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About five years ago I got rid of my desk and never looked back.

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We played driver/navigator for coding games. Drivers complete all the work while navigators tell them what to do. You can't move without navigators directions. It is a fun way to begin collaboration in a computer lab.

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Teaching high school I am always looking for a new way to encourage the students to use each other as a resource before coming to me.  One of my favorite requirements I utilize in class is:
"ASK 3 BEFORE ME!"
Students are required to ask 3 different classmates for help before they come to me to ask a question. This encourages them to get up and move around the room and consult with students they might not normally ask a question to. Creates great socialization and communication skills and typically they find the answer before they even need to consult me. Puts the ownership of learning on the students!!

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I have been working on letting the students become familiar with an assignment to the point where they can ask to do it in a variety of ways. This created ownership. A group last semester turned in a presentation through snap chat that involved them reporting about method acting! Students can collaborate the way they want in my class, and that is important to them and myself. Do not be scared to make a mistake when implementing new strategies, because you will probably make a mistake but you can always learn from those mistakes.

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A goal of mine in my classroom is to let the students figure things out on their own with input from me. I give the assignment and the rest is up to them. This causes students to discuss their ideas, questions, and projects with other students to get more or different ideas. The students in my class do not have assigned seats and we use flexible seating, this gives them the freedom to seek out help from others.

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To help create a more collaborative culture within my classroom the students create a class mission statement at the beginning of the year. Once finalized, the mission statement gives the class a common purpose/goals for what they want to accomplish throughout the year, how they are going to accomplish it, and in what type of environment. They also agree on and establish a list of characteristics of a quality student.  Once this list is created, I, as the teacher, and students can hold each other accountable for their actions by referring to the list.  Students also create a list of qualities that they would like to see in their teacher.  Once those have been solidified, the students can hold me accountable.

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I allow flexible seating in my classroom. Kids can sit on bean bags, futon, stand up table, or in the hallway to work in groups. They love the flexibility!

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I have had great results using Google apps as a means of collaboration. My "Product Design" project is a great example of teamwork in the learning process. Students use Google forms to survey their customers about design preferences, and collaborate in Google presentations to produce a Process Book that shows the designs they created and documents their creative processes. It's an unconventional assessment but is really fun for them to produce and for me to see!
http://www.youblisher.com/p/1584322-the-VIBE/

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Recently, I allowed my students to choose their own team of no more than three to complete their STEM projects. They divided the responsibility among their team mates and got to work. I took the time to sit with each team and discuss their strategies for accomplishing their task. I have to say I don't really have anything profound or innovative to share as I do what seems to work at the time and adjust as needed. When I see examples of good collaboration happening in my classroom I try to call it to everyone's attention as well as when I see anything to the contrary. I am hoping to learn more effective ways to get everyone in a team involved and maybe a better way to assess their involvement.

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In stagecraft we have this huge board of projects that are finished and not finished. Once a week we gather around the board and discuss where we're at on each "unfinished" project, and add additional notes to the big board.

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In stagecraft we have this huge board of projects that are finished and not finished. Once a week we gather around the board and discuss where we're at on each "unfinished" project, and add additional notes to the big board.

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- Kyle Lackey

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Collaborative work is something that ALWAYS happens in my room, however it was this year I had a breakthrough and realized that my students just don't know how to collaborate. So over Winter Break, I created a plan of attack to go back and teach my students how to effectively collaborate with their peers. I think this is such a common mistake. We as teachers just assume that students know how to work together, but in reality that isn't the case. We have to teach them what that looks like and how to do it EFFECTIVELY. This is one of the many resources I used when planning for those lessons on collaborative learning.
https://www.edutopia.org/practice/teaching-group-work-building-student-collaboration-and-agency

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Teachers should provide a model of how a successful group functions.

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Rebecca Frese -        Like the video of the renovated classroom, adding more white board/writing space throughout my classroom has assisted in making my classroom more collaborative.

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Rebecca Frese -        Like the video of the renovated classroom, adding more white board/writing space throughout my classroom has assisted in making my classroom more collaborative.

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Teamwork!  These students are working and collaborating together in smaller sections towards a common goal.  This pic shows my awesome students taking on the challenge of Sight Singing before Contest, which is truly a group collaborative effort! Can I implement technology in the future to extend this collaborative effort? I wonder if I could use Padlet as a feedback tool for Sight Singing? I would love to check out this tech tool: www.sightreadingfactory.com

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We created Digital Volunteers in EPiC 3rd grade to open collaboration and feedback between students and adults. This project started in 2015 and is still growing! Here is the process...

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Never underestimate the power of a screen grab as used to share Kidblog as a logo image instead of text. Be careful of copyright and always link to where the image was found! MacBook screenshot Command + Control + Shift + 4 and draw the box around your desired grab.