Supporting Teamwork: Secondary School Learners

For secondary school learners, the ways in which you support teamwork skills starts to grow in complexity. Read on to learn more about how you can incorporate teamwork-related activities with your learners.

Thinking About Teamwork (‘I’)

Creative Collaboration

How can you help learners think about the importance of teamwork, as well as their own responsibility and/or role within a project? The 7 Keys to Creative Collaboration (Spencer, 2017) could act as a catalyst for talking about effective group work. Take a look!

Following the video, break learners up into seven groups, each representing one of the seven keys to creative collaboration. Invite learners to define and brainstorm ideas that bring their concept to fruition including examples in action. Learners can write, sketch, or draw their ideas.

Learning Nonverbal Communication

Recognizing the importance of all forms of communication, including nonverbal communication, is an important skill to develop. In this TED Talk, Alexandre Dupuy discusses the importance of nonverbal communication and how it has helped him develop greater empathy for his brother.

Following the video, consider inviting learners to reflect on nonverbal communication using the following prompts:

How does nonverbal communication differ from verbal communication?

What do you think are the most important types of nonverbal communication? 

Can you think of any universal nonverbal communication? 

What role does power play in determining which type of communication is valued more than others?

Team Accountability

When nurturing learners’ teamwork skills, layer in opportunities for them to consider how each person not only contributes to a team, but must also remain accountable to their team. For example, consider incorporating a self-assessment reflection where each team member considers the level in which they contributed to the group culture, process, and product. You might consider offering structured writing prompts or sentence starters (Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo, 2024), like the ones below, or simply allow learners to write freely.

I demonstrate trust and respect toward my group members and their ideas by…

I demonstrate I am a reliable group member by… 

I demonstrate active listening skills by… 

I am encouraged to stay accountable to my group members by… 

I have handled group conflict by… 

Feeling Teamwork (‘We’)

Escape Room Challenge

Create an escape room challenge where learners must work together to solve puzzles, find clues, and unlock a mystery within a given time frame. According to Lucie Renard (2023), the following steps work well to create an immersive escape room challenge.

1. First, establish a goal of the escape room such as escape the classroom, get an award, achievement badge, treasure, or free a colleague/peer.
2. Next, consider whether you will include lesson content or if this is just a fun activity to participate in around a yearly theme.
3. Finally, will you use a physical or digital space (or a combination of the two).

Once you have established the above, you will need to create your hints/clues, challenges and obstacles to overcome, and instructions learners will need to follow to complete the task. Encourage communication, critical thinking, and collaboration as learners unravel the clues and escape the room.

Roles and Responsibilities

Group roles can provide a great opportunity to set learners up for success for group work. Click on the labels below for examples of different classroom roles and responsibilities.

Before you move into group work using roles, ensure that roles are clearly defined including the responsibilities of each role. Roles can rotate to provide each learner with an opportunity to explore the various roles. Group roles can be applied to a variety of activities such as literature circles, group writing projects, group research projects, or even applied learning projects in woodworking or welding.

The Power of Communication

Language and different forms of communication are powerful tools for self-expression, and equally powerful tools for reproducing systems of power and oppression. As a changemaking educator, you have the opportunity to help learners begin to acknowledge and understand that communication can impact ourselves and others.

Dr. Jamila J. Lyiscott (aka Dr. J), an Assistant Professor in social justice education and co-founder of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research, uses spoken word and hip hop to demonstrate “the liberatory capacity of language and culture in the lives of youth of color, racial healing, youth-led activism, and the power of the African Diaspora to transgress coloniality” (Lyiscott, 2024). Start by introducing learners to Dr. J’s ideas with her TED Talk titled How Hip Hop Taught My Students to Think Critically. Take a look!

Following the video, engage in a discussion about the power of language and give space for learners to grapple with the video’s form and message by asking:

• What is this video trying to teach me? 
• How does Dr. J want me to feel? 
• Why are some voices, ways with words, or cultures marginalized, privileged, or silenced? 
• From what position am I interpreting this video including its messages? 
• How has my understanding of the impact of communication changed? 

You might consider having a class discussion or inviting learners to journal about their feelings, Dr. J’s video, or one of the prompts you provide. Encourage learners to write, sketch, draw, or doodle.

Practicing Teamwork (‘Us’)

Mindfulness

Mindfulness practices can help learners develop important skills that are foundational to developing trust and respect including active listening, openness, practicing non-judgment, and speaking from the heart. Moreover, mindfulness can help learners act in ways that aligns with and honours the common goals of a specific team, your classroom, or your school community. For example, introduce the video The Breakfast Club Pitt River Middle School showcasing a group of Grade 8 learners who perform acts of kindness throughout their school community over the course of six months. Encourage learners to think about how the project grew and the impact it had on all team members, including the school community (Zakrzewski, 2014).

Next, invite teams of learners to work together to brainstorm various ways they can perform random acts of kindness in your school community (or beyond) and create a common team goal. Have them document the results as the project expands including their own feelings of helping, their understanding of kindness, and their collaborative approach as a team.

Community Showcase Event

Organize an event where learners showcase their talents and skills to the community, such as a talent show, art exhibition, science fair, or screening of an original short film or documentary. Encourage learners to work collaboratively in planning and executing the event, fostering teamwork, leadership, and pride in their abilities. Learners will also practice their communication skills. Encouraging learners to see themselves as changemakers capable of enacting social change can happen right inside your classroom.

Spoken Word

Spoken word can be used as a platform for learners to express their passions about specific social justice issues. Depending on where your learners are, you might need to provide some background information about spoken word poetry including its origin, influences, and characteristics. Invite learners to work in a dyad, triad or small group to draft, revise, and perform/film their spoken word piece. Host a spoken word event at your school for families and other community partners to join. Click through the slides to check out some videos for inspiration you can use with your learners.