This page is dedicated to games and activities that can be used at the high school level. Team-building through Accountability...
Some things that are important at the high school level are fostering a sense of independence from the teacher, accountability for your own grade, and ability to work effectively in groups. One resource that you can use to help foster these traits in your students is the First 20 Days by Foster and Frey. These are 20 different things that you can incorporate into your lessons during the first 20 days of class in order to establish productive group work and accountability in your classrooms.
Team Building through Communication...
One lesson that we have adapted from this pdf document is the
. In this lesson we have students use technology to conduct the silent interview of a partner and create a collage for their partner.
One quick team building game that you can play in order for students to get to know each other is "Two truths and a lie."All you need to do is take about 10 minutes at the beginning of class and have each student come up with two things about themselves that are true (especially if it is something that people might not know) and one lie. Then the other students in the class need to figure out which one is the lie. This is a fun way for students to learn information about each other!
Team Building through Cooperation... Review gamescan be a perfect way to incorporate team building exercises that are curriculum based. One team building game that we use is called "I have, who has." In this game, each student is given a card or set of cards with an 'answer' and a 'question' on it. One person will start and each card logically leads to another card until it loops back to the start. For example, I have used this game for factoring quadratics by putting the standard form as the 'question' and the factored form as the 'answer'. This makes sure that no student is left behind and the students need to work together to help each other learn the material in order to complete the game. Here is a link to some cards for math.
Team Building through Exploring Identity...
Have students imagine that a map of the city in which your school is located has been blown up and laid over the classroom floor. Stand where your school is located in the city (this will not be to scale!) and have students stand on the "map" where they live in relation to school. Select a few students to reflect generally on where they live. Now have students imagine there is a map of the United States on the floor. Stand in the state your school is located then ask students to stand on the "map" where their parents/majority of their family is from. Select a few students to state their location by city and state. Lastly, overlay a map of the world on the floor and ask students to stand on the map where "they are from". Let students quantify this however they like, whether it be where their parents grew up, where they grew up, or where their ancestors are from. Select a few students to reflect on why they choose their location or you can turn the last mapping assignment into a journal prompt for students to respond to upon completing the exercise.
High School Videos: Please click the link to watch videos that can be used as team building activities in your high school classrooms!
This page is dedicated to games and activities that can be used at the high school level.
Team-building through Accountability...
Some things that are important at the high school level are fostering a sense of independence from the teacher, accountability for your own grade, and ability to work effectively in groups. One resource that you can use to help foster these traits in your students is the First 20 Days by Foster and Frey. These are 20 different things that you can incorporate into your lessons during the first 20 days of class in order to establish productive group work and accountability in your classrooms.
Team Building through Communication...
Team Building through Cooperation...
Review games can be a perfect way to incorporate team building exercises that are curriculum based. One team building game that we use is called "I have, who has." In this game, each student is given a card or set of cards with an 'answer' and a 'question' on it. One person will start and each card logically leads to another card until it loops back to the start. For example, I have used this game for factoring quadratics by putting the standard form as the 'question' and the factored form as the 'answer'. This makes sure that no student is left behind and the students need to work together to help each other learn the material in order to complete the game. Here is a link to some cards for math.
Team Building through Exploring Identity...
Have students imagine that a map of the city in which your school is located has been blown up and laid over the classroom floor. Stand where your school is located in the city (this will not be to scale!) and have students stand on the "map" where they live in relation to school. Select a few students to reflect generally on where they live. Now have students imagine there is a map of the United States on the floor. Stand in the state your school is located then ask students to stand on the "map" where their parents/majority of their family is from. Select a few students to state their location by city and state. Lastly, overlay a map of the world on the floor and ask students to stand on the map where "they are from". Let students quantify this however they like, whether it be where their parents grew up, where they grew up, or where their ancestors are from. Select a few students to reflect on why they choose their location or you can turn the last mapping assignment into a journal prompt for students to respond to upon completing the exercise.
High School Videos: Please click the link to watch videos that can be used as team building activities in your high school classrooms!