As many of you know I am a big TED fan. This 8 minute video came across my desk today that made me stop and listen.
Life Skills: Finding Ways To Make Teamwork A Part of Everyday In Our Life
When we work together our team is strong, we accomplish much more, and the team is successful. Our most important team we are on is our family. How can we practice teamwork at home? Working together to clean up, do the dishes, work in the yard. Almost every activity around the house can include the whole family. Think about how each member of the family will feel when everyone chips in to help. It certainly is not up to just one person in the family to be responsible for all the cleaning.
Children can also be included as they get older in planning outings for the family. This feeling of belonging and being a part of a team will help them withstand peer pressure in school and in life, as well as be willing to include others in their activities.
When teamwork is learned at home, children will be more willing to assist teachers and other students in school. It may be helping to clean the classroom, or helping other students learn the lesson of the day. In fact as children develop teamwork they are also developing empathy. They will be more willing to stand up to anyone who may bully another student or to welcome a new student into the school. Sometimes new students can have a hard time feeling like they fit in and those who practice teamwork can be of great assistance.
Finally in the community, teamwork is so important to accomplish goals that none of us could do on our own. It is this type of teamwork that Balanced Life Skills is hoping to find in our Bully Prevention Partners website. It will only be all of us working together that we can accomplish the our goal of a culture of peace in the classroom for all students.
Life Skills: Teamwork Teaches Children To Think About The Needs of Others
In our society even our youngest of children end up on teams involving sports or other activity. Too often the question we ask is, “How did you do?” or we say, “You did really well today!” If we want to teach our children about teamwork though we may want to change the words we use, and start very early teaching them about teams and how we can accomplish much bigger goals together than we can as just one person.
All of us including children have been on teams. Our most important team is our family. When we teach our children that the family is the most important team we are on, we will be helping them to see things from others point of view, empathy. When they go to school they will start to see relationships as not just about themselves, but also get to feel what others might be feeling. When we take them into the community and there are cleanup projects or feeding the less fortunate, they will begin to understand how together we can make a difference far beyond what we can do as individuals.
What would happen if at home we all made a mess? Do we expect that one person would be responsible for picking up and cleaning the mess? If we as a family work together to get things cleaned up, we are teaching our children that teamwork is an important characteristic to our family. Yes sometimes it takes more time than doing it ourselves, but the lesson of teamwork, empathy, fairness and learning how to share responsibility is a valuable lesson for later in life.
Life Skills: Teamwork Discussions Will Focus on Family and Schools
Our children, just like ourselves, find that we are on a variety of teams. It may be a school, sports, service project, or for adults we may be on multiple teams at work. Whenever we find that we are with a group of people trying to achieve a common goal, it requires that we have teamwork.
While all of these outside activities are important to demonstrate the qualities of good teamwork, our inner circle of our family is the most important. In fact it is here in the family that we first lay the groundwork for teamwork, and this is where we should have our foundation and strongest ties.
Teaching the quality of teamwork to our children with our example and words have a far reaching affect on their relationships later when they get in school and have to deal with social issues and behaviors of classmates, teachers and teams that they may be taking part in. During this month we will look at what it means to be a teammate, why some teams are successful and others not, how we can contribute to teams we are on and how and why we should speak up as an individual on a team.
Finally I will be tying all of this in to how teaching teamwork to our children has an affect on bullying in school. Follow us here or come in to the school and enjoy taking classes with our team of dedicated instructors.
Life Skills: Teamwork – Definition
Each month we define and discuss a word of character development and life skill with all of our students.
This month the word is Teamwork and will be defined this way.
Young students: Teamwork means: “Let’s work together to get it done!”
Older students: Teamwork means: Working together as a group to achieve a common goal.
Here are the worksheets for our students:
Teen / Adult Teamwork worksheet
If you would like to see how we will deal with this subject with our students please follow our discussions here during the month of July or come in and TRY A CLASS.
Office Depot, Target and You Can Help Students Get The School Year Started With Confidence
Office Depot and Target are two companies among many that give donations of backpacks and school supplies to children as they start the new school year.
Through the award-winning National Backpack Program, which is now in its 11th year, the Office Depot Foundation will help deserving children prepare for school by donating 350,000 sackpacks across the United States and internationally. The newly designed sackpacks, which were specially created for the Foundation, reflect and respond to changes in the ways that children are taking their materials to school.
In many communities, Target stores will team up with local charities to provide new clothes and school supplies to children as they get ready for the school year.
Why is this so important? It is amazing the difference it can make on the outlook of a child if they are able to have the proper school supplies and a few new things – for the start of their new school year. It can get them off on the right foot and make them feel a bit more confident.
We have that opportunity also in our community, by either putting together a backpack with school supplies for a specific child or providing just $50 to AACPS with the note (backpack project). Imagine the look in the eyes of a young child as they have brand new supplies like everyone else as they go off to school. You may choose to put a brief note of encouragement in the bag too. (you will not find this on aacps website. It is run by individuals in the administration of the school system, and I am fortunate enough to have a contact that will accept our donations too!)
Last year one simple note of encouragement “You are going to have a great year”, was saved by the student for the entire year in his desk. He was motivated by that note all year long. If you are interested in helping, just let me know and I will be happy to tell you how you can do so. Time is of the essence.