Five things in common
Teamwork and group discussions can help students feel connected in the classroom. Being part of a group discussion can promote the skills required to work together, as well as creativity and empathy.
Year level
7-12
Duration
5 minutes
Type
In class activity
SEL Competencies
Social awareness
Relationship skills
Self-awareness
Learning intention
Students build relationships and connections, as they realise how much they have in common.
Key outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
identify things they share with their classmates
recognise the importance of learning about each other.
Materials needed
A piece of paper and a writing tool for each group
Mapped to
Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities
Personal and Social Capability:
Social awareness
Self-awareness
Ethical Understanding:
Responding to ethical issues
Intercultural Understanding:
Engaging with cultural and linguistic diversity
Activity 1
Instructions
5 minutes
Ask students to form groups of five people.
Tell students that their task is to work as a group and identify five things that everyone in their group has in common. These can’t be things to do with school, or body parts (we all have arms, etc.) or clothing (we all wear pants, etc.).
Ask students to nominate one person in their group to write down the five things the group decides they all have in common.
When all the groups have finished writing their list, ask a volunteer from each group to read out their list. See if anything overlaps across all group lists. There might be one thing all the students have in common.
