Back-to-School Team-Building Activities for Educators

The weeks just before the start of school is a great time in the educational year. Everyone is full of hope and excitement, and the entire staff is focused on making the upcoming school year the best it can be. Why not take this time to do some team-building activities with your fellow educators?

Back-to-School Team-Building Activities

With everybody coming back to the building for workshops and classroom setup, naturally, a lot of time is dedicated to getting-to-know-you and professional development activities-some more valuable than others. Want to get your fellow educators ready for the new school year in a serious way? Give some of these activities a try.

Create Temporary PLCs

Professional learning communities (PLCs) tend to follow predictable groupings, either by grade level or subject area. This activity gives your staff a chance to mix things up a bit. To start, simply have everyone pick numbers out of a hat. Then, give this mixed-bag group one single topic on which to focus for a limited time (an hour is a good place to start).

You can do several rotations of this activity, switching up either the groups, the topics, or both. It provides a great professional development opportunity for your teachers, allowing them to share and hear from colleagues they might not talk to very often and to be exposed to new ideas and areas of expertise.

Host Your Own Shark Tank

These days, you are hard pressed to find an educator who doesn’t have a favorite edtech app or tool. Take advantage of this. The premise is simple: volunteers present their personal favorite in a short Shark Tank–like presentation, trying to sell their colleagues on the usefulness and value of the tool. Don’t force anyone to participate.

However, you’ll be surprised at how many teachers enthusiastically raise their hands when you ask.

Take a Field Trip

In many schools, particularly those in underserved neighborhoods, the teachers have never ventured outside of the school’s gates. That’s unfortunate, as schools are a huge part of the communities in which they are located. So, organize a quick field trip.

Have teachers and administrators who are more knowledgeable about the local area show your entire staff some of the local landmarks and give them a taste of the general flavor of the neighborhood. At a minimum, those teachers will now know what students are talking about when they reference a certain street, park, or restaurant.

Complete a Volunteer Project

Now, more than ever, schools should serve as the collective center of their communities. Nothing builds that goodwill more effectively than helping out in the neighborhood with a group service project. It can be as simple as painting a neglected building or something more involved like volunteering time at a local food shelf.

Bonus points if you can involve neighborhood leaders or parents. Not only will you gain a positive perception within the community, but your teachers will have a valuable team-building opportunity and foster camaraderie.

Establish a Book Club

A fun and enriching team building activity is to start a book club for your teaching staff. Choose an engaging book related to education, teaching strategies, classroom management, or a topic you want to focus on for professional development.

Here are some tips for running an effective educator book club: 

• Get input from staff on book selections to ensure buy-in
• Set a reasonable reading schedule to discuss chapters/sections
• Rotate who leads the discussion and comes prepared with questions
• Encourage open dialogue and sharing of opinions and experiences
• Look for ways to implement ideas from the book in your school
• Make it a lively discussion over snacks or meals

In addition to building rapport among colleagues, a book club allows teachers to learn new concepts, exchange insights, and grow their instructional skills together. The shared experience creates a collaborative environment where everyone can contribute their perspectives.

What better way to kick off the school year than with some engaging icebreakers? Discover fun, student-approved activities to build classroom connections from day one.