For Teachers - Teachers Connecting with Teacher Librarians. Building Teacher Collaboration School-wide. Teacher collaboration has been a common element of middle grades initiatives for years, typically one or more of these three organizational models: common planning time, professional learning communities, and critical friends groups.
Each model is distinct, yet they share common features. They 1) advance teacher learning, 2) address context-specific issues, 3) foster collegiality, 4) reduce teacher isolation, and 5) lead teachers to greater insights about teaching and learning. The overarching, and arguably the most important common element, is the goal of improved student learning.
What makes each organization model unique? First, the teachers are organized differently in each model: interdisciplinary teams, disciplinary teams, or self-selected teams. Table 1. Strategies for Building Teacher Collaboration Organizational models facilitate, but do not guarantee collaboration. As with other skills, we gain a greater capacity for collaboration with the opportunity to practice. 1. 2. 3. 4. 20 Collaborative Learning Tips And Strategies For Teachers. 20 Collaborative Learning Tips And Strategies For Teachers contributed by Miriam Clifford There is an age old adage that says, “two heads are better than one.”
Consider collaboration in recent history: Watson and Crick or Page and Brin (Founders of Google). But did you know it was a collaborative Computer Club about basic programming at a middle school that brought together two minds that would change the future of computing? Yes, those two were, of course, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the founders of Microsoft. Collaborative learning teams are said to attain higher level thinking and preserve information for longer times than students working individually.
Groups tend to learn through “discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of other’s ideas.” Collaborative learning teams are said to attain higher level thinking and preserve information for longer times than students working individually. Many consider Vygotsky the father of ‘social learning.’ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 8 Fun Ways to Help Your Students Collaborate in the Classroom. The days of students silently working independently from textbooks at desks neatly arranged into perfect rows are long gone!
In today’s classroom, you’re more likely to see students standing or sitting together around tables or huddling on the rug, gesturing and talking excitedly, drawing diagrams on tablets, sketching ideas on whiteboards, or gathered around computers. Collaborative learning is a 21st-century skill that is at the top of most districts’ curricula.
When students work collaboratively, they become involved in a process that promotes cooperation and builds community. New ideas are generated as students give one another feedback. Collaboration creates a culture that values every student’s strengths and an environment that believes that everyone can learn from one another. Here are eight activities and tools to foster an environment of collaboration in your classroom. School Library Journal. One librarian’s role is transformed, and with it, her approach to and appreciation for collaboration.
The author, left, co-teaching a class. Collaboration. It’s a word that’s always thrown around in professional development discussions. The concept sounds simple enough, and I thought I had a handle on it. Turns out, I never really understood how to best collaborate. I quickly realized that in order to make sure students were comprehending research and technology skills, I needed to be part of conferencing, review student’s work throughout the process, and read their essays.
Tara N. 7 Tips For Successful Collaboration. Who We Are and What We Do We are National Board Certified Teachers who have been collaborative partners for almost a decade at Oceanside High School in New York.
Our collaboration works because we’re working together towards a common goal: helping our students reach their fullest potential. We teach two integrated sections of ninth grade Honors English and Social Studies, where our students move as a cohort between our classes, giving them an experience that illustrates how English and Social Studies are related by providing them with the opportunity to read text deeply, and link themes occurring across both classrooms. In addition, we team teach a Conference class where students delve deeper into the humanities, exploring concepts that link us all in the human experience. Every year we have the opportunity to teach grades other than the ninth grade integrated program, and we choose to stay together.
Carve Out Common Planning Time Use Your School Schedule To Your Advantage Maintain Hope. How do you Encourage Collaboration with Classroom Teachers? (Hint: Chocolate is involved!) - Elementary Library Mama. School librarians/media specialists often lament about how to collaborate with classroom teachers.
I've seen many suggestions online about doing this. To be honest, it's quite difficult, especially if you have a fixed schedule, or provide contractual "release time" for the classroom teachers. Some of us are so scheduled with classes that there is barely enough time to go to the bathroom or gulp down a sandwich because we have to prepare for the next class coming in! I've even read posts about librarians not getting prep time of their own during the school day and it makes my blood boil... but that's a post for another day.
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) How to Create Fruitful Co-Teaching Partnerships. A MiddleWeb Bog By Elizabeth Stein By now co-teachers around the nation have had a chance to get off on the right foot.
I hope you had a flying start! Maybe even hit the ground running! The first goal for co-teachers is to pave the way for a successful year by establishing a learning environment that nurtures a sense of community. If you are working together by choice, it’s likely you are well into a good groove by now! A forced pairing can flourish This is the reality: most co-teachers find themselves together in the same classroom because somebody says they have to be.