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:

The Perfect Team Member
Time Allocation: 20  minutes
Materials/Resources: paper, pens/pencils, computer with internet access/projector (teacher)

ANTICIPATORY SET IDEA:

Show students the following movie clip: “Madagascar Penguins Best and Funniest Team Work.”

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When it’s over, ask students what made this a great example of teamwork?

​

WATCH THE VIDEO:

DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

Post the following words on pieces of paper around the room.
o Honest
o Straightforward
o Shares the workload
o Reliable
o Fair
o Compliments other’s skills
o Good communicator
o Positive attitude
 Have students walk around the classroom to read the different characteristics or just have them look around
from their seats.
 After they’ve read all of them, have them guess what all the characteristics are describing.
  o Answer: the characteristics are describing the perfect team member.
 Ask students the following questions for a short class discussion:
  o What do I mean when I say “team member?” Am I talking about a sports team?
  o Are there any characteristics you believe are missing?
  o Are there any characteristics that you don’t agree with?

GUIDED ACTIVITY:

Give each student a piece of paper and tell them to write down all the characteristics that are posted around the
room.
 When finished, ask them to complete a self-reflection and rate themselves 1-5 on each characteristic.
  o 1 = I never portray this characteristic.
  o 2 = I rarely portray this characteristic.
  o 3 = I sometimes portray this skill.
  o 4 = I portray this skill on a regular basis.
  o 5 = This characteristic is extremely important to me and I portray it on a daily basis.
 After students complete their self-reflection, have them write down one goal and one strength on the same
piece of paper.
  o The goal will be about how to improve the characteristics they rated as low on their self-reflection.
  o Then, they will pick one of the characteristics that they believe is their strongest and explain why. Also,
     they will explain why this characteristic is important to being a good team member.
 When finished, they will turn this paper in before the end of class.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

 Technology Use: Create a Poll Everywhere for students to take.

 Non-Technology: Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Student who need further clarification will show a “thumbs
down” and students who understand will show a “thumbs up.”

​

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: 

NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED
You’ve been assigned a group project in your history class and you get put in a group with classmates that you don’t
really know. For this project, your teacher has forbidden you to use any technology to find the answers – you must rely
on your group members’ collective memories, your textbook, and any notes you have previously taken. You are the type
of person that doesn’t mind working with new people because you usually end up taking charge of the group. You enjoy
delegating tasks to others and monitoring your group to make sure the work gets done on time. You sit down with your
group and everyone introduces themselves and you start discussing the group project. You immediately start assigning
tasks to different people and thankfully everyone agrees, listens to you, and gets to work. A few minutes go by and
something catches your eye from across the room. You realize that other groups are secretly using their phones to
research their projects. Then, others in your group start noticing this as well. One of your group members takes their
phone out of their pocket to start using it and you immediately tell them not to. Your group starts getting upset and
frustrated with you because they believe that since everyone else is using their phone, they should be able to as well. As
the group leader, what do you do? Do you stick to your guns and forbid your group to use their phones and to follow the
teacher’s directions, even if that means you may be at a disadvantage to the other groups or do you give in and let them
use their phones? You are an extremely competitive person and you hate feeling like your group is going to have the
worst project of the whole class because you followed the directions? What do you do?

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 your group?

4. 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 , “ WHY IS BEING A LEADER DIFFICULT AT TIMES ?”

REVIEW AND CLOSING:

Share the following quote with the students before they leave the classroom:
o “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” –Steve Jobs

​

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 having a printed copy of the worksheet.

-Auditory: Auditory learners will benefit from the group discussions and pair share.

-Kinesthetic: To benefit kinesthetic learner s, you could allow them to move around the room as they read and think. They will also benefit from the writing activities.

-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 .