Monday, November 15, 2010

Team Building Exercise


WHAT: As a middle school physical education teacher, I want o try to incorporate team building into my seventh grade class.  PE classes usually are structured to increase the physical activity of the students, whether it is playing a sport, lifting weights or just traditional conditioning workouts. Also another component is having just having fun with physical activity. By incorporating team building into PE classes, the students will be able to gain more than just physical activity alone.

SO WHAT: Brawley and Paskevich (1997) define team building as a method of helping the group to increase effectiveness, satisfy the needs of its members, or improve work conditions.  Team building model includes four main aspects; group environment, group structure, group processes, and group cohesion.  Carron and Sprink (2003) have been successful in team building with fitness classes and sports using these four aspects. Group environment refers to the distinctiveness of the group, such as group names or same colored tee shirts. Group structure includes both individual position and group norms. Group processes include sacrifices, such as more experienced helping less experienced, as well as interaction and communication. The last component is group cohesion. Group cohesion included integration and attraction either with task or social oriented (Gill & Williams, 2008).

NOW WHAT: In order to develop team building within my PE class, every student will be involved during the class’s activity. I will make sure that the given activity will involve every student working together as one unit. These activities will not allow students to be individually rewarded. Each student will be equally split up for varying activities. This will allow for students with different skill sets to be paired with other students. Students will be given a designated position on their team with a specific duty.  Each position will have a set of rules that they must follow; an example would be a certain position might be the only person on the team who can talk during the activity. The Main objective is to get the students to work as a unit and not as individuals. By doing this it will allow for much needed teamwork and team cohesion will take place.

CONCLUSION: By incorporating team building into a PE class will be a positive change from your average PE class. This will allow for students to work as a team with other students they necessarily wouldn’t work with. By performing such activities as listed above, students will have to rely on their team to accomplish a common goal. By performing these activities, new skills will be formed. The skills that can be learned from this exercise may be applied to other areas in their life rather just in a sport or exercise setting.

REFERENCES

Brawley, L.R., & Paskevich, D.M. (1997). Conducting team building research in the context of sport and exercise. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 9, 11-40.

Carron, A.V., & Spink, K.S. (1993). Team building in an exercise setting. The Sport Psychologist, 7(1), 8-18.

Gill, D.L., & Williams, L. (2008). Psychological dynamics of sport and exercise (3rd Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

1 comment:

  1. Agreed, most important thing to keep in mind as a PE teacher is to keep it fun for the students. If you don't emphasize that physical activity can be fun, then more than likely you are going to push the kids away from it, teach them to dislike it and if they learn/experience this at a young age, there is a good possibility that they will push themselves away even further from physical activity later in life.

    To incorporate team building in a fun environment, like PE class, they can develop skills of working with others not only in a sport or exercise setting, but also in other classes and the workforce. Having the skills to work with others is a great and beneficial when there's a deadline that needs to be met for a project in another class or job. Being able to work with others will help the success of the team.

    Great write up, mine was very similar. i guess great minds think alike.

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