Team Building Materials
Comparison: Where this artical says Academy, you can probably substitute CBL
Conventional Classroom vs. Academy Classroom
Conventional Classroom
• Teacher knows the answer
• Students routinely work alone
• Teacher plans all activities
• Teacher makes all assignments
• Information is organized, evaluated, interpreted, and communicated to students by teacher
• Organizing system of the classroom is simple: on teacher teaches 30 students
• Reading, writing and math are treated as separate disciplines; listening and speaking often are often missing from the curriculum
• Thinking is usually theoretical and “academic”
• Students are expected to conform to teacher’s behavioral expectations; integrity and honesty are monitored by teacher; student self-esteem is often poor
Academy Classroom
• More than One solution may be viable and teacher may not have it in advance
• Students routinely work with teachers, peers and community members
• Students and teachers plan and negotiate activities
• Students routinely assess themselves
• Information is acquired, evaluated, organized, interpreted, and communicated by students to appropriate audience
• Organizing systems are complex: teacher and students both reach out beyond school for additional information
• Disciplines needed for problem solving are integrated; listening and speaking are fundamental parts of learning
• Thinking involves problem solving, reasoning and decision making.
• Students are expected to be responsible, social, self managing and resourceful; Integrity and honesty are monitored within the social context of the classroom; students’ self-esteem is high because they are in charge of their own learning
Team Learning Roles
When working in teams, the key to success is that every student is that every student has an active roll to play. Below are 5 roles to be assigned. In addition to these roles, all students work towards the goal of the team.
Recorder: This person is required to act as a scribe or team note taker-make note of all ideas
Runner: This person is the only person is the only person allowed on the floor. He/she is responsible for asking all questions, picking up and returning all needed materials.
Checker: This person is responsible for group understanding. This does not mean they have all of the answers to the problems, this simply means they act as a team facilitator. This role could also be called the leader.
Encourager: This person acts as a team cheerleader. He/she encourages and motivates other team members to do their best.
Reader (optional): This person read any printed material to the team. There is rarely a fifth team member.
Summary of Team Structures
Team structures allow teachers to take advantage of golden opportunities for increasing student cooperative interaction and learning during any type of instruction, even when not conducting a full-blown cooperative (team buliding) lesson. They are the hammer and saws of cooperative learning: multipurpose tools, which can be used without advanced planning in many situations with a variety of content. By using these team structures, teachers can make their ordinary lessons more interactive, and help students get used to working together.
• Process Partners (Think-Pair-Share):
This process is useful during or after a period of direct instruction even when
students are seated in rows. After a moment of individual reflection,
participants turn to a neighbor and discuss a question posed by the instructor,
and then may be asked to share their ideas with the whole class.
• Partner Interviews:
Partners take turns interviewing each other about some topic posed by the
instructor. This process is a good “getting acquainted” activity, a way to
develop an “anticipatory set” before direct instruction or to review what has
been learned at the end of a lesson.
• Partner Coach:
Partners take turns helping each other memorize spelling, vocabulary, or math
facts, using flash cards or similar teaching aids.
• Partners Check:
Partners take turns observing each other preform some mathematical or
scientific procedure, checking to be sure that each step is correctly preformed.
• Partners Compare:
After completing independent work or homework, partners compare answers,
discuss differences, and correct errors.
• Pyramiding (Snowballing):
After partner work, pairs join together in groups of four to compare their
answers or discuss and synthesize their ideas.
• Huddle (Heads Together):
This is an alternative to process partners when students are seated in groups of
four or five. Team members “put their heads together” and briefly discuss
some question posed by the teacher. One spokesperson per group may
summarize their conclusion for the class as a whole.
• Whip:
After a huddle to share feelings or ideas, the instructor may sequentially call
on one spokesperson from each group to quickly add a new word or idea to a
growing class list.
• Round Robin (Round Table):
A way to structure verbal or written turn-taking which insures that everyone in
the group participates. In either clockwise or counterclockwise order, team
members each add their contribution to the group.
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