Name Webs

The beginning of a school year is amazing! I love getting to know all of my students. as well as let them get to know each other.  It really sets the whole class up for a great year.  This foundation of community building - learning names, strengths, weaknesses, and just laughing - builds the classroom management needed for the rest of the school year.

One of my all time favorite things to do with students are circle games.  Circles allow everyone to see everyone else.  It allows everyone to participate.  It gives an aura of fun, not competition.  It also gives some control to what can be more chaotic activities.

I play this circle game on the first day of classes.  When possible, I get my room in the circle before students arrive.  If that isn't possible, we go over protocols and expectations for moving furniture.  This includes moving one piece of furniture at a time, always using two hands to move it (I tell them that I know they can move a chair with one hand, but we're going to use two) and remembering physical safety.  I also demonstrate and let a few students go first.

Actual picture of how middle schoolers sit. 

The game is called name web.  Students sit in chairs in a circle and I ask how many names they know.  I have them show me on their hands how many people they can name (but I don't actually have them name students.)  Many students come in knowing a few people, but rarely will they know all members of the class.  I then tell them the goal of this game is to learn at least ONE new name.  You may set a higher goal, but the ultimate goal is one more name.

I then take out a soft round object - sometimes it is a koosh ball, a stress ball, or something of the like.  You need to greet someone in the circle and toss the ball to that person.  There are a few restrictions:

• You can't toss it to someone that already has had it
• You can't toss it to the person on your immediate left or right
• The goal is for your toss to be caught by the other person - it isn't dodge ball!

I encourage students to sit with their hands and palms open if they have not had the ball, and sit with their hands folded or closed if they have. This helps students remember who has and has not had it.

I start by greeting someone by name and waiting for them to greet me back (Good morning, Joe. Good morning, Mr. Taylor.)  I then toss the ball.  They then find someone else, do the greeting, and toss the ball.  If they forget someone's name the expectation is that they ask in a polite way ("I'm sorry, I don't know / forgot your name) - and we model this often.  If a protocol is broken, I calmly review it with them and have them try again.

(not allowed in this game)

Eventually, everyone will get the ball and the last person will finish by greeting me to finish the web.  We then go around again in the same order - whoever you tossed it to is who you give it to again.  We still use the greeting, we still use names, and we still give 'polite' tosses.

After two rounds I ask them to recount how many names they know.  Often their count goes up by one or more names.  I encourage them to continue asking names and that just because you know a name today doesn't mean you'll remember it tomorrow - that's ok.  Just like school you'll learn something, kind of remember it, forget it, then have to get reminded.  It's all part of learning.

I also apply this throughout the year to integrate curriculum.  On the second day after doing names we switch from that to count-bys.  So I'll say two, and toss it.  The next person says four, then six and so on.  After that variation, I'll say we have to count backwards - but in order to count backwards the web has to move backwards!  So instead of tossing it to the person, you will receive it from that person.  This mental juggling helps students be flexible thinkers and adds to the fun of the game.

There are so many variations of this game I couldn't begin to list them here. If you are interested in how else I use this as a base in math, science, and reading classes, comment below!

Welcome back!

Welcome back, everyone!  I'm so excited to start a new school year, and hope you are too!

Much like your classroom, I'm sure there are many different readers here; some of you might be reading my blog for the first time, others are returning readers.  Welcome, all!

Like many of you I've been actively returning to the hustle and bustle of school, classes, meetings,  rosters, parent e-mails, meetings, lesson plans, and meetings.

Throughout it all, there seems to be something consistent with the first day of school: Building culture. Here is the phrase I see floating around the interwebs:

"Day one is for culture and team building! Save content for day two!"

Unfortunately what this means, intentionally or unintentionally, is "We need to build our culture, but then get on to more important things. One day of team building is plenty!"

Here's my question: Why do team building activities have to be a SEPARATE component from content?  I'd argue that if you are doing true team building and experiential learning these concepts are one and the same.

What do I mean?  Here is one of my day one activities. I introduce the lesson something like this:

OK, I want to get to know each other and for each of you to get to know each other as well.  Many times during the year we will be making a circle with our chairs.  A proficient group can do this in 30 seconds, but this is our first go, so I'm certainly not expecting 30 seconds today.  Let's see what our baseline time is.  Any predictions?"

Generally, I'll get times from 15 seconds to 4 minutes.  I then say time will start when I say go, but we have to be in ready position (a common vocabulary phrase for our school) for me to say go.

This year my first block's time was 1 minute 48 seconds, and my second block's time was 1 minute and 4 seconds.

We do a few other activities (which I will outline in future blogs!) to help build the classroom atmosphere.

The next day I tell them we will make a circle again, and I review and post their time from yesterday on the board.  I have them think and plan in their table groups for a few moments, get them in ready position, and then say go.  Here were the times from day two:

Block one: 49 seconds, block two: 32 seconds

We then process this activity.  I have them turn and talk about why so much time came off the clock.  After some discussion, they share their thoughts. Here are three words that invariably come up in the conversation:

• Communication
• Planning
• Practice

I wrote these words on chart paper and put this in the center of the circle.  We discuss how these words helped us get closer to that 30-second goal.  It leads to a great discussion about what these words mean.

From there I asked them if these words applied to being a math student, then had them turn and talk again.  They were able to make many connections between this activity and the classroom.  Students talked about how they will have to communicate during work time, but also communicate if they are struggling.  They talked about planning out problems instead of just diving in.  They talked about how the more they practice, the better they will get.

These words become the mantra (rules) of our classroom.  When we're struggling, we go back to these words.  This team building activity isn't just a one-and-done; it becomes a central theme of the year.  Team building isn't something to do, but like all of your other lessons requires thought, planning, and purpose.

How do you use team building? How can you integrate it into your curriculum?

Team Building Parts 4 & 5 - Two more games!

First off, thank you for the wonderful feedback, everyone!  I really love getting e-mails, twitter comments, and messages on facebook about how the protocols and ideas I'm presenting are impacting how you approach games,  facilitation, and processing to start the school year.

One quick point I'd like to make based on a couple of comments I've received: I STRONGLY encourage you to use these protocols with your staff, team members, or friends before trying it with students.  First, it makes the struggle more authentic when you have experienced the same frustrations.  Also, it makes it much easier to facilitate and process the activity when you have an idea of what directions the game may head.

And of course, they really are fun to play!

Today I present two more games designed to help build culture during the first few days of school.

Protocol: Me, You, Left, Right

Materials: None

Procedure: Have students stand in a circle with you in the center.  Explain that the person in the center will point to someone and say one of four words: Me, you, left, or right.

• If the person in the center says "me", the person that is being pointed at has to say the name of the  person in the center.
• If the person in the center says "you", the person that is being pointed at has to say his/her own name.
• If the person in the center says "left", the person that is being pointed at has to say the name of the person to his/her left (which is the center person's right).
• If the person in the center says "right", the person that is being pointed at has to say the name of the person to his/her right (which is the center person's left).

Play continues until someone being pointed at doesn't know a name.  The two people involved introduce each other with a handshake or fist bump, and then the person who didn't know the name switches into the center.  

Variations: 

• Ten-in-a-row: if the person in the center points to ten different people and they all get names correct, the person in the center gets to choose someone to come into the center.
• Jail break: if the person in the center can name all (or half or ten) of the people in the circle, he/she gets to choose a new center person.

Protocol: Forced Choice

Materials: A list of this-or-that choices

Procedure: Gather students into the center of the room.  Explain that you will list two options.  You have to choose the one that describes them the best - not their 'favorite' but which one describes the best.

Read off one of the this-or-that choices (for example "river or lake"), pointing to one side of the classroom for each choice (river go left, lake go right)

When students make their choice, have them find one or two people to explain why that word describes them better.

Circulate during this discussion time to facilitate more conversation and learn about your students!

I often ask students to explain why they chose what they did.  Depending on the group I may even have students introduce each other and say their explanation: "This is David and he chose river because he is always moving."

After a few minutes, have everyone return to the center and complete another choice.  I'll often remind them to think about how the choice describes them - not to pick their favorite of the two.

Here is a list of potential this-or-that choices.  I love using the more abstract options as the game progresses to see how deep of thinkers I might have in my class.

"Are you more like (a):"

• crocodile or frog
• noon or midnight
• trumpet or violin
• Phineas or Ferb
• tent or castle
• hammock or water bed
• taco or burrito 

I hope to hear how some of these activities worked in your class.  Have an amazing first week back to those that are starting up soon!  I start up with students on Wednesday and definitely plan on using some of these to build the culture of the room!

Team building part 3: Processing the Experience

This is part three of my back to school ice breaker blog.  If you haven't seen parts one or two yet you can find them here (part one) and here (part two).

This blog will discuss processing.  Processing the activity is just as (some would argue more important) than the experience itself.  One thing I've learned is that trying to keep what I want to say in some blog-sized fashion isn't easy for me!  I love this topic and could probably go on for ages!  It allows both you as a facilitator to see and students as learners to explain what they got out of the activity.  It is important that the activity and the processing have similar goals.

I will use the  Helium Hoop activity from my last blog as an example.  It is a very difficult activity to facilitate because success will not come easy.  Students will struggle and there will be discord.  As the facilitator, your job is to create an environment in which people feel empowered and welcome. This leads to some internal struggles when leading this activity.

(learning is the treasure!)

As teachers our natural instinct is to step in and 'help'; unfortunately 'help' generally means solving problems for the students - pointing out errors and offering solutions that have worked for us in the past. We become the leader.

This, however, takes power away from the students.  It tells them that the teacher will 'bail them out' at the first sign of trouble.  As difficult as it is for you as a teacher, the struggle that students are experiencing is important.  It sets up a great lesson for them later: this class will be difficult at times, but you can persevere through it!

Helping them out and allowing them to have a quick success has other issues as well.

Here are the conditions that were set out for the helium hoop activity:

• All people need to touch the hoop at all times
• You can not 'grip' the hoop
• The hoop can't just drop to the floor

Those seem straight forward enough, but after ten minutes of failure, many teachers tend to get into solution mode.  Since schools these days are 'final objective' or 'product' driven, those conditions may get blurred a bit.  Sally 'accidentally' grabbed it with her finger and Lauren really didn't touch it at all? Close enough - the rest of the group seems ok (or didn't notice.)  Besides, the hoop is down and we can celebrate success.

Let's think about the internal processing that is happening in this group.  Sally now 'knows' that the rules are just general and may not apply to her.  Lauren has learned that in group activities she can blend into the background and not have to worry about it.  Other students may have seen Sally 'cheat' and are wondering why the teacher didn't say anything to her.  Most students wouldn't say these thoughts out loud in a new setting (the forming stage), but this is what you have indirectly taught them.

These first activities are the foundation for culture in your room.  How your run them and process them determines your initial success with building your culture.  The art of being a strong facilitator is similar to being a great teacher - knowing where your students are and challenging them to reach that next level.

Here are my 5 keys to successful processing:

1) Don't assume their learning - participants may have gotten different things out of the experience.  Some may realize that they enjoyed a leadership role, others may find that they liked not being in charge.  Some may learn that it was ok to trust and listen to a student they never really liked before.  Still others may have just loved the activity itself.  These are all good outcomes! They're learning - don't take their learning away!

2) USE NAMES and model how to use names.  You can't build a classroom culture if students are point and saying 'umm, him.'  If you don't know a student's name, model how to ask.  If students don't know each other's names, make sure they introduce themselves.  If you are using activities and they aren't using names, you're doing it wrong!

3) Don't judge effort.  Phrases like "if you try harder...", "most people seem to care", or "stop ruining it for everyone" assume students want to fail.  Even if a student is acting in a way that is showing she  doesn't care, at some deeper level she is dealing with the current situation as best she can.  This is a great chance to get to know the student and find out what is bothering her (or him!)

4) Acknowledge difficulty.  It's ok to say "this activity is difficult."  That is a great lead into processing the activity later ("do you think there will be other activities this school year that will frustrate you?")  People's behavior adapt to match their current beliefs about what it possible. If you hint that something is too difficult without your expertise, that is what they will believe.    If you expand their beliefs, their behavior will expand and reflect the new possibilities.  You present the door, but you have to let them open it up!

5) Observe but don't connect.  Let the students keep the power.  You should make observations that helped the group - Phrases like "I really liked when Tammy called a break because the group was getting frustrated" help students see the importance of a time out, but you shouldn't make leaps such as "The group was successful because Tammy called the break."

With that, here is my third team building activity that I love playing early in the school year:

Protocol: Group Juggle

Materials: a couple of tennis balls, koosh balls, or other small, soft objects.

Procedure:
1) Everyone gets in a circle (sitting or standing works fine). Everyone should put their hands out.
2) You will start the game by saying a student's name and tossing the ball to him/her.
3) That person catches the ball, then says the name of another person in the circle (I tend to say you can't give it to the person to your left or right), and tosses the ball. The tosser then takes his/her hands and put them behind his/her back (this helps keeps track of who has had a turn.)
4) This process continues until everyone has received the ball once.
5) The final recipient says the teacher's name and tosses the ball back to him/her.

Round two:
Explain you are going to do the same thing again, but this time you might add a challenge:

• no drops (or one drop or three drops, depending on your group) during the cycle
• time limit of so many seconds 
• having to say thank you to the tosser after each catch: "Thank you, Evan!"

As the group gets better, you can add even more challenge to the game:

• add a second ball that begins a few tosses after the first
• add a second ball that goes backwards while the first one goes forwards
• have the student say their favorite flavor of ice cream and then ask the next person (by name) what their favorite flavor is.

This is also a fun activity to process.  Students tend to realize that they drop the ball when they aren't focused.  They also realize that they become more focused when someone uses their name and makes eye contact.  When a second ball is introduced (either forwards or backwards) students may talk about how they had to focus on one thing at a time rather than watch both objects at once.

I will be posting two more team building activities during the week.  I'd love to hear some games and activities you have done to help build teamwork and culture in your class as well!

Team Building Part 2: Keeping It Authentic

"I showed them how to do it! The student's just aren't getting it - it isn't my fault!"

 What are you picturing?  A teacher explaining a math lesson?  Foreign language?

If you have been in education long enough, you've certainly heard (or maybe even said) something like that at some point.  As educators we know that you can't just 'present' material to have students understand it.  You can't give a lesson and expect them to master it.

This is my next point with 'ice breakers'.  So many times I have seen groups do ice breakers that go something like this:

"OK, the point of this activity is for this team to (insert random task)"

A couple of things might happen from here.

One person in the group quickly sees a basic solution, does it, and the facilitator gives some quick non-authentic feedback.

Alternatively the opposite could happen.  The team could be stuck, unsure of how to complete the activity.

So the facilitator does what any good teacher would do - he gives gives "a clue" and the group quickly sees the answer, and the facilitator gives some quick non-authentic feedback.

And then he surprised when they didn't get the relationship building they were promised.  He decides that 'team-building is just a waste of time.'

So often, teachers, leaders, and facilitators want to do the team building and ice breaking "stuff" as quickly as possible so they can get to the "important" parts of the day.  They want activities that can be done in ten minutes or less so that they have more time for people to be 'productive.'  They can't waste a single minute, let alone a whole class period on such useless activities.

But when have you ever seen an effective lesson hit the short and long term goals in just ten minutes?  Much like teaching a lesson, you have to ask what is the result you want?  Do you want students to memorize and be able to recall information on the short term?  If so, then an activity like the one above is a great lesson.  You won't gain any long term community, but you will have a short term celebration.  However, if you are looking to build long term relationships, as well as student success you have to put the same effort, planning, and processing that you would for a lesson.

Teachers have a difficult time letting students fail.  It isn't in our general nature.

As promised, here is the second activity that I use to help build positive relationships in my classroom.  This is a great activity for students as well as great practice to let you, as a teacher, to practice allowing students to fail.

Protocol: Helium Hoop

Size Limit: This activity works best for groups of 8-12.  You can break the group up into two and have them take turns.

Materials: a hula-hoop

Procedure:

1) Get students into a circle
2) Explain the task is to get the hoop to the ground with the following guidelines
3) Have the students make two fists with their pinky parallel to the ground
4) Stick out your index finger so it it pointing across the circle
5) Tuck your thumbs into your fist
6) Put your fists at hip level

Explain that in a few moments you are going to put the hula hoop so that it is touching everyone's fingers.  The goal is to get the hoop to the ground with the following rules:

1) Everyone must be in contact with the hoop at all times.  If anyone loses contact I'll grab the hoop and we'll restart.
2) Only your index finger may be in contact with the hoop.
3) The hoop must rest on everyone's index finger - no grabbing or curling around the hoop.
4) The hoop must be lowered onto the ground without it dropping.

The first time you do this activity the hoop will rise almost instantly.  This is an excellent game to play to help process blaming others and how your actions impact the group.

It is also a VERY difficult activity to facilitate - as the teacher your job is to let the group figure out the problem without giving major hints.  You have to let them struggle without getting completely frustrated.  Balancing the guidelines with how strictly you are enforcing them to maintain engagement without allowing them to 'check-out' from frustration.

Does this sound like what we, as teachers, need to do for students every day?

It is important to let them struggle - remember the goal isn't necessarily for them to succeed in two or three tries.  You are preparing them for a school year where they will have academic struggles.  There will be times that they will have group projects in which everyone is committed, but progress is still slow.  Let them reflect back on this activity on their struggles and think about how they eventually succeeded.