professional collaboration
I want to start off by stating I love this term alone without knowing anything about it. The fact that it implies people working together to come up with solutions, improvements and reflections to create solutions is exciting!
The Wong's speak to this by giving nuggets of wisdom based on their research. A few phrases that truly wrap this concept into a pretty little package are the following: Cooperative learning is not just for students. Wong states its for teachers too (252). Furthermore, "a good school is always committed to being a community of learners" (Wong 264). It is no longer about teachers being all alone on the first day or the rest of their teaching career. The Wong's states that "in schools where teachers work together, student achievement improves" (266). It is all about taking the best of every single teacher and utilizing those talents to infect the new teachers with excitement, learning techniques and being set up for success on regular basis. It allows veterans to stay fresh and newbies to be seasoned quickly (Wong 267).
The article on the "Turning Points" schools said it well with this statement, "collective responsibility for practice, professional inquiry,
and opportunities for teachers to influence school activities and policies also
strengthen the professional community." The difference with these types of schools is that not only the standard of learning is higher but the standard of continued learning is higher for teachers and students. The schools succeed because the expectations are set higher. The expectations is that the teachers and the students contribute to the learning experience through best practices and reflection. It is through reflection that one can improve the next time. The students in this article were expected to look back on their work and say what they would have done differently as are the teachers.
The video with the Lake Forest Elementary school was truly inspiring and encouraging. Just watching the video made me want to work in that type of environment. It reminds me of the book FISH. Working together is the key to true success any any workplace. It was not about who is better than who or who knows more than someone else. It is about how can I share this with all so that they can have just as much fun with it but maybe even improve on it or see something different than I did. It is about making sure everyone is at their best for the students all the time. True support so that no one is suffering alone on an island all alone. It is principal observations for accountability and support of improvement or praise to successes.
In my experiences, I have been in a church group that was like that. The childrens department did not rely on volunteers just giving thier time but working with church staff who had been educated in the areas that could make it 100% better. The volunteers were treated like staff and not once a week volunteers. It was about how can we improve our lessons, attitudes, technologies, or activities to ensure the students are learning, reflecting and having fun all at the same time. We would meet and discuss, practice and see if it would work. Another environment that I have been in that is like this or uses collaborative techniques is my current student teaching school. The teachers come together in the secondary realm and utilize each others strengths to squash their weaknesses and make the classroom better. Sometimes it feels like a therapy session but sometimes that is all is needed to make the work day or work week better for teachers and students.
I have gained many insights from this lesson. I have learned it is better to always work together towards a common goal. It is better to have a wide range of talents to work with instead of relying on your few talents. It is true a person cannot do it alone and it is better to use the resources around you to improve your career professionally and your life in general. I have learned that students will behave better, learn better and all around improve with an open- minded teacher who is able to change the lesson plan format or structure to ensure each child is being reached in their abilities and strengths. It is okay to have a different type of lesson, the important thing is that the students are learning.
The Wong's speak to this by giving nuggets of wisdom based on their research. A few phrases that truly wrap this concept into a pretty little package are the following: Cooperative learning is not just for students. Wong states its for teachers too (252). Furthermore, "a good school is always committed to being a community of learners" (Wong 264). It is no longer about teachers being all alone on the first day or the rest of their teaching career. The Wong's states that "in schools where teachers work together, student achievement improves" (266). It is all about taking the best of every single teacher and utilizing those talents to infect the new teachers with excitement, learning techniques and being set up for success on regular basis. It allows veterans to stay fresh and newbies to be seasoned quickly (Wong 267).
The article on the "Turning Points" schools said it well with this statement, "collective responsibility for practice, professional inquiry,
and opportunities for teachers to influence school activities and policies also
strengthen the professional community." The difference with these types of schools is that not only the standard of learning is higher but the standard of continued learning is higher for teachers and students. The schools succeed because the expectations are set higher. The expectations is that the teachers and the students contribute to the learning experience through best practices and reflection. It is through reflection that one can improve the next time. The students in this article were expected to look back on their work and say what they would have done differently as are the teachers.
The video with the Lake Forest Elementary school was truly inspiring and encouraging. Just watching the video made me want to work in that type of environment. It reminds me of the book FISH. Working together is the key to true success any any workplace. It was not about who is better than who or who knows more than someone else. It is about how can I share this with all so that they can have just as much fun with it but maybe even improve on it or see something different than I did. It is about making sure everyone is at their best for the students all the time. True support so that no one is suffering alone on an island all alone. It is principal observations for accountability and support of improvement or praise to successes.
In my experiences, I have been in a church group that was like that. The childrens department did not rely on volunteers just giving thier time but working with church staff who had been educated in the areas that could make it 100% better. The volunteers were treated like staff and not once a week volunteers. It was about how can we improve our lessons, attitudes, technologies, or activities to ensure the students are learning, reflecting and having fun all at the same time. We would meet and discuss, practice and see if it would work. Another environment that I have been in that is like this or uses collaborative techniques is my current student teaching school. The teachers come together in the secondary realm and utilize each others strengths to squash their weaknesses and make the classroom better. Sometimes it feels like a therapy session but sometimes that is all is needed to make the work day or work week better for teachers and students.
I have gained many insights from this lesson. I have learned it is better to always work together towards a common goal. It is better to have a wide range of talents to work with instead of relying on your few talents. It is true a person cannot do it alone and it is better to use the resources around you to improve your career professionally and your life in general. I have learned that students will behave better, learn better and all around improve with an open- minded teacher who is able to change the lesson plan format or structure to ensure each child is being reached in their abilities and strengths. It is okay to have a different type of lesson, the important thing is that the students are learning.