How to teach students to play a role in a team

In this activity, learners will learn to share responsibilities in a team. Everybody will take part and learn to build trust and manage impulsivity by staying in their role. This will help them learn about playing a role in a team when collaborating.

What you need

One set of Six Bricks per learner and some paper and crayons for documenting.

How to play

Divide the class into teams of four.

The team has to compose a ‘piece of music’ using the bricks (as many as they like).

Lay down a sequence and agree on what each brick (colour or positioning) means (for example, studs up = clap, studs down = stomp).

The teams have to compose, rehearse and come up with a band name, so that they are ready to perform/play a ‘concert’.

The learners will split up the following roles in the group:

• Sound Engineer who chooses what each brick represents.

• Composer who chooses the sequence of bricks.

• Performer who will perform the music after the composition.

• Documentarist who will write the music (using pictures) for another team to perform.

Repeat the activity to let each learner experience a different role.

To make this a collaboration exercise, ensure that the team members support each other during the activity.

Key questions/reflections

Which was your favourite role and why?

How did it feel when you were in a particular role? Were there times you wanted someone else’s role? How did it feel?

Was being part of this team always feel fair? Why, why not?

In other areas of your life, like in your family or class, do you have a particular role?

What are you learning about having a role in a team?

Scale up/down

This game can be changed by allowing the learners to create a dance routine instead of a musical piece.

It can be made harder by allowing the learners to change roles during the activity or by having one member of the team allocating brick functions.

To make it easier on the other hand, use less bricks or have less roles. The teacher can give the groups a piece of music to perform or skip performing to the rest of the class.