In the first quarter of the school year, I spend at least one day a week on team-building activities. In a choir or drama class, students need to feel safe and supported by me and their peers. I come up with activities and games where students share information about themselves, work in small groups, find commonalities with others, and demonstrate their willingness to take risks and collaborate. In music theater classes, we also workshop monologues and scenes, both improvised and scripted.
Some of our team-building games and activities include: Would you rather, Poison Frogs, Zudio, Singamajigs, Concentration, Friend Bingo, Pair-share questions, Ribbon cup stacking, Riff offs, Karaoke, Parody-writing, Detective, Turkey Game, Pumpkin Game, Christmas cups, Valentine letters, Song partners, Spectrum line, Four Corners
If you want details on any of these, you can always email or ask!
Sometimes, things come up during the school year that make me feel the need to have community circles. This is a time where we sit in a circle of chairs and share out optionally. This might be something school-wide that is causing distress, or a class issue that needs to be discussed. Once in a while, it's just a feeling in the air that students are having anxiety or feeling overwhelmed and need to vent. I come up with a question for students to answer, such as: 'what's the one thing you're grateful for?' or 'what is one thing you're looking forward to?' or 'what's your biggest concern right now?' Students can answer or pass. There have been times where students really open up and share deep things. Then another student can relate, or gives a side hug and helps out. Sometimes, it's just a nice break from singing, with a little bit of mental relief. Middle schoolers need this! They have SEVEN classes a day, all different teachers, all different groups of kids, all different assignments and deadlines--it's harder than you think.
One of my favorite parts of being an electives teacher is the fact that I have this opportunity. In the core classes, teachers focus more on content that needs to be addressed. In the choir/drama classroom, as long as we're on track for our upcoming concerts and performances, we can take this time to connect with classmates. I believe this carries over for my students into their other classes, and reminds them that we need to find commonalities.
