Communities
at Work
Teacher: Rozlyn Truss, Cobb County School System
Overview:
This lesson is designed to encourage
students to work as a community of learners to reach a goal. The lesson
is designed to generate thought about different roles in a community,
what obstacles prevent people from working together as a group and ways
to help any community work successfully towards completion of a goal.
Materials:
- Construction
paper
- Scissors
(provide only enough for about 1/3 of the students)
- Glue (provide only enough for about 1/3 of the students)
- Stapler
(provide only enough for about 1/3 of the students)
Time:
The activity itself can vary depending
on how long it takes students to learn to work as teams. Allow approximately
45-90 minutes for this activity.
Instructional
Sequence:
- Begin
by preparing a paper chain ahead of time. Simple cut 7-12 inch strips
of construction paper and staple, glue or tape them around one another
similar to a chain link fence. Us e multiple colors and multiple methods
of connecting the paper chains. Often following a specific color or
numerical pattern is a good idea and the chain may be able to be used
again with a lesson related to math. Before the lesson, post the chain
somewhere visible to all students. This area can be a large table display
area. Using the hooks commonly found on chalkboards is a great way to
display the paper chain as well.
- Divide students into large groups of 8 or more.
Groups should reflect a wide diversity of students if possible.
It is ideal to include students that, perhaps, normally would not choose
to work together or come into little intimate contact with one another.
Place the same colored construction paper used to create the class paper
chain on each group table and enough scissors, glue, tape and stapler
for about 1/3 to ¼ of the students. You do not want each student to
have his or her own supplies. The activity requires that there are not
enough supplies for each student so that they must work together.
- Explain
that today we will learn about communities. Tell the students that we
will figure out exactly how and people function together in small communities
to reach a common goal. Challenge the students to give examples of communities
that they are familiar with. Encourage a brief 10-minute discussion
that emphasizes the wide variety of different types of communities from
national, cultural, local and school communities. Explain to students
that today they will work as a community as well. Instruct each team
to create a replica of the chain that they see in the classroom.
Depending on the grade level of the students, make the requirements
age appropriate. Example: older students may have to repeat the exact
color and numerical pattern of the original chain while simply cutting
and creating a chain that stays together may challenge younger students.
The only rule is that they cannot leave their “community” areas and
that they may not speak at all.
- Allow
students as much time (within reason) that they need to complete what
they feel is an exact replica of the class paper chain.
- After
the activity, ask students to orally share challenges that they faced
as they worked towards their common goal. After discussion, ask each
student to generate text that describes (1) difficulties that communities
face even when they all want the same goals and/or objectives; (2) barriers
and/or benefits that exist in communities;(3) their own personal advice
and recommendations for individuals operating within a community to
encourage success. The specific requirements may be adapted to
a longer one hour or even take home assignment or can be shortened to
a simple reflective paragraph on the experience.
Evaluation:
Students are assessed in two ways.
They are assessed on the paragraph/paper that they produce and for their
active and appropriate participation in the group activity to build the
paper chain.
