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T.E.A.M. Year in Review. Roll the Dice with Special Needs Students. |
Teambuilding activities can bring smiles and success to all students! As an Adapted Physical Education Consultant, I recently had the opportunity to teach teambuilding activities to my students with disabilities from the far south side of Chicago. The unit was planned for a one month activity and turned into a three month unit that could have gone through the remainder of the school year. The two classes I chose to start this unit were middle school aged students. One class was a smaller class of ten students which included one student with autism. The other class was a class of twenty, with several students with behavior disorders. Both classes had physical education once a week for a forty minute class period. The students do not change for P.E. with me, so we had the full forty minutes class time. In one of the schools we can not get into the gym for the first ten minutes, so I do the listening circle in the room. The activities I was able to cover during the month of February were Moon Ball, Grand Prix, Human Camera, Oh Johnny, 5 Partners, and Trust Lean. The contract I chose to use with these students with disabilities was a three finger contract. Each finger represented a concept: safety, respect, and to try. When the contract was first discussed on the first day, a student with behavior disorders did not want to commit using the high five slap. I responded by saying it was OK, but he had to come to the gym with us (teachers planning time) and sit on the stage. I also said that if he wanted to join us, he would have to commit by doing the high five slap to the entire class as we had done. He was satisfied with this and waited about five minutes once we got into the gym, and then he jumped off the stage, slapping high fives to everyone in the class. The first activity I chose with this class was Moon Ball. This class would do Moon Ball on a daily basis if they could. We go swimming once a month, and this class decided to play Moon Ball in the water during free time, and when they did they made their goal of twenty in the water. During a Moon Ball debriefing after I asked why we were able to reach our goal, one student said it was because "I quit complaining and was really really trying." Some of the statements during debriefing were priceless! The Grand Prix activity brought statements like, "I didn't know they had cars in the 50's!; Can we pretend to play a CD in the cars?; John needs to beep softer, it hurts my ears." The Human Camera activity answers, as well as the ability to remember five pictures, was amazing. The Para professionals were shocked at how they could recall what they saw and discuss it in the debriefing circle after changing partners. This activity really is an example of how students can learn when different approaches are used. The Oh Johnny activity was another shocker, especially for me. The first student got it after I demonstrated twice! It took me several times before I got the correct pattern of Oh Johnny! It was another example of never underestimate your students. The whole class was able to find success after about a total of ten minutes. The best was when we went back to class and the teachers did not get it right away either. The look on the students' faces was great. I wish I had my camera that day! The 5 Partner activities was also a big hit, bringing out comments during the debriefing such as, "I have been in this class for three years with Sue and did not know her favorite food was birthday cake." The Trust Lean activity I don't know if I would use again. The students loved the activity, but I don't know if trust was the real outcome. I am going to try some other activity such as Back-to-Back Stand for partner trust and Trust Lean in a circle. Since this unit worked so well with these two classes, I decided to expand the teambuilding to other students with disabilities that I also have the pleasure of working with during the week. On Friday's, I work with a high school class and I introduced Moon Ball as the first activity. Their first goal was twenty-eight and not wanting to discourage their enthusiasm, we continued the activity for two weeks. The smiles on their faces were well worth the length of the activity. I also included the post high school class into a similar unit and their first goal of forty-eight was reached after twenty minutes. The Moon Ball activity was so successful that it caused them to lose interest in their Volleyball Unit and want more Teambuilding activities.
In my primary class of students with disabilities, I have modified Moon Ball into a cross curriculum activity with dice, telling us how many hits to accomplish as a team. I call the game "MOON BALL DICE". I hope to eventually take the dice away and have them as a class come up with their own goal. This may take some time however due to the wide range of students with disabilities in the class, but anything is possible! This teambuilding unit gave my Physical Education Curriculum what it was lacking. I plan on starting next year with the team building activities and using the format of a circle, a contract, and debriefing for the year. The organization of using the Bag of Tricks for my equipment has made my life as a teacher with several different schools during one day much easier. When I walk into my schools with teambuilding activities as the lesson plan for the day, one bag is all I carry. The bag has gotten a bit full, but it is well worth it and I can always go to the suitcase on wheels. TEAMBUILDING ACTIVITIES is the future for our profession! It is also a great way to align your Physical Education Curriculum with the state goals for Illinois! -----------
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