Tiger Tribute
Week of: April 1-5
Kagan Follow-up
Why do I need to do classbuilding and teambuilding?
Research in psychology has shown that there is a direct link between physical proximity and friendship. It's why people who work together or are neighbors often become friends. But seating teammates in close proximity is not enough. You want teammates to be genuinely concerned about the contribution and success of each other. You want teams to be able to bounce ideas off of each other. You want teams to be able to argue their point with each other and reach a consensus. You also want teammates to build off of each other's ideas. Teambuilding and classbuilding is how you achieve this in your classroom.
Classbuilding and teambuilding are achieved quickly and easily through the use of Kagan structures and activities. Once your students are sitting in teams, classbuilding and teambuilding need to occur regularly. Otherwise, students will not work well together and there will be classroom management problems as well as decreased achievement. When I first started using Kagan in my own classroom, I had to incorporate these activities in my lesson plans in order to ensure it became part of my classroom norm.
I will be sharing some "getting started" and "things to remember" tips this week.
Classbuilding:
- Students must be up out of their seat interacting with students other than their teammates.
- Should be done at least once a week using non-content material (in other words, for fun)
- Can be done as needed for academic purposes.
- Students will get to know each other and have a sense of belonging to a larger community outside of their team.
- Some of my favorite Kagan structures to use are Stand Up-Hand Up-Pair Up (used in conjunction with Rally Robin or Timed Pair Share), Mix Pair Share, and Quiz Quiz Trade.
Teambuilding:
- Should be done twice a week for fun but absolutely can be used many times throughout the day for academics.
- Students will begin to bond and feel a sense of team identity.
- Allows for students to get acquainted, value differences in each other, develop synergy, develop mutual support, and form a sense of belonging.
- Some of my favorite Kagan structures to use are Round Robin (and all of its various versions), Jot Thoughts, Numbered Heads Together, Round Table Consensus, and Talking Chips.
Kagan Structure Spotlight: Teambuilding
Single Round Robin
- Teacher poses a question and gives think time. (For team building some of the easiest, quickest questions to start with are centered around the "My Favorite" question stem. For example, "What is your favorite place to go out to eat dinner?" "What is your favorite candy?" "What is your favorite color?" "What is your favorite video game?" "What is your favorite cartoon?" You get the idea.)
- Students get up out of their seat, lean in on one knee, and teacher tells the class which student number will go first. Example: "All #1s raise your hand. You will go first when I say go."
- Remind students that only the person answering the question is speaking. This is not a conversation. Simply an active listening activity.
- All students remain in their team huddle until everyone has answered and then when they are finished, students will sit down. I usually have teams give me a signal by putting their hands on their head but you can develop your own signal.
- Teams should offer some kind of praise to each other or celebrate with a quick team cheer. There are tons of ideas for this that I would be happy to share but I usually start out by having students tell each other.. "I enjoyed working with you today" or something similar to that.
Kagan Structure Spotlight: Classbuilding
Stand Up, Hand-Up, Pair Up
- Explain to students that when you say "Go" students will stand up, put their hand up high, and then pair up with the closest person to them (other than their teammate). Teach students they are not allowed to pass anyone or run across their room to their best friend.
- When you say go, students stand up and keep one hand high in the air until they find the closest person. Students do a "high five" and then put their hands down. **Teachers can modify what the students do when they get together. For example, they can do a hand shake, an air high five, etc. You know your kids best.**
- Teacher will ask a question and provide think time. Teacher will designate who will answer the question first. For example, "The person closest to the window (or door) will go first."
- Student who was designated to go first will answer the question while his/her partner actively listens. Then, they switch roles and the other student answers the question.
- When students are finished, they will praise each other. Again, in the beginning I give the students a sentence stem to use..."I really enjoyed working with you today." or "I really enjoyed learning something about you today."
- In the beginning, I had pairs give me a signal when they were finished answering my question and then I would have them pair up with a new student all together. As students learn the structure, you can quickly teach the kids to simply put their hands up high when they are finished answering the question and move around the room finding a new person to answer the same question with. I generally have students pair up with at least 3 different students before I ask them to sit down.
- Some question ideas for classbuilding could be: Name one thing you did over the weekend. Name one thing you have planned for the weekend. How many people are in your family? How many pets do you have? What is your favorite thing to do when you are not in school? Etc.
Next week I will highlight 2 more Kagan structures that you can use for classbuilding or teambuilding. I will also highlight how you can begin using these same structures for content.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Jen
Weekly Events
MTSS Tier Discussions in PLCs-bring current data on goals and interventions for any student you have on a group goal
- NCRA Conference-Lohr, Hege, Mason out of building
- Benchmark window opens
Tuesday, April 2
- NCRA Conference-Lohr, Hege, Mason out of building
- 5th Grade Field Trip to Charlotte
Wednesday, April 3
- 3rd Grade Reading Benchmark
- 5th Grade Science Benchmark
- Student Enrollment Meeting, 8:00-10:00 Barr
- 2nd Grade Field Trip to Dan Nicholas Park
- Stop Arm Violation Count
- Grades Due
Thursday, April 4
- Student Enrollment Meeting, 8:00-10:00 Lohr
- Salad Bar Lunch Provided by PTO
- Leadership Meeting
Friday, April 5
- Report Cards go home today
Tigers Got Talent Applications Due
Saturday, April 6
- RoboDavidson: Marsh, Mason, Sadler
Looking Ahead
- Spring AIG Screening Procedures Meeting, Stanley
Tuesday, April 9
- PBIS Celebration
- Honor Roll Breakfast
- 5th Grade-Band Visit from BMS, 8:45-9:15 in the gym
- PST
- Thomasville Medical Center Art Show Reception, 6-7pm
Wednesday, April 10
- K-12 Meeting
- mCLASS Fidelity Training in PLCs
- Tigers Got Talent Auditions
Thursday, April 11
- Science Night
Friday, April 12
- Benchmark Window Closes
- Special Olympics
Saturday, April 13
- Davidson County Elementary Chorus
Change of Date
Please note...the Salad Bar Lunch provided by PTO has been moved to Thursday of this week.
Morning Car Duty Schedules-April
April 8-12: 5th Teachers, Barnes; --Condon, Carroll, York
April 15-19: 4th Teachers, Harrison; --Vaughan, Gaymon, Varner
April 22-26: 3rd Teachers; --Joyner, Weaver, Brown, Glasgow
April 29-May 3: 2nd Teachers; --Condon, Carroll, York