Giving Positive and Encouraging Feedback

Part of being a good teammate is giving positive and encouraging feedback to help the rest of your team.

Grade Level: K-5

Character Skills

Respect

SEL Skills

Self-Awareness
Relationship Skills

Academic Skills

Effective Problem-Solving

Definitions

Respect

Follow the Golden Rule.
Be accepting of differences.
Be courteous to others.
Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements.
Be considerate of others’ feelings.

Self-Awareness

Identify and understand emotions, values, attitudes, motivations, mindsets, and personal attributes.

Relationship Skills

Interpersonal and social skills to guide appropriate behavior and create positive relationships and meaningful connections .

Effective Problem-Solving

Employ critical and creative thinking skills to solve problems and make rational, ethical, and effective decisions that produce the best possible result.

Share This Activity

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Students will build a structure and practice respect and teamwork. Then, they’ll reflect on what they did well and if they were a patient and encouraging team member.

Materials/Preparation

Materials to build a structure: pieces of wood, cardboard blocks, etc.
Built a structure and create piles of the same building materials for each group. Keep in mind that this structure will need to be replicated by your students.

Activity Instructions

Shows students your sample structure and let them examine it for at least one minute.
Divide students into groups of 2-4.
Tell students that:
- Their task will be to try to replicate the structure that you created.
- Each student will take at least one piece of building material. Once they choose their piece(s) they cannot touch any of the other pieces throughout the building process. If anyone touches another piece, the group has to start building their structure over.
Give students two minutes to strategize. Then, set a building timer and ask students to begin building. (Set the timer based on your time constraints and students’ abilities)
If you notice groups that are having trouble, ask them to take a break and discuss their strategy before beginning again.
When the timer goes off, allow students to negotiate for more time (they can have more time but can’t talk or have to work with only one hand)

Discussion Prompts

You could only touch your assigned pieces. How did you feel watching others work with their pieces? Was it hard to be patient? Did anyone want to jump in and take over?
Did you encourage your team members? For example, did you tell others that they were doing a good job or give helpful suggestions?
Do you think your project would have turned out differently if everyone on your team had been giving positive and encouraging feedback to each other while you were building?

Journal Prompts

What are other times when encouraging teammates is important? Describe a time when you were encouraged by your team, friends, or family.
Do you think you are patient? Describe a time when you showed a lot of patience while working with others.