180. Four Teambuilding Class Lessons For School Counselors

You're listening to the Counselor Chat podcast, a show for school counselors looking for easy to implement strategies, how to tips, collaboration, and a little spark of joy.

I'm Carol Miller, your host. I'm a full time school counselor and the face behind counseling essentials. I'm all about creating simplified systems, data driven practices, and using creative approaches to engage students.

If you're looking for a little inspiration to help help you make a big impact on student growth and success, you're

in the right place.

Because we're better together.

Ready to chat. Let's dive in.

Harry. Harry.

Hey everyone.

Welcome back to another episode of Counselor Chat.

This is where we're going to talk all about the real life work of school counseling.

And today I want to share with you some ideas that you can use with your students right away.

For those of you that are joining us for the first time, I'm Carol Miller, your host,

and I want to share with you four lessons that promote team building without requiring weeks of preparation or a room full of expensive supplies.

I mean, these are the kinds of activities that get students moving,

talking,

laughing, and working together.

But they're also more than just fun.

Each one gives students a chance to practice communication skills,

cooperation,

flexible thinking,

problem solving,

and noticing the people around them.

And the four lessons that I want to highlight for you today are Pass the Pencil,

Human Taco,

Shipwrecked, and Four Corners.

You can use these at the beginning of the school year,

like I am when you launch a small group.

Maybe it's after a long break or really anytime your class needs a reset.

So are you ready?

Let's jump in the first one. Pass the pencil.

This activity is just a fun, wonderful way to help students learn names,

notice things that they have in common,

and interact with classmates they might not normally choose on their own.

And so you begin with one pencil.

And what I like to do is I like to have the students all kind of stand in a one big circle.

And then you're going to read a series of really playful prompts that tell the student that's holding the pencil who should receive it next.

And a prompt might ask them to pass it to someone who likes soccer,

someone whose name begins with a certain letter,

someone wearing a particular color,

or someone they have not yet talked to today.

And the prompts keep the pencil traveling around the room and give everyone a reason to pay attention to one another.

I put my prompts in a fun little rhyme so it goes from one to the next to the next to the next.

And what I really love about this game is that it lowers the pressure.

Students don't have to stand in front of the room and share a long introduction about themselves.

They just participate in small,

quick moments,

and they make eye contact, they listen for details,

and they learn something about their classmates as the game moves along.

And before you begin, there's just one quick rule. You have to remind students that the goal is to include everyone.

And the pencil should not keep bouncing between the same two or three friends.

I always say it has to.

You can only get the pencil once now.

There's always an exception. Somebody's going to get it twice, because maybe you have more prompts than you do people, and that's okay.

But they have to pass it to at least everyone once first.

And you can do that by just having them do a little show of hands. Or if you actually are put chairs in a circle as they have answered, they can then sit down.

And that way, the people standing up are the ones they know that they can pass the pencil to that they're sitting down. They've known the pencils already made it to them.

And then when the game ends,

you can ask them, what did you learn about someone new?

How did it feel when someone noticed something about you?

And what helped our class really make sure that everyone was included?

And those questions, they connect to the fun,

to belonging, to awareness and inclusion.

The second lesson is a human taco.

And the name alone usually gets students pretty curious in this. I mean, after all, who doesn't love a good taco? In this activity, students receive,

and they wear cards that represent different taco ingredients.

And so it might be the taco shell or the meat.

Lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, salsa. I mean, you name it, you can make as many ingredients as you want.

But what you're going to do is the kids don't know what ingredient they have on their back.

You're going to tape it on. They're not going to know. And then they have to go around. When everybody's, you know, all labeled, they have to go around and they have to ask different students questions to try to figure out what ingredient is on their back.

They can't ask the same person more than one question,

and they have to ask at least three different people a question to figure out what the ingredient is. And once they kind of think that they know what it is, they come and see you as the leader, and they say, am I a blah, blah, blah, Am I the taco shell?

Am I the meat? They're going to ask you.

And once they know who they are,

and the whole class knows what their ingredient is.

Then you're going to ask them to create a taco using all the different ingredients.

And they have to go around and pull a group together.

And you have to remind them, nope, you can only have one meat, one cheese, and one taco.

So you set the rules up for how they're going to form this taco.

And it's fun. I mean, kids are going around, they're asking all these questions.

It's super fun.

And the human taco,

what I love about it is that it gives you a chance to really observe group dynamics. Who takes charge, who hangs back,

who notices a student standing alone,

who explains the plan clearly,

and who changes the plan when. When it's not working.

And you can really learn a lot by watching students solve this really playful challenge together.

And you want to set the expectation that the kiddos are solving the challenge with one another. They're not racing against one another.

And if you add a second round,

ask students to switch roles or use fewer words.

That way, you are forcing them to adapt instead of relying on the same leader and the same strategy.

And then for reflection, you can just ask them, what role did you take in your group?

How'd your team make sure that no ingredient was left out?

What happened when your first idea didn't work?

And the taco theme makes the lesson memorable.

But the real learning is really about communication,

inclusion, and flexibility.

The next lesson on teamwork that I absolutely love is called Shipwrecked.

And this one shifts the focus from getting acquainted to really making decisions together.

Students imagine that they have survived a shipwreck, and they have to work together with their group to decide what they need,

what they will do first,

or which limited supplies will give them the best, best chance of survival,

and the exact scenario. It can be adjusted for the age of your kiddos.

But the important part is the group can't keep everything,

and no one person gets to make every decision.

Students have to explain their thinking,

listen to different ideas,

prioritize, negotiate,

and eventually reach an agreement.

This activity is especially helpful for students who think teamwork means convincing everyone else to accept their answer.

And it lets you teach that a strong team doesn't simply follow the loudest voice.

Strong teams ask questions.

They consider several perspectives,

and they build a plan that group members can support.

And as the students work,

you're going to listen for the language they use. Are they saying, that's a bad idea? Or are they saying, tell me why you chose that?

Are they interrupting or Are they adding to one another's ideas?

And if you need, you can pause and you can offer some sentence starters such as I agree because or I see it differently because or could we combine our ideas?

And then afterwards ask, was it harder to share your idea or to change your mind?

And how did your group handle disagreement?

Did everyone have influence over the final plan?

And this is where your students really begin to see that disagreement is not the opposite of teamwork.

And when it's handled respectfully, disagreement can help make a team better and make better decisions.

I love using this one right at the beginning.

I, I love it with my 6th graders and middle school kids because I think it really sets the tone for how they're going to work together. And I think the older that kids get, the more they have to work in small groups.

And so this one is really perfect for seeing how well kids are going to interact together.

The last lesson that I want to highlight today is Four Corners.

You've probably played it before,

and this is one of my favorite formats because it's easy to customize for almost any age,

any topic, or any amount of time. You're simply going to label the four corners of the room with four response choices.

Then read a question and ask the students to move to the corner that best represents their answer.

And like I said, you can use this with just about any age,

any topic, or any amount of time.

But for a team building lesson, keep the first questions late.

Would you rather do on a free day?

Or which school lunch would you choose?

Which superpower would be the most useful and one students understand the routine.

You can shift to questions about teamwork.

Would you rather be the idea person, the organizer, the encourager,

or the person who checks the details?

And what does a team need most?

Communication,

trust,

patience,

or creativity?

And once students reach their corner, give them a short task they might introduce themselves,

find one reason they chose that answer,

identify something everyone in the corner has in common,

or choose one person to summarize the group's thinking.

Then mix the class again with a new set of questions.

The movement really keeps the students engaged.

But the real strength of Four Corners is that it makes similarities and differences visible.

Students discover that they share interests with with unexpected classmates.

And they also see that people can choose different answers and still listen to and respect one another.

And then you can close the activity by asking, what surprised you about someone else's choice?

Was it easy to explain your thinking?

How can different perspectives make a team stronger?

And this helps students really understand that belonging doesn't Require everyone to be the same no matter what lesson you choose.

It's the reflection at the end that really turns an activity into a counseling lesson.

You don't need a long debrief.

Just a couple focused questions are enough.

I always like to ask questions, okay, what did we just do?

Why did we do it?

And what does this mean?

How does this affect us in school? School? And what about the bigger picture? What about in life?

So ask them those questions,

because those really are the ones that make the difference,

that make it meaningful. That really has the learning stick.

As you're debriefing, you can also name specific skills you noticed. You might say,

I saw someone invite a classmate. He was standing alone.

Or I noticed his group pause and ask for every person's idea before deciding.

And I think when we point out these moments,

our students really begin to recognize what teamwork actually looks and sounds like.

And remember,

a successful team building lesson does not mean every group completes the challenge per perfectly.

Sometimes the best conversation comes from a group that really did struggle because the goal is not a flawless performance.

The goal is to give students a really safe place to practice the the skills that they're going to need in classrooms,

in friendships,

for group projects and sports clubs,

and eventually the workplace.

So pass the pencil really helps students connect.

Human taco gets them communicating and including others.

Shipwrecks strengthens decision making and respectful disagreement.

And four corners. Will it help students find common ground while appreciating different perspectives?

Like I said, you can use any of these lessons for a quick class activity.

You can build them into the beginning of your year counseling lessons or use all four over several weeks.

The materials may be simple.

I mean, these are pretty simple activities to do.

But the skills that the students practice,

they're so powerful.

And I think in a day and age where AI makes it so easy for kids to do different things and come up with ideas that they sometimes forget that their brain is still growing,

that it's still capable of making decisions,

and that they need to communicate with one another. And they actually have to sometimes notice each other too,

because after all, we really want to build empathy,

perspective taking,

and good decision skills with our kids.

So although these are team building,

they really,

they build a lot of skills for kids in our counseling program.

Anyway, my friends, I hope that these little suggestions kind of tweaked your interest a little bit. And if you're interested in any of them, I'm going to leave the links in the show notes because like I said, these are four of my most favorite lessons to do with kids and I think you're going to love them too.

So my friends, if you use them let me know. I'd love to hear about it. And if you have other lessons that you absolutely love,

please send me an email and let me know. I want to hear because I am all about finding a great lesson.

Anyway, thanks for joining me today on Counselor Chat and until next time I hope you have a really great week.

Bye for now.