Dale Carnegie once said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
This year at our annual Teacher Development and Team Building event, the fuel tank was full as Elizabeth Grady School Faculty and Staff worked together to create an environment for experiential learning and fun! The Wednesday before Labor Day was all about how to engage our students, enhance the learning experience, and empower each and every student and colleague we have the privilege of working with.
We devoted Thursday to discovering and uncovering more about how we can work together most effectively. Teachers and administrators participated in a scavenger hunt of sorts…perhaps treasure hunt is more appropriate.
It wasn’t a traditional treasure hunt, but none-the-less our school staff found the activity and lessons of great value. We employed American Outback Adventures as our guide for the activity appropriately named, Random Acts of Kindness.
Our territory was Cambridge to Boston along the MBTA red line whereby teams of EG School employees committed random acts for kindness for unwitting members of the community. What did they do, you ask? They did everything from leave a coin on the sidewalk for someone to discover to giving blood!
Here’s an example from the list of random acts entitled,Hugs for Charity: Create a sign advertising hugs for charity. Charge $1 for every hug until the team has raised $5. Take a photo of your team turning the money in to a charitable cause of your team’s choice.
Here’s how it worked. Our teams accessed random acts of kindness challenges on an app on their smart phones for which each was assessed points. Upon completing the challenge, documenting it via photograph or video footage, then uploading their documentation via the app, they accumulated points for their teams.
At the end of the day, here’s how the points stacked up:
- Positivity Babes completed 31 tasks can accumulated 121 points.
- The One and Onlys completed 31 tasks can accumulated 122 points.
- Team Toolbox completed 34 tasks can accumulated 126 points.
The EG Ladies completed 34 challenges for a total of 140 point and were crowned the Queens of Kindness.
Upon completion, we all re-united as a team of seeming common people who work together to accomplish extraordinary things and we danced together to Pharell Williams’ Happy.
Check back daily during the month of September and see the photos and video from the Elizabeth Grady School’s Random Acts of Kindness event. Meet the teams and find out what our teachers learned while participating in the event.
