Classroom Teambuilding - Adults

Carson10

Hi.


Would anyone have a good idea of some Team Building/break the ice activity's for a group of adult learners (Business Course, FAS) ages 18-50 within the classroom.


They will be a new group and will not have met each other before and will be a from a variety of backgrounds/age groups.


I will not really have any access to use materials or buy anything for it.


Ideally looking for activity's to:
day1: introduce themselves
then
an activity to get to know each other, split them up into groups etc..


The only items I will have really are markers and sheets and a whiteboard.


Iam a Male Tutor.


Thanks in advance

byhookorbycrook

Ok, I'm going to weigh in and say the best thing to break ice is to say you WON'T be doing any of those cringe inducing activities that seem to plague any in-service.

rainbowtrout

I'd say just get on with teaching them. I find ice breaking things torturous.

f3232

I would do ice breakers or a getting to know you exercise. There are many examples online if you type in Group work Ice Breaker etc.

Make sure you know exactly how the group work is expected to go and explain thing will and prepare well.

Creating a good group dynamic will make your job a lot easier in the long run.

Also you are facilitating a group of adults to learn, they have many skills already to bring to your class, doing group work will be a great way of getting this knowledge from them.

Good luck

Carson10

f3232 wrote: »

I would do ice breakers or a getting to know you exercise. There are many examples online if you type in Group work Ice Breaker etc.

Make sure you know exactly how the group work is expected to go and explain thing will and prepare well.

Creating a good group dynamic will make your job a lot easier in the long run.

Also you are facilitating a group of adults to learn, they have many skills already to bring to your class, doing group work will be a great way of getting this knowledge from them.

Good luck

Great thanks for the feedback. Just wanted to get a few fresh ideas. I always avoid those 'cringe' Ice-breakers. I think sometimes the best way to connect with a group is to sit with them for a Tea break for the first day or so and make a connection with them.

Chancer3001

Divide an a4 in ten.

Each square has a question.

Someone who watches coronation street. Someone who has a dog etc etc.

They have to go around and write the name of the person in each square.

It's a by the book ice breaker. Some like it, most hate it. But it does what it says on the tin

bearhugs

A tea break and a casual chat is a great idea. Much better than those ice breaker activities. Best of luck!

SpaceTime

Do a simple team building exercise but don't get too bogged down on it.

The best way is to throw out some genuine team activities connected to what you're teaching as part of the course work.

Some people will see team building as a bit patronising and contrived.

I'm working with a class at the moment (ages 23 to 30+ postgrads). They'd a big team building exercise and they'll still hardly talk and are basically leaving lecturers in silence when they throw out discussion topics. Very awkward for the person at the top of the class.

Moon Indigo

there is a few introduction type things you can do with groups. In groups I have worked with (not yet teaching but facilitation) some ideas for name games are:

Everyone say's there name and a food/animal/word that is with their first name eg;My name is Gerry and animal is Giraffe or My name is Gerry and I'm gorgeous etc...
Or people say their name and something that people in the group don't know about them. Dosen't have to be big for example: I have a do.. etc

There is other ones and its also about the group and dynamics but as was said the name bingo is a good one and you can google and there is loads out there. I hope this is some help enjoy!

f3232

SpaceTime wrote: »

. Very awkward for the person at the top of the class.

Thats the point, the trick is not to be at the top of the class. Do not be the centre of attention. Let your students be the center and creating a good group dynamic will make this process easier.