TEAMWORK

Overview For Teachers

TEAMWORK: The ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively with others toward a common goal or success of the team; participate appropriately as a team member by assisting others or requesting help when needed; handle criticism, conflicts, and complaints appropriately; demonstrate leadership; relate well to others; take an interest in what others say and do in order to build relationships; contribute to the group with ideas, suggestions, and effort; the ability to participate in group decision -making.

​

PURPOSE: Upon completion of this module, the student will understand the importance of teamwork and being a team player in the workplace. In addition, the objectives listed below should be met.

​

OBJECTIVES:

 Ability to be a great team player in different aspects of life

 Ability to recognize the different roles that are required for a team to be successful

 Ability to understand that team work and collaboration isn’t always easy

​

OVERVIEW:

This module concentrates on teaching students the importance of teamwork and being a team player. The key to teamwork is collaborating and cooperating with others in many different settings. Teamwork and being a team player is not only a skill that is used in sports, but it’s also very important in the workplace. The ability to work well with others is a skill that will bring success in the future . In addition, students will have an opportunity to gain an understanding of the importance of teamwork by participating in various activities designed to stimulate thought and discussion.

​

TEACHERS: WHAT ARE YOU OBSERVING?

What does teamwork look like in the classroom or in school in general? A great way to answer this and get things going is through engagement with the students. Ask your students these questions:

1. What does teamwork look like in class?

2. How does being a team player affect other students? Example: Co-workers, classmates, teammates, etc.

3. What does teamwork look like within your learning?

​

RELEVANCY OF TEAMWORK:

Employers look to recruit employees who are great team players and are able to work effectively with others. Many companies and businesses expect co -workers to collaborate on projects and assignments so having these skills is beneficial to being successful in the future.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

LESSON:

Magic Carpet Ride
Time Allocation: 20  minutes
Materials/Resources: butcher paper (1 seven -foot piece for each team), 3 -5 blindfolds for each team , computer with internet access/ projector (teacher), computers/ tablets/ smartphones with internet access (students - optional), blue tape or masking tape to mark the start and finish lines, stopwatch or timer on cell phone

ANTICIPATORY SET IDEA:

 Show students the following video clip: “Effective Collaboration.” 

 After the clip is over, have students name specific reasons why this is an example of effective collaboration.

     o Everyone was involved o Everyone had the same goal in mind – dinner and a movie

     o Everyone was allowed to give input

     o Everyone played a part in making the final decision

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

WATCH THE VIDEO:

DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

 Inform students that they are going to be working on their teamwork skills today.

 Ask students “What makes a team successful?”

     o Have students share their answers for a short class discussion before the activity.

 Divide the class into groups of 5 -7.

     o Each group will be given a seven -foot long piece of butcher paper and 3 -5 blindfolds.

     o You will need an area that is about 20 feet long and big enough for all the teams to fit side -by -side while standing on their butcher paper.

     o Mark the start and finish lines with tape.

     o Each student can remove his or her shoes – this is not a requirement.

 Have each team choose a captain – or assign the tallest person in the group as captain.

     o The job of the captain is to enforce the rules.

     o The captain will be in charge of sending people to get their blindfold at the finish line when a violation occurs.

     o If the captain become s blindfolded, the next tallest person who is not blindfolded takes over as captain.

 Next, each group needs to figure out all the member’s birth date.

     o Each time the butcher paper is ripped during the activity, one person becomes blindfolded. The person with their birth date closest to January 1st will be the first person to be blindfolded and so on.

 If a person’s body part touches the floor off the butcher paper, they must be blindfolded.

 The teams may not advance while a team member is getting a blindfold or putting it on.

 The maximum number of people that can be blindfolded at one time is 3 people on a 5 person team or 5 people on a 7 person team.

     o If a team has the maximum amount of people blindfolded and a violation occurs, they must sit down for 60 seconds and when 60

     seconds is up, they may stand up and continue in the activity.

GUIDED ACTIVITY:

 The objective of the activity is to move the butcher paper from the starting line to the finish line.

     o Remember, all teams must be standing on their butcher paper once the activity starts.

 Teams will get 3 minutes to plan a strategy but during this time, they MAY NOT touch the butcher paper.

 When 3 minutes is up, start the activity once all the teams are standing on their butcher paper.

 The activity is over when all teams had made it to the finish line or they have declared their magic carpet destroyed and unable to complete the journey.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

 Technology Use: Create a short survey with Survey Monkey to check for understanding with the students that they will complete before they leave for the day.

 Non-Technology: Circle, Triangle, Square: Students will associate different shapes will different aspects of the lesson. A circle will be something the student is still pondering about from the lesson, a triangle will represent something that stood out in their mind about the lesson, and a square will represent something that “squared” or agreed with the student’s thinking about the lesson. Each student will draw these three shapes on a piece of paper and write inside of them what they represent from the lesson.

​

ETHICAL SCENARIO--Optional (if not using, skip  to "review and closing")

The Ethical Choice Scenarios have been developed to provide teachers with the ability to make the material applicable to real-life and relevant to the students. Within this guide, directions and prompts for the teacher will be in BLUE for ease of facilitation.

READ THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO OUT LOUD TO THE STUDENTS: 

THERE’S NO “I” IN TEAM

Today is your lucky day! Your best friend got assigned to your group for the final group project of the year and both of you are very excited. What a great way to end the year by being able to work with your best friend every day in class. The teacher shares with your group that the topic of your project is to cover the positive and negatives of having autonomous vehicles on the road . You can’t wait to get started since you are very passionate about the ever-changing world and new advancements in technology . The next day in class, which is the first day of your group work, you come fully prepared with research and articles you did the night before. Your best friend shows up, completely unengaged and unenthusiastic about the topic you were given. From that moment on, your best friend basically refuses to help with the project, since they really don’t care or have an opinion about autonomous vehicles on the road. So, what do you do? If you decide to do all the work and not force your best friend to help, it’s going to take up almost all of your time, and with finals coming up, you have a lot on your plate already. Would you confront your friend and demand them to help? If yo u confront them, how would they react? Would the confrontation ruin your friendship? Would you talk to the teacher about your struggles on the group project?

ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: (display them to the class if necessary)

1. How many of you have already been faced with this scenario in real life?

2. What are the possible options for you in this situation?

3. What are possible positive or negative consequences for you, depending on your decision?

GUIDED DISCUSSION: ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE SITUATION AND HOW THEY
ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS.

NOTE 1 : To help facilitate discussion, share any personal experiences you may have encountered with this same sort of issue.

NOTE 2 : Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students , “ Whose actions do you control in this situation?”

NOTE 3 : Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students , “ What values do you think are in tension here, why is it an ethical dilemma?”

CLOSING DISCUSSION: ASK THE STUDENTS , “ WHAT DOES YOUR DECISION TELL YOU ABOUT YOUR TEAMWORK SKILLS ?”

REVIEW AND CLOSING:

 Following the activity, have students sit with their groups and ask them these questions:

     o How did your team go about making its plan?

     o Did the captain lead the planning time discussion?

     o Did everyone give input during the planning stage? Why or why not?

     o How well did your plan work? o How did you feel if you were the team captain?

     o How did you feel as a follower?

     o What were your overall feelings about this activity?

     o How could you apply this activity to school?

     o How could you apply this activity to the workplace?

     o What was the hardest/ easiest part about this activity?

​

CORRELATION TO OBSERVATION TOOL: The Frequency Observation Tool (FOT) has a category where students will be observed and rated on their ability to be a good team player and to collaborate with others . This lesson will give students the opportunity to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as a team player and how these can affect their team overall.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IDEAS:

-Visual: Visual learners will benefit from watching the movie clip. They would also benefit from having the closing questions posted with a projector.

-Auditory: Auditory learners will benefit from the communication within their team during planning and the activity.

-Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learners will benefit from the movement associated in this activity.

-ESL: ESL students would benefit from working with a partner on this assignment in case they have questions or need clarification.

-At-risk: At -risk students will benefit from the constant engagement in this lesson that will encourage them to stay on task.

-Advanced: Advanced learners could benefit from helping other students write down their schedules, or by assisting ESL or At -risk students who may need additional help .