A Most Interesting Activity: ZOOM 6.3

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This activity remains one of the most interesting team-building activities in my repertoire. (I'm not sure who to credit for the activity, save a former 6th grade colleague Debra Hidson.) The instructions are deceptively simple: determine the order of a collection of images, then stack them facedown in order.

Students sit in a circle, and each is given a picture to study. They must not to reveal the image to any other group member, save through words. Yes, they may speak; no, they may not show their picture to someone else. Ready . . . go!

I use a stopwatch to time the activity. The felt pressure of time helps nudge the group to begin without delay.

The teacher's role is difficult: say nothing, observe, perhaps take notes.

Students immediately assume familiar, habitual roles: leader, supporter, thinker/problem solver, complainer, saboteur; asserting power and dominance, or drifting off to sleep; responding impulsively, or thoughtfully and methodically; detailed and specific in their descriptions, or general, vague and fuzzy.

This year, both groups began by asking each student in turn to describe their picture. The zoom-in pattern to the sequence of images was recognized almost immediately, though the process of determining the specific order was much more challenging.

I'd like to see the process repeated with another similar task, with the aim of observing growth across activities, and reflection of one's own stereotypical roles within a group. Presumably, the group gets smarter, and the obstacles reduced. Still, I wonder how the recurrence of patterns and roles might continue to pose the same obstacles.

Note Zoom, the children's book used for this activity.