under stress. These games help disguise learning as play.
In addition to athletic games, there are plenty of mental and verbal classroom team building games too. These include games like hypothetical situations, storytelling, drawing games, optical illusions, memorization games, and more. Along with promoting creative thinking, students also learn more about public speaking and empathy.
Of course, regardless of how careful you are, inevitable conflicts do arise. However, in learning to solve these problems and work toward a common goal, your students will learn more from these problems than by any other activity you have them accomplish.
You will notice a lot of other positive outcomes when your class participates in classroom team building activities. By treating your students to a day of team building activities, you can guarantee that they will take these concepts with them and continue to use them throughout their school careers. In addition to this, they make great job skills as well. Get more information on ways that team building workshops can help the kids in your class learn to work better together.
