GRUP SCOLAR INDUSTRIAL ENERGETIC PLOIESTI

COMENIUS MEETING WETZLAR, 5-10 NOVEMBER 2007

TEAMBUILDING ACTIVITIES ICEBREAKER

MRS. WRIGHT This teambuilding activity is ideal to get things started with a group of people who are going to work together. It is an exercise that explores the impact the individual effort has on the entire teamwork. It is a funny way to make people realize the domino effect of their acts when working in a team. THE STORY: "Once upon a time, Mrs. Wright took her three left handed children (Wendy Wright, Larry Wright, and Billy Wright) on a vacation. They left on a Monday and planned to return just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Billy Wright left school for the Wright vacation. Wendy left a whole plate of leftovers for her cat to eat during the Wright vacation. But Billy, who is the president of a local leftist organization, was the saddest of all. He left behind all the addresses of friends that he wanted to write to while on vacation. This mistake left Billy's friends in the dark. By the end of the week, all the Wrights wished they had never left. They still had the weekend left, but Mrs. Wright decided that the right thing to do would be to return home right away. They arrived back at their house, which is located to the left of Yankee Stadium, in time for Thanksgiving leftovers.

Grup Scolar Industrial Energetic PLOIESTI

Comenius Meeting Wetzlar, 5-10 November, 2007

CHOOSE YOUR FAVOURITE SCHOOL SUBJECTS Overview:

- a group communication and decision making exercise; - participants defend their choices individually; - discuss choices in group and come to a group consensus; - highlights individuals dispositions, group processes and decision making. - belongs to the survival scenarios as you have to save something and sacrifice something else;

Scenario:
There is a list of 7 school subjects proposed by the Ministry of Education, out of which students should choose just 3 of them for their optional courses. It is a major decision as you all should agree on the 3 most important school subjects to be taken for the next 4 years of highschool. - choose your favorite subject/the one youd like to keep; - write down the most convincing arguments for your choice; - in your group of seven, each of you has the chance to speak in the defense of the subject you have chosen to represent. Argue for the importance of your subject and offer good reasons to save your favorite subject; - listen to the others arguments as well; - in the end decide which subject will be eliminated and which will be taken.

Debriefing:
Possible debrief questions: - How were decisions made? - Who influenced the decisions and how? - How could better decisions have been made? - How was conflict managed? - How did participants feel about the decisions? - How satisfied was each person with the decisions (ask each participant to rate his/her satisfaction out of 10, than obtain a group average and compare with other groups satisfaction levels)? - How would you do the activity differently if you were asked to do it again? - What situations at school/home/work do you think are like this exercise?

REASONS FOR YOUR GROUPS DECISION

SCHOOL SUBJECT
NATIONAL LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

REASONS TO KEEP IT

REASONS TO SACRIFICE IT

ENGLISH

HUMANITIES (e.g. History; Geography; Philosophy etc.)

MATHEMATICS

SCIENCES (e.g. Chemistry; Biology; Physics etc.) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)

VOCATIONAL COURSES (e.g. Technician; Mechanic; Electrician etc.)

EFFICIENT TEAMWORK
- KEY FEATURES -

Right combination of abilities Supervising and feedback

Equality among members

Suitable size Conflict control Mistakes and unrealistic options are excluded from the beginning Clear work instructions and objectives

Efficient teams
Create and verify new ideas Good communication

Clear view over objectives and task

Task consensus and responsibility for each

Clear division of individual roles and task Work division

Mutual support and care

This project has been founded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made by the information contained therein.