Building Team Unity

Establishing a cooperative-learning environment begins with partner- and team-building activities. Students need to perceive their partnerships, teams, and class as interdependent learning units that work together to achieve a common learning goal. Each time you assign teams, choose a brief team-building activity so the students can form a bond and begin to relate to one another as teammates. Remember, team-building activities help students form a group identity, but it is the continued interactions among the members that truly establish them as an effective, cohesive team.

Select a team-building activity that you think will be fun for your students. Establish three rules for teams to follow. These rules set the tone for future team activities, which must include participation, consensus, and respect for individual rights.

• Each team member must have a say.
• No decision can be reached unless everyone consents.
• No member consents to the team’s decision if he or she has a serious objection.

Sample Team Building Activities

Team Name, Logo, Slogan
Students choose a team name and draw a logo that is representative of the team. Be sure that team names are of a positive nature and are the result of consensus; all the students on the team should agree with the team’s choice. Other enjoyable activities might include the creation of a team slogan, a team cheer, and/or a team handshake.
 

It’s My Name
Students interview one another or take turns sharing information about their names. Possible topics include why they were given their names, any family history of their names, the names they’d choose if they could change their names, nicknames, and so on.

I’ve Been There
Students share travel stories with teammates. They might take turns telling about a favorite real vacation or an imaginary or dream vacation.

When I Grow Up
Teammates discuss their career ambitions or life goals.

What a Character
Students share which character they’d choose to be from a story or novel they’ve read and why. Other interview or sharing ideas might include students’ dream cars, animals they’d choose to be, a favorite TV show or movie, and so on.

Quality Initials
Students create a team chant using their initials. First, teammates work together to create new names by substituting adjectives that begin with the same letters as their fi rst and last names. (Letitia Johnson might become Lovingly Jolly.) Next, students chant their combinations—adjectives fi rst, followed by the actual names (Lovingly Jolly Letitia Johnson). Finally, rhythmic clapping or beats may be added to the chant.

Three Facts
Each student tells the team three facts—two things that are really true and one that’s made up. Teammates try to come to consensus on which statement is not true.

Alike/Unique
Students draw a large circle on a piece of paper. In turn, they suggest things that they all may have in common. As they discover commonalities, they record them inside the circle (e.g., liking pizza, playing soccer, owning a dog). If, during the discussion, a student discovers something that is unique (only member of the team who plays the fl ute), he or she writes it in his or her corner of the diagram. The object is to see how many different things can be written inside the circle. In this way, the team creates a poster that celebrates all the things shared in common by the members. The team can then create a team name based on the commonalities inside their circle.

True or False?
Students take turns telling the team a believable lie or an unbelievable truth about themselves. Teammates must decide which it is, true or false.

Cooperative Collage
Teams cover a shoe box or a small, empty cardboard box with paper and then decorate it with pictures and words cut from magazines. The resulting collage should refl ect each team’s unique identity in some way. Markers may be used to fi nish decorating the box and to record the team name on it.

Dream House
Supply each team with index cards, scissors, tape, paper clips, and markers. Students work together to create a team dream house, but they must do so without talking for the fi rst ten minutes. The last four minutes, teams may talk as they fi nish building and decorating their mansion. Each team may then share its creation with the class.

Cooperative Art
Give each team a sheet of paper and four markers. The paper is passed around the team, and each student may add one line or shape. This is a silent activity.

Change-a-Letter
Give each team a three- or four-letter word. Each team member in turn changes one letter to form a new word. Teams see how long they can keep going without repeating any words. Example: pat, put, pun, fun, fan, man….

Alphabet List
Students take turns adding to a list in which each item begins with the subsequent letter of the alphabet (apple, banana, cantaloupe, date, etc.). Possible topics might be foods, animals, or geographical locations. Or, each team might write a story in which each sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet.

Source: Many of these team-building suggestions were adapted from Cooperative Learning by Spencer Kagan,
published by Resources for Teachers, Inc.: (800) WEE-COOP.