Teambuilding 101
As an Interdistrict Grant, New Images incorporates teambuilding
into each meeting of the students. Teambuilding is designed
to provide experiential social interaction around a variety
of tasks that are both fun and challenging. It is as it’s
name implies - team building.
A Very Brief History
Originally, the concept of teambuilding was designed for
companies to provide ways for employees to develop better
strategies for working together. It allowed employees
non-threatening ways to examine and improve various group
dynamics so they could develop more effective ways of
doing things.
Applications in Education
As working with others effectively is an important skill
for success in just about all aspects of American society,
this model has been applied to students. The teambuilding
exercises help students become better aware of their own
strengths and weaknesses while working in concert. These
project driven tasks provide a way for students to succeed
while experiencing actual group dynamics. Teambuilding
are designed and facilitated by our EASTCONN Adventure
team.
Often it is easy to look at the tasks and discount them
as simply being games, but they are deceptively complex
in the variety of skills they require. Some require spatial
skills, some small motor coordination, some balance, some
large motor coordination, and so on. All require communication,
cooperation and collaboration.
The activities used in New Images can be broken down by
objective into different categories listed here in order
in which they are introduced to the students.
Ice Breakers allow students non-threatening ways of meeting
and getting to know students from different schools and
form friendships. High school students are often socially
awkward creatures that are often subjected to isolated
social groups within their schools. The icebreakers allow
them ways to step out of their usual comfort zones to
meet and learn about others in a safe way.
Safety activities allow students to understand the importance
of safety on both field and Low Ropes activities, but
they also teach students the importance of taking personal
responsibilities for the care of each member of the group.
They learn they have to rely upon each other in order
for everyone to be safe.
Challenges provide students with actual tasks so they
can work with students they don’t know well or haven’t
ever worked with before. Within these interactions, students
are given specific tasks to perform with minimal instruction.
The team of students then has to communicate, plan, strategize
and perform in order for the task to be accomplished successfully
within the parameters given by the facilitator.
Debriefing allows students to talk about and reflect upon
what they learned through participating in the various
challenges. As these activities are experiential, debriefing
allows students to draw conclusions about what worked,
what didn’t work and how they contributed to success
or less than successful outcomes. These conclusions are
vital to student understanding and learning. They also
help students take the learning from the teambuilding
to the next phase of working with others.
Physical requirements
Teambuilding is done primarily in open fields or on Low
Ropes courses. The activities require that students have
plenty of space to move around and often have physical
components that need to be manipulated. New Images uses
Crandall Park, Tolland, for the opening activities. New
Images then incorporates various components of teambuilding
at the beginning of each trip during the year many of
which are done in large indoor areas. Though the activities
require physical activity, accommodation is made for students
with physical restrictions.
Individual Activities – EASTCONN Adventure
EASTCONN Adventures provide a complete package of activities
to meet the needs of students K through 12 in a variety
of ways and include field, Low Ropes and High Ropes activities.
They will also custom design activities around the specific
objectives of a particular effort. As there are too many
to list here, please contact EASTCONN Adventure for more
information. Please feel free to contact EASTCONN adventure
leaders, Francine Piela and Deb Earl at 860-455-0707.
