Can We Work as a Team?

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Health Education

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Teamwork Makes Our Dreams Work.” See CPALMS Resource ID: 215691.

• Career Connection

  
  

  Students will be developing career skills that they can use in any field, such as: communication skills, teamwork, problem-solving skills, empathy, interpersonal skills, and intrapersonal skills.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Use collaboration skills to generate multiple solutions to a problem.
  • Write an opinion to explain about the best possible outcomes of a possible solution.
  • Share and justify their reasoning for their solution.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • work in pairs or groups.
  • know how to problem-solve.
  • share ideas and listen to ideas of others.
  • how to express and support an opinion.
  • understand the meaning of the words: pro and con.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How can working as a team help us solve problems?
  • What are the benefits of working in teams?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, the teacher will start by having students come together as a class to make a word-map to use their own words to define “teamwork.”
     • Teacher can write the definitions students give on the board, a piece of chart paper, etc.
  2. Using the shared ideas the class makes on the word-map, the teacher will lead a short discussion on what the class defined as teamwork.
  3. Teacher will then introduce the Case Study: “Teamwork Makes Our Dreams Work,” (See CPALMS Resource ID# 215691) by explaining that students will be reading the case study in pairs and thinking about the problems the characters are having.
  4. Allow student pairs time to read through the Case Study: “Teamwork Makes Our Dreams Work.”
  5. As students begin to wrap up the reading, the teacher can call the students back together to discuss the case study. Ask the class to think about the suggested questions:
     • Why are Isabella and Alice upset? What role does Mr. Smith play in the case study?
     • Why do the students argue during the discussion?
     • What problems is the class having in this case study?
     • How can they solve these problems?
  6. As students share different solutions, the teacher can write those ideas on the board or on a piece of chart paper.
  7. After there seems to be enough solutions generated (should be at least a minimum 3), the teacher can break the students back into pairs or small groups to write a Pro and Con List (see attached) for one of the solutions. The teacher can assign the solution or have students pick one as a group.
  8. Explain to students that their pros and cons will be shared with the class, so they need to be sure their ideas are clear and understandable.
  9. After students have had enough time to write their pros and cons, the teacher can call students back together to share out loud the pros and cons for each solution.
     • If each group had a different solution, please allow all groups to share all their ideas.
     • If some groups had the same solution for their Pro and Con List, then allow groups with the same solution to piggyback off each other and only share new pros and cons so time is not spent repeating ideas.
  10. To bring the lesson to a close, ask students to reflect on their learning using the attached Teamwork Makes Our Dreams Work Reflection Sheet where they will pick one solution they like and write a short opinion to explain why they felt that was the best solution. Students will use the case study to provide details to support their opinion. They will also be asked to reflect on how this lesson and case study relates to their own life both inside and outside of the classroom.
      • Teacher can choose to have students share their Teamwork Makes Our Dreams Work Reflection Sheet (see attached) responses with the class if desired.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • While this lesson is designed to be completed in one hour-long class period, if your students need more time or need it to be broken up over multiple class periods, please feel free to adjust for your own classroom needs.
  • The Pro and Con List is included as a handout, but you can choose to print a copy for each group, have the students write it in their own notebooks, or give them chart paper to make it themselves if you prefer.