Session+8

=Session 8=

=8.1 Wallwisher= media type="custom" key="10106575"

=8.2 Collaborative Crusader: Creating a Twenty-First-Century Learning Community for Teachers=

Article by Sarah Bernard Collaborative Crusader: Creating a Twenty-First-Century Learning Community for Teachers


 * How does your school/district currently support and or encourage collaboration between teachers? **

My school definitely encourages collaboration between teachers by requiring classroom teachers to have weekly "team meetings" across the grade levels. Unfortunately for me, as an exploratory teacher, I am covering a prep, at which time those teachers are having their team meeting. It is very unlikely that I can find a grade-level team meeting going on during a time where I have a prep period as well. This course and the article are opening my eyes to the fact, however, that we do not have to be in the same room at the same time to collaborate. Wikispaces, blogs, googledocs, and many other web 2.0 applications are methods for communication. Getting other colleagues on board to this idea is another challenge.


 * How much do you seek to collaborate with teachers and how do you accomplish this? **

To be absolutely honest, I don’t seek very often to collaborate with other teachers. I have my department meetings every other month and we sometimes collaborate on ideas. This would average out to maybe one hour of actual collaboration every other month. I have another foreign language teacher in my school and she and I may meet once a month to ask a professional question or bounce ideas off one another. I know I am guilty of not collaborating much with other teachers and I believe I am not of the minority in this case. We as teachers have grown so accustomed to doing everything on our own.


 * To what extent do you think collaboration is of growing importance for teachers seeking to implement a 21st century classroom? **

I truly believe it’s time to let our guards down, not only keep our rooms open, but visit other rooms as well. Whether or not we are visiting rooms in the literal sense or in the virtual sense of the word, what is best for our students is to show them the world out there. This world is so easily accessible. We have the access at our fingertips. With a little collaboration, the process of knowing what to access, the quality, reliability, and relevance of what we are accessing can be so much easier with teacher collaboration.

Interestingly enough, as I was thinking about my own answers to the above questions, had to remind myself that I was focusing on teacher collaboration and not student collaboration. Pretty much this whole course has been seeking ways to better the learning for students. How to have the students dig deeper, go further, seek more and ask them how this can relate to their lives is really what we are trying to achieve here. The 21st Century classroom is really about student collaboration. Whether that collaboration is occurring through face-to-face meetings, or online methods, collaboration could still be going on. The key is figuring out HOW to do it correctly.
 * In what ways, if any, do you see the thoughts in this article applying to student conversation? **

=8.3 Innovation in Education=

//"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew//." **Abraham Lincoln** media type="custom" key="10107501"

Kindly notice that reflections on both can be found in the Discussion tab.