Build Stronger Team Agreements—in Just 15 Minutes
Whether you're leading a classroom, a student team, or a faculty group, the Team Alliance Canvas helps your team co-create clear agreements that foster trust, clarify expectations, and reduce conflict.
Use it to:
✅ Set shared values and norms
✅ Define how you’ll give feedback and handle conflict
✅ Support accountability without top-down rules
Real teams make their thinking visible. This canvas helps you do just that.
❌ Accountability breaks down during group work
🌀 No shared expectations or team norms
💥 Conflict or drama disrupts student collaboration
🧍♀️ Everyone relies on the teacher to solve team issues
What values do we care about the most?
How will we act to actualize our values?
How will the group reinforce our agreements with one another? How will they give and receive helpful feedback?
Curious how it works in practice? Here's a real example created by students.
This team defined values like Trust, Honesty, and Fun, agreed on behaviors like active listening, and created a conflict plan they all signed.
The Canvas helps students take ownership of how they work together, not just what they work on.
Jen Manly explains how to use the Team Alliance to build student ownership and stronger collaboration.
See how this powerful tool helps students create shared expectations, navigate conflict, and commit to their team values.
Read our full article on how the Team Alliance Canvas supports collaboration, SEL, and student voice.
Prefer audio? Listen to a short overview that covers the Alliance Canvas benefits for group work.
The Team Alliance Canvas activity integrates seamlessly into diverse educational contexts, fostering essential 21st-century skills and promoting collaboration, accountability, and shared values. This activity aligns with leading frameworks such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Learner Profile (LP) and Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills. By engaging with the Team Alliance Canvas, students build critical competencies like communication, problem-solving, self-management, and global awareness—key skills for success in school, work, and life.
This complete resource gives you everything you need to help students build shared values, foster collaboration, and create meaningful team agreements that promote trust, accountability, and conflict resolution.
🧩 Team Alliance Canvas Template
A structured tool that guides teams in establishing shared values and group norms
💬 Reflection Questions
Thoughtful prompts that help students reflect, discuss, and improve how they work together
❤️ Values Handout
A curated list of student-friendly values to spark meaningful conversation and inspire team commitments
Explore the resources, guides, and certification that help you make learning visible, collaborative, and student-driven—without starting from scratch.