Jackson board hears presentation on middle school team building

This year, and for the past several, when sixth-graders started the year at Jackson Middle School, they participated in something typical of the corporate world -- team building.

Aimed at breaking the ice among new students, the exercise included games that encouraged students to work together and make new friends.

Principal Janelle Pope gave a presentation at Jackson's school board meeting Tuesday on this year's effort. She said the exercises occur for a little more than two hours over three school days.

The middle school has 730 sixth- and seventh-graders. This is Pope's second year as principal, but it's her understanding team building has been done for several years.

"The neat thing is we have the teachers there as observers and they can very quickly and easily recognize" which students are leaders and which ones may need to be pushed a little more, Pope said after the meeting.

"We just do it with sixth grade, since sixth grade is the first time they're together in one building," having come from the district's elementary campuses, Pope said.

During the exercises, students are divided into three groups, and later into five smaller groups.

Exercises encourage students to introduce themselves to one another and share things about themselves, Pope said, and the games also encourage teamwork.

In the smaller groups, students are put with peers who are not in their homeroom and go through five different activities. One is called "Coneheads," in which students make their way through an obstacle course with cones on their heads. If the cone falls off, they can't use their hands to replace it and they have to stop moving. Ultimately, they realize they need other kids to hold their cone so they can make it through the course.

Another activity is called "Cross the Line" where students are asked things like "Have you ever been made fun of?" or "Have you ever felt scared or alone?" If they have experienced these things, they cross a line. Then they can look up and down and see other students who have these things in common with them, Pope said.

Pope also created a packet of about 25 quick activities teachers can do in their classrooms to foster team building.

Other business

• Assistant superintendent Beth Emmendorfer said it has been busy since the start of school. Meredith Pobst, executive director of the not-for-profit Jackson R-2 School District Foundation, has been working on volunteer training throughout the district.

Emmendorfer said campuses also are working to get family and community members into the schools by conducting events such as Grandparents Day.

Lunch Bunch also is starting, which Emmendorfer said gives parents, family members or "someone special" a chance to lunch with students.

The BackPack for Friday program, designed to meet the needs of hungry children when other resources aren't available, such as weekends, starts this week. Emmendorfer said 57 children will be able to take the food-packed backpacks home.

• Associate superintendent Matt Lacy said the district exceeded state averages on nearly every aspect of the recent Missouri School Improvement Program annual performance report.
• Superintendent Ron Anderson said, boosted by good weather, construction on the new elementary school has continued at a brisk pace, with plumbing and footings being installed.

Anderson said the district's foundation, which provides educational grants, continues to grow. Anderson said he was told a recent fundraiser at McDonald's was the biggest ever.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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614 E. Adams St., Jackson, Mo.