Collaborative Practices by Beth Ciccone

Interviews

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:06:36 UTC

I am lucky to have great relationships with my previous co-workers now that I am a stay at home mom. I emailed them the questions and all three got back to me by Friday. The three people I chose to interview included my closest colleague, a health and physical education teacher in grades 2, 5 & 6. Another professional I chose to interview was a 5th grade regular education teacher that was our union building representative and math and CA (Communication Arts) teacher. The final professional I interviewed was a middle school baseball coach and 6th grade science and social studies teacher. Many of their responses were the same, but there were some differences.

Collaboration

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:11:45 UTC

All teachers had similar responses about Collaboration and how it's defined. Some similarities included defining collaboration as working together to learn and help each other, accomplishing a goal/task, sharing ideas, and grow as a professionals. The two regular education teachers have collaboration time built into their schedules, but the health and PE teacher does not. This is something she would like to see for all teachers because of the benefits. Most recently, all teachers said collaboration is critical because of the new common core standards and new requirements of the state and the school. One interesting thing is that all teachers said in most recent graduate classes, working together to accomplish tasks was an important part.

Success

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:16:45 UTC

How can collaboration, co-teaching and consultation be successful? By working together to accomplish a goal. It is necessary to have a timeline, positive attitudes stay on task, and everyone be willing to share. Co-teaching is something the regular education teachers seem to like and agree that mutual respect and work ethic is needed to make it a great environment. The health and PE teacher used to co-teach and enjoyed it (because it was with me - haha!) Consulting with outside professionals was a sore spot for all the teachers. They would like to keep consulting in house and use that time collaborating with school district employees and experts.

Time

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:24:50 UTC

How can we get more time? That seems to be the common question. All teachers found collaborating and co-teaching to be highly beneficial, but how can they find more time in their day? And the health and PE teacher is still looking for collaboration time or a similar schedule to be able to consult with other health and PE teachers in the district.

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:37:06 UTC

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:37:32 UTC

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:37:45 UTC

cicconebeth — 2014-01-11 21:38:35 UTC