Preparing students for ever-changing workplace practices and expectations can be a struggle for new and tenured teachers alike.
At AES, we work with thousands of business teachers every year looking to better prepare their students for the workforce.
One of the most common workplace skills teachers ask us about is teamwork and teambuilding.
While we provide a digital curriculum to teach teamwork among other career readiness skills, our solution may not be the best fit for everyone.
Because of this, teachers often ask what other teamwork and teambuilding lesson plans we might recommend if they don't use our curriculum system.
If you're looking for a supplemental resource, we've put together a list of popular teamwork lesson plans for high school:
- How to Be a Successful Team Player
- Soft Skills to Pay the Bills from the US Department of Labor
- It Takes Teamwork! from Texas CTE
- Teamwork Lesson Plan from Money Instructor
In this article, we'll discuss what each resource includes, the lesson objectives, the cost to download (some are free!), and who it's a good fit for.
You'll also have the opportunity to review our Professionalism learning module, which includes content to teach teamwork, collaboration, and workplace integrity.1. How to Be a Successful Team Player from Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is an online database with over 3 million resources available to support PreK - 12 classroom, homeschool, and adult educators.
A great teamwork lesson plan for high school you’ll find on Teachers Pay Teachers is ‘How to Be a Successful Team Player.’
This product includes the detailed lesson plans along with 30 pages of worksheets, assessments, and scenarios in a .zip format.
These Teamwork Lesson Plan Objectives Include:
- Explaining the importance of having strong teamwork skills in the workplace
- Identifying key teamwork skills
- Describing barriers that hinder the forming of a strong team
- Explaining how to become a successful team player
- Applying teamwork skills in a practical manner
Cost: $2.25
Who is How to Be a Successful Team Player Designed For?
- Grades 6-12
- Adult Education
Because of this wide range in grade levels listed, there is a possibility that some of the information or context could be too young or too old for your students.
2. Soft Skills to Pay the Bills from the US Department of Labor
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) is a federal agency that coordinates with employers to governmental groups to place and support people with disabilities in the workplace through education and job training.
‘Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success’ is a curriculum created by the ODEP that consists of hands-on teamwork lessons for high school through adult students.
As part of this curriculum, there is a unit on teamwork that includes introduction materials, reading pages, activities, and scenarios.
The Teamwork Lesson Plan Objectives and Topics Include:
- The importance of teamwork for workplace success
- The role an individual on a team may play
- Positive teamwork behavior
- How an individual's conduct can impact others on a team
Cost: Free
Who is Soft Skills to Pay the Bills Designed For?
- Secondary Education
- Adult and Business Education Education
- College
Because of the range of grade levels, you may decide to pick and choose which teamwork activities you plan to use, based on what will work best for your classes and students.
Read More: Top 4 Soft Skills Training Materials for High School Students
3. It Takes Teamwork! from Texas CTE
Texas CTE, hosted by Texas Education Agency, is a resource center hosting lesson plans, instructional materials, and program information for educators, administrators, counselors and trainers all over the US.
Stephen F. Austin State University created and hosted a teamwork lesson plan called ‘It Takes Teamwork!’
This lesson plan is aimed to help students develop practical leadership skills through participation in teambuilding activities such as career and technical student organizations.
You can download a comprehensive lesson plan, along with assignments, activities, further reading assignments, and more.
The Teamwork Lesson Plan Objectives Include:
- Identifying effective leadership, teamwork, and conflict management skills
- Demonstrating leadership, teamwork and conflict management to build a tower using given supplies
- Utilizing effective communication skills to avoid and/or practice conflict management
Cost: Free
Who is How to Be a Successful Team Player Designed For?
- Secondary Education
4. Teamwork from MoneyInstructor.com®
Money Instructor is an online group where members have access to resources for teaching money skills, business, career planning, life skills, and more for elementary, middle, high school educators, along with parents and workplace trainers.
Money Instructor’s lesson plan, ‘Teamwork,’ is offered to help teach students the teamwork principles in the workplace through reading passages and exercise worksheets.
However, it's important to note these resources are only available for Money Instructor full members.
Teamwork Lesson Plan Objectives and Topics Include:
- Key concepts of teamwork in the workplace
- Main principles of teamwork
Cost: $30 - $50/year for Various Membership Levels
Who is It Takes Teamwork! Designed For?
- Secondary Education
- Adult Education
- College
Which Teamwork Lesson Plans Are Right for You?
Truthfully, there is no single best teamwork lesson plan for high school, and any of these options would be useful to supplement your existing curriculum.
However, you may need more than just a few teambuilding activities to give students the soft skills they need for success.
We’ve found that many teachers prefer to teach teamwork and teambuilding as part of a unit on professionalism. Teaching professionalism gives students a comprehensive introduction to the qualities and characteristics employers are looking for.
If you think that your students could benefit from learning about teamwork as a professional quality, check out the Professionalism learning module from AES. The module provides lessons, activities, and projects related to topics and skills such as:
- Professional appearance and conduct
- Executive function and organizational skills
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Workplace integrity
To learn more about teaching teamwork and other professional skills check out the Professionalism module catalog page:
