Resident Advisors are responsible for overseeing the activities and safety of several peers. Team Building is a great way for an RA to get the students on their floor to get on the same page. This can come in handy later on when students have conflicts over noise violations, room sharing issues and so on.
Community Standards: Every dorm has its own rules and regulations that students must follow. However, to get students involved and feeling like their voice counts, develop your own standards for your floor or building. Allow students to suggest standards they would like to see implemented on their floor. This can be simple, like requesting that everyone pick up their own trash. Or it may be more complex, like making sure that everyone gets to use the common television or study area. Discuss standards as a group and agree to keep each other accountable.
Students meet life-long friends, future spouses and valuable networks in clubs and organizations. These are a great place to get personal with team building.
Crossing the Line is a valuable activity for any group who wants to develop close relationships and are willing to do some self-disclosure. In this exercise, students stand on one side of the room, on one side of a line. A moderator calls out various statements and, when those statements apply to a student, they cross over the line to the other side of the room and stand, facing the students who have not crossed over until the moderator calls them back. This activity can be used with regard to specific areas of interest or with general questions. Some possible statements a moderator may call would be "Cross the line if you have experienced racism," or "Cross the line if you have ever felt like you didn't fit in."
This activity helps gives students tangible insight into their similarities and differences.
Group projects are a dreaded part of school for many - dating back to being paired with enemies in junior high, or ending up doing all of the work in a high school group. But there are valuable lessons to be learned by working in a group.
Film projects, in particular, offer groups of 3 to 6 students a valuable chance to create a tangible product together and gain group experience and a grade. Though film projects may seem obvious for film, theater or art majors, film can be applied to any topic of study. For a history class, consider assigning a reenactment or a different take on a historical event. For a communications class, consider assigning a brief interview/documentary project.