Name Team Building

Every morning I lead a morning meeting with my fifth graders. Every day of the week is a specific theme-

Mondays are "My Recap Mondays"

Tuesdays are "Team Building Tuesdays"

Wednesdays are "What's Up Wednesdays" [Current Events]

Thursdays are "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Fridays are "Friendship Fridays" [Book Buddies with the kindergarten students.]

Today, is Tuesday- "Team Building Tuesday" to be exact and that is exactly what we did. For our activity today the students were shown a white piece of paper with my (last) name spelled across it.

             B  A  N   K   E   N   B   U  S  H

After reviewing ACROSTIC poems from the previous week I told the students their goal was to work as a team to include EVERY student's name on the BANKENBUSH sign. Every student had to somehow be connected back to my last name.

They had a time limit to complete this task with very little direction outside of what I stated above. After the first go around we discussed what the positives were as well as what the deltas (things they could've done differently) were. Here is what they came up with:

+

Didn't argue with each other.

Chose a team leader.

Had a place for everyone to go when they were finished writing their name.

Deltas

Not everyone sat where they should've when they were done.

Everyone wanted to share their ideas with the team leader even though they weren't in charge.

People were talking out of turn.

Too much confusion.

Too much going on.

After discussing control and the deltas that they shared we came up with possible solutions.

Solutions

Team leader discusses with the class their strategies BEFORE starting.

Team leader calls on who to come up.

Separate the students into groups- 5 letters or below on one side and 6+ letters in your name on the other.

When you're finished sit back in your seats instead of on the floor to help organize.

Remember to include all students- even those who are missing.

The second time around went by MUCH better. Few results we had:

1. The team leader ended up forgetting her own name because she was so worried about everyone else.

2. Once they were told one minute warning a few students starting calling out suggestions in a panic that they wouldn't be done on time- again, going back to control.

It turned out really insightful for all the students and for myself.