Larry N. Swenson, Noel International

"My father and my brother would sleep on the living room floor at night with rifles in hand for fear that soldiers would come to kill us." "We didn't dare go to class because you never knew when someone would come to accuse you, and you could disappear forever."  "The only people we could trust were our family members.  We couldn't have friends because if someone in their family was accused, then we could also be accused."  When I taught a course for language teachers in Argentina, it was just after a very difficult time in the country.  Even the classroom that I taught in was named after a student who had been killed in that very room, when soldiers came in with machine guns searching for so-called student enemies.  How was it possible to break through this mentality, through this "training of distrust" from when they were kids? 

Team Building was the answer...team building in the classroom!  It was integral and so successful in bringing more than 60 young and old students and professors together, working, singing, laughing, trusting and communicating with each other.  And the beauty of it is that these teachers went on to teach their students and use the same methods in their own classrooms with young Argentines.

Team Building?  What is it?  How can it be used with students?  In many places it might be known as a Ropes Course, or a Challenge Course, or an Obstacle Course, but it can happen in many different forms.  Whatever the name, whether it is done in permanent location, or on portable events, these types of activities create teachable moments.  Team building is music; it is action.  It's physical motion, creative problem solving and "thinking outside the box" (using a way overused phrase in education today!)  Team building can be individuals working as a group, or individuals working alone, but doing what they do best with the support and appreciation of the group.

How can we use team building with our classes? With our teachers?  Why?  Not all people learn in the same way.  Not all students come from the "perfect" family with father, mother and 2 point whatever children.  In fact, the "perfect" family is a minority!  So, what can we do to help prepare our young people for the future where changes happen as fast as an airplane crashing into a skyscraper?  "Many things," and "Depends" are the usual answers, but I believe that in addition to math, reading and writing, we should be teaching cooperative learning, trust, respect, and creative problem solving.  Many of those things cannot be taught to their full extent inside a clasroom.  But they can be taught, with the proper facilitators, using team building programs.

Benefits of team building programs include helping the extroverts learn to get ideas from the introverts, helping each individual do what they do best, and appreciate the contributions of the others in their groups.  On a ropes course, for example, "shy" students are allowed to come up with the brilliant ideas; where in the classroom he/she can't get the answer because the extroverts blurt the answer out first.  A challenge course can prove to the females that they have the power to be the leaders (and the lifters and the pushers and the supporters) in their class and not let the males control the situations, just because they think they are "stronger."  These programs can also build self-esteem, and self-confidence.  If done correctly, with the well-trained facilitators, team building programs are like the sunshine, water and the fertilizer for the blossoming individuals.

New Zealander, Mark Wells, a former staff member of Friendship Ventures, an organization working with "differently abled" persons in Minnesota, told of how a ropes course also made a difference in the life of one of his campers named 'Mary', a woman in her late 20's.  She needed all the assistance she could get, and traveled via a wheelchair pushed by staff.  As far as even her counselors knew, she was uncommunicative. She came out to the Ropes Course with her cabin group. He said, "We decided that it might be interesting for her to try the ‘swinging beams’, which were one of the wheelchair accessible events on the course.  We took her hands, and gently pulled her along the beams to the middle, and then gave the beams a gentle push with our thighs, just enough to get it swinging.  Mary's face lit up with wonder and she said, quietly, but quite clearly, ‘Wow.’ And she smiled."

Another example of how self-esteem was increased happened in a program at Gifford Farm Education Center in Omaha, Nebraska, which is part of the Omaha Public School system. We held a staff training using the Ropes Course, and by chance it was all female members of the team. One of the challenges was “The Wall”, which is a 12 foot high wall that they have to get all of the team members over without any props or ladders. They did. One of the participants was a large woman, who had some real issues with her body image. Accomplishing “The Wall” was a major event in her life. In fact, she attributed her current battle against cancer to “The Wall” and the “Team Challenge” program. This single, four-hour experience permeates every aspect of her life! Kurt Lunstra, former manager of Gifford Farm said, “There is no way to know how profound of an impact that this may have for an individual!”

Challenge courses are very popular throughout the U.S.  The ideas of cooperative education and team building has been around since the 1970's.  So these are not new ideas.  Summer camps use them.  Corporations use them to train their staff to work together.  One program in a remote part of northern Minnesota hosts more than 15,000 school students every year!!  They are used in "at risk" programs, with parent groups, with "problem" kids, with sports teams, and even the school staffs themselves.  Team building programs often offer an "out of the classroom," hands-on experience that tends to enhance the classroom experience, and make learning fun.  They teach people to take care of each other, and to appreciate the strengths and differences in the members of the groups.

Team Building with students and staff also depends on the attitude of the principals and the teachers themselves.  If "the management" is supportive of the programs, then the magic of the programs are even more effective.  If these programs are just viewed as "something that they do that takes away classroom time" then the programs, even if they give the participants many personal and group successes, will be seen as failures.  Team Building programs won't change how fast kids learn when the Mayflower landed, but it can make a difference in their behavior, respect, cooperation and other attitudes that are lauded by society.

When is the best time for team building programs?  The ideal time is the beginning of the school year.  Or when there is a change of staff, or a change of students.  Every time a new person enters a group, the dynamics change.  And to help ease the transitions, that is a perfect time to do team building programs.  Last summer I worked with a group of Chinese,  Japanese, Mexican, and U.S. staff members as part of Concordia Colleges' Global Language Villages in Kunming, China, near the border of Viet Nam.  The first thing that we did together was team building.  And once we were thinking and working together we were able to spend the next two weeks as a team, teaching English to 200 Chinese students.  And it worked!

There is much more to the educational process than just the classroom.  Team work does not take the place of classroom learning, but it serves to enhance the learning, and help people work together better...faster!  It is not an easy process, as is illustrated by the second word of the phrase, "team WORK."  But it is worth it!  Imagine what we can do when we trust each other, communicate with each other, support and appreciate each other without fear!  Many events in our history would have a different, more positive ending.

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