4.2 A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration by EUN Partnership aisbl

Francesca, Italy

francesca_lombardi1973 — 2016-11-14 12:43:36 UTC

i'm curious to know some more about the co-teaching rotation model, when two teachers alternating between presenting and supporting roles during the lesson. I think it's very difficult to use this model in my italian school because I'm always alone in the classroom and the other teachers are engaged in other classes for all the time.

Stella Maris Berdaxagar from Argentina.

SMBerdaxagar — 2016-11-14 12:48:37 UTC

I would love to co-teach through the rotation model. It provides teachers with many evidences and records of teachers' and students' performance with triangular approaches that foster reflection and permanent improvement. I have been a co-teacher with limited ICT integration and for a short period of time but I love sharing experiences and innovating through collaboration and mutual inspiration and motivation. Unfortunately , it has not been easy to find a colleague willing to engage fully in co -teaching with ICT integration nearby .

Kimberley Edwards, Ireland

2016-11-14 12:59:00 UTC

I think this rotation idea is brilliant. I have experience of team teaching in a classroom and found it very beneficial. You need to be flexible and open to new ideas of methodologies and be able to accept constructive feedback to do this but it is a great experience.

Marianthi Arvanitidou- Greece

1canislupus22 — 2016-11-14 13:05:35 UTC

It is very interesting and useful Thank you

Julia, Portugal

2016-11-14 13:14:48 UTC

I think this model is difficult for teachers and students.

Elisabetta, SA

anicia1 — 2016-11-14 13:16:00 UTC

I think the rotation model presented in this video is quite interesting. With a colleague we are actually thinking of trying something similar with next year senior students. I will look more into it.

Vasso Lalakidou, Greece

lalakidou — 2016-11-14 13:40:00 UTC

In my school, except from the general classes there are also special education classes for the students who have special needs. Therefore, some of my students are attending both the general class and the special education class, hence they have two teachers. Last year, we had a collaboration with my collegue who teaches to the special education class introducing a blended classroom with two teachers on Edmodo environment and in the classroom too. My experience overtook my expectations thus I suggest it to everyone. We gained knowledge, we shared our teaching methods and we collaborated with our students in and out of classrooms.

Anita M.Italy

2016-11-14 13:49:51 UTC

Team-teaching is a model that in Italy is used ; its aim, till the beginning ,was the collaborative teaching and role -sharing .I found sometimes difficult and hard .Why? Because different teachers have also different view about students , methodology and values about them .First I think it's important having a common idea about pedagogical path and aims to share each other.Then to accept collegues in their own experience like a treasure .After to accept the exchanging as an opportunity to grow and develop new teachers' challenges.It's also basic that different roles between collegues are shared : sometimes being an observer , sometimes being the manager in the class , sometimes being the task expert. All roles are involved , but before we have to agree and trust.All benefits in these agreements are for students

Co-teaching is a learning experience. It depends on so many things - resources of the school, as well as the enthusiasm, willingness, and motivation of participating teachers. In my experience, it was a series of baby-steps, gaining the trust and respect of the colleagues, finding the best way to work together - so that we could both feel that we were equal partners and our teaching goals and methods were compatible - in the end it came down to what was of most benefit to the children. I feel that my teaching has benefited so much from collaboration with my colleagues.

2016-11-14 13:54:17 UTC

Elena FP, Italy

2016-11-14 14:05:17 UTC

I used to teach in Primary Schools till 10 years ago (now I teach in a Vocational School) and I know that the co-teaching approach in Italy is well developed already. There are team meetings every week and lots of crosscurricular activities were planned together. Of course there could be problems, coming from different pedagogical approaches for example, but on the whole, in my experience the results were good and each teacher could bring her/his own skills to contribute to a wider project.
I have found this approach more difficult to develop in Secondary Schools, because teachers are used to work on their own at their own subject. Gradually in my school a group of teachers have been implementing crosscurricular activities like CLIL, eTwinning, Comenius/Erasmus+ projects.

Maria Daniela Roberto

2016-11-14 14:18:04 UTC

think the teamwork between teachers, can be very useful in fosteringstudent learning, but I think the first thing is a proper sharing of ideaand one ultimate goal, heard by the whole team of teachers possiblylikewise.

Stefania Z. Rome

2016-11-14 14:22:17 UTC

I'm agree with the Valentina's experience and I 'll try to follow this model in my final lesson

Viviana, Italy

vivianasavino75 — 2016-11-14 14:30:20 UTC

I teach to pupils with special needs in Primary school, and i often work in a co-teaching scenario with another teacher who work for the ones remaining. Cooperative teaching experiences should be common in similar contexts, but i can assure that it's not so easy to find a fellow who wants to share planning lessons and professional concerns. It could rarely happen.

Grazia Paladino, Italy

graziampl — 2016-11-14 14:40:48 UTC

I am always very interesting collaborative activities carried out by teachers of lower grades (kindergarten and K1-K5). Unfortunately in secondary school habit of collaboration between teachers is lost (at least in 'Italian experience). The teaching rotation method by Valentina is very interesting and it would be nice if we could also try in Italy in middle grade. Maybe it would need a little courage both teachers and principals too

Carmen Carella, Italy

carmencarella — 2016-11-14 14:49:37 UTC

Here in Italy, the model of more than one teacher working together at the Primary School is actually implemented. Primary teachers work a lot together, especially in planning and re-planning, which happens once a week I think, so they have more opportunities to work together.
As a secondary-school teacher, I can say this approach does not exist, except for a few project some teachers can carry out from time to time, like for example teaching a few science principles in the English language, that I did a few years ago. Still, we couldn’t work together because everyone teaches in separate classes and times, so apart sharing and planning together, it was not a real collaborative project.
I understand what Valentina Marinova means by really working together, because they not only planned the work but they actually carried out the activities together for their pupils, and probably this was felt by the pupils.
According to me we think that the more you teach older students, the more teachers feel they are teaching very important subjects, full of details and rules, so the more you get into the details the more it’s difficult to share your subject to other and work with others. This can only be done from time to time in common projects, otherwise, where do you find space and time to teach what has to be taught? Our curricula are very static, that is the problem

Dorota Sobierańska, Poland

ds_sobieranscy — 2016-11-14 15:01:38 UTC

From time to time I manage workshops together with the co-coach. It's a great experience, but it is not always easy to work in this way. We often have a different look about methodology. Therefore, it is important to share ideas about pedagogical path and aims. A good team can not be created with each teacher. But on the other hand, when I teach without co-coach, I give tasks and coordinate the work, then it is difficult to observe the students. Personally, I am for cooperation.

Cristina Fuertes, Spain

2016-11-14 15:03:01 UTC

I think "co-teaching rotation" is a good model of teaching but sometimes is not easy to manage it in a secondary school. For example, in my case I teach music and I am alone in the school as a music teacher, so it is difficult to try to implement this kind of methodology

Cristina, Romania

cristinapeicuti — 2016-11-14 15:07:26 UTC

I use sometime ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina, it is very intersting.

Nils, Germany

2016-11-14 16:10:12 UTC

It's an interesting model and it's worth giving a try.

Ester Degennaro,Italy

esterdegennaro — 2016-11-14 16:19:32 UTC

The co-teaching rotation collaboration model is a very interesting approach because it allows an effective sharing of teamwork. It's a true teaching collaboration.
Another very interesting aspect is older pupils taking the teacher’s role encourage pupils of different ages to work together . I'm running an eTwinning project with one class but I realized that older students' of other class can support the team working all together for a final goal supporting each other .Collaboration is essential for teachers and for students too.

Marilena, Greece

becsa1 — 2016-11-14 16:23:27 UTC

I work in secondary education in Greece, and there is no such thing as a co-teaching rotation model. Teacher collaboration can sometimes be found in after school-hours projects, but not always, as these kinds of projects can be implemented by only one teacher as well.

Angeliki Kougiourouki, Greece

akougiou — 2016-11-14 16:26:15 UTC

I think “co-teaching rotation” model is an interesting and challenging way of teaching and in order to be successful, teachers should always be open minded, ready to share their thoughts, to collaborate and offer support. As I work in an experimental school this year we decided to implement to co-teaching rotation model for the first time in two classes with two teachers in each class and we are waiting to see how it works. I have to mention also that the last two years I have the chance to co-teach with students from the Pedagogical department of the local University who are making their training. It is an interesting experience, because we have to collaborate on the topics we are going to present and of course during the lesson to give the best of our selves. I have to say that it is also a good chance for professional development for both of us.

Maria, Italia

mariagranatiero — 2016-11-14 16:32:15 UTC

very interesting this method

Helen, Belgium

2016-11-14 16:37:03 UTC

The collaboration model discussed is really interesting and would be interesting to try if you were lucky enough to be able to work alongside a teacher in this way. One of my biggest challenges is having time to connect and collaborate effectively with my colleagues. I plan and work closely with another teacher but there is no collaboration time built into our working week. All our collaboration is done outside school hours or during short conversations during the school week. It works for us because we have worked together for long enough to understand each other quickly and to embrace each others' ideas and suggestions. We are constantly popping into each others' classrooms so we see what is going on and how activities are going in another class. I also have support teachers in my classroom every day but the are there in a supporting role, rather than to teach concepts. I have very little time to discuss lessons with them. Collaboration between colleagues can be INCREDIBLY valuable but ideally should be built into the working week.

Ana, Portugal

anasalonso — 2016-11-14 17:00:41 UTC

I certainly agree that the teachers need to bring their best skills and practices to their group and also be able to adapt them in case of other suggestions. That will lead to better ways of working. In concerning of this model I consider this very interesting but I work in secondary education and there is no such thing as a co-teaching rotation model.

Angelo, Rivoli, Italy

Angelo — 2016-11-14 17:02:54 UTC

I agree with everything Valentina says. As a high school teacher, however, I must say that I cannot put it into practice for 2 reasons: 1) the diversity of subjects that each teacher teaches; 2) working hours, because finished the lesson in a class, I have to go to another. Simultaneous presence is not possible simply because the Italian Ministry does not provide the possibility to pay two teachers of the same subject for the same class.
Outside the classroom, I always try to collaborate with colleagues if there is interest and availability. However, I've never had the experience of constructive criticisms of other teachers apart from the EUN MOOCs!

Carmen Rodríguez, UK

c_rodvix — 2016-11-14 17:03:34 UTC

I think the co-teaching rotation method could be very interesting and helpful to pick up ideas, share challenges and even motivate pupils. Unfortunately, in the two schools I work, I am the only Spanish teacher so I think this method is not going to happen in my lessons :-(

In one of my schools teachers with a common subject or goal, have the chance to 'shadow' other colleagues, share good practice and observe their lessons. Obviously, this is very enriching as long as you have the chance to do it.

In my case, I don´t have the chance to connect and collaborate effectively with other colleagues so for this reason collaborative platforms such as eTwinning, the European school academy, courses like this or even groups online (for example twitter) are helping me a lot to learn, share ideas and collaborate with other colleagues. Thanks very much for this opportunity!

Cinzia Centrone

centrone_cinzia — 2016-11-14 17:19:13 UTC

I find the experience of co-teaching rotation very interesting. I agree with Valentina. If we want collaborative teaching we must find time to connect with colleagues, remain open, share thoughts, and be ready to provide support. Unfortunately in my school this method is very hard to put into practise. Many colleagues aren't willing to change their traditional method and don't accept new ideas.

Despoina Amarantidou, Greece

damarant — 2016-11-14 17:23:30 UTC

I think that Valentina presented interesting activities to us. Collaboration promotes acceptance and respect. Moreover, we should be open to criticism because in this way we can improve ourselves.

Alessandra M., Italy

prof_alemurgia — 2016-11-14 17:46:48 UTC

In Italy, co-teaching is not considered, apart from CLIL projects in secondary schools. An option could be joining two different classes and working together on the same project.

Tamar Chalakheshashvili Georgia

tamarigia — 2016-11-14 17:52:15 UTC

This is an interesting video. Teachers always have to be ready for criticism. Timely criticism and feedback needed for effective teaching, professional development

Marija, Croatia

2016-11-14 17:56:48 UTC

Well, now I see that I have stated the same question for professor Butler's tomorrow Q&A Session. About other colleagues' indifference and convincing them of benefits of collaborative teaching. I will be very happy to hear others experiences and advice about this issue. I am a fresh teacher and sometimes my effort to implement some new ideas to classical, traditionalist teaching seems like Don Quixote's windmills.

Rossella, Italy

2016-11-14 18:04:56 UTC

I believe that Valentina has proposed collaborative altemente and interesting activities that promote respect three members of the working group and develop critical thinking.

Arlindo Pereira, Portugal

2016-11-14 18:19:29 UTC

I find the experience of ‘co-teaching rotation’ interesting. Usually, I teach natural sciences to students between 12 and 15 years old and five years ago I had one similar experience whith my colleague of physicochemistry. Happened only in one class but the experience was very interesting, motivating and constructive, for the students and for the two of us. I agree about the importance of best skills and practices to the team, remaining flexible to adapt them.

Stavroula Lada, Greece

pde4424 — 2016-11-14 18:49:39 UTC

The co-teaching rotation collaboration mentioned by Valentina is a great way of teaching and of teaching collaboration. The two teachers act as a role model to the students, who learn how to collaborate in practice. I have some experience on that because in my school sometimes a week we co-teach. Actually, there is a teacher who helps students with learning difficulties. This way, all students watch the collaboration between me and my colleague, the way we talk to each other, how she helps me and how I lean on her. The result is that the students feel the safety of a collaborative environment and an exemplary teaching. I am also for constructive criticism of other teachers. Unfortunately, not all teachers collaborate, not all teachers really love what they do. When I find collaborative colleagues, I learn from them and I try to share everything I can with them. As for the rest, they may find some day the magic in teaching.

Fátima, Portugal

fffcaeiro — 2016-11-14 19:01:16 UTC

More and more collaborative work must be considered as an added value in the teaching-learning process to the teachers and, of course, to the students.

It is not always easy to do it because the schedules of the teachers do not coincide and because the specificity of the subjects sometimes requires more directive methodologies.

I think that co-teaching method of work is very interesting and helpful to pick up ideas, share challenges and motivate students. Anyway, as I’m the only teacher of Portuguese language in my school, the other colleagues are in another school of the group, we share materials, ideas, some check-lists of assessment, but not rotation in different classes because it is not easy at all.

Anyway, we also try some different collaborative strategies according to the tasks we implement and the students develop collaboratively in class or extra class. In these cases, the students' interest and dynamism are more evident!

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Belgin Saka, Turkey

belgins — 2016-11-14 19:12:56 UTC

In my school I have been implementing crosscurricular activities like eTwinning, Erasmus+ projects.

Natalija, Serbia

dikovicnatalija — 2016-11-14 20:06:11 UTC

My colleagues and I often organize joint classes where students acquire comprehensive knowledge about a topic, which is processed in several subjects.

Andrea Ullrich, Germany

MrsU — 2016-11-14 20:11:26 UTC

I sometimes have some colleagues help me with activities for my eTwinning projects, but that is more cooperation than collaboration. When I visited my eTwinning partner in Finland for a short job shadowing some weeks ago we did some real collaborative teaching. We planned and implemented some project activities into our lessons, so I wasn't just a shadow ;) It was a truly great experience.

Annamaria Egido, Italy

2016-11-14 20:44:46 UTC

I think the ' co-teaching rotation ' collaboration model mentioned by Valentina is very interesting. I agree with everything Valentina says.

Sarah Mallia, Malta

sarahborg85 — 2016-11-14 20:44:47 UTC

I have been involved in 'co-teaching rotation' and the kids loved it also. I also enjoyed it as I had to take care of one workshop and could concentrate and prepare more for one workshop instead of 4 different ones. I could also improve my performance from one workshop to another. The kids also enjoyed it as they participated in 4 different workshops. I also think that it was a great exercise as the teachers prepared something which they feel comfortable in and together we made a great team. obviously we had to collaborate before the workshops and after also for the evaluation.

Els Teerlinck Belgium

els_teerlinck — 2016-11-14 20:49:38 UTC

There is nothing I would like to do more than this. The problem is however that if we do this, we won't have 24 but at least 40 children in one classroom and this may be to much. You also need to find the right person to collaborate with and I would need a big classroom in wich there can sit 40 students or more...

Conceição Varela / Portugal

conceicao_varela — 2016-11-14 21:33:15 UTC

In my current school we're just starting to implement teacher collaboration in the class room so we still don't have much experience with it. However, I strongly agree with Valentina's final remark: successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support. Without this spirit it'd be much more difficult to achieve a good collaboration in the classroom.

Carla Diogo, Portugal

2016-11-14 21:53:53 UTC

I do not have doubts that "co-teaching rotation" would be marvellous to all the stakeholders. It would be profitable both for students and teachers and I would like to take part in a project like this. But, I am a teacher in a secondary professional school in Portugal. It will take much time to have this developed in my country...unfortuantely....

Angelamaria Galderisi, Italy

soleemare_a — 2016-11-14 22:03:19 UTC

I think the ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina is really interesting. I have experience of a similar approach in vocational and technical secondary schools. In this kind of schools teachers often experience a “co-teaching rotation” during classes in which there are both the theorical teacher and the practical teacher. Teachers learn to be flexible to adapt them in case others suggest better ways of working. I have directly experienced the benefits of team working because it provides mutual support and assistance for planning and implementing lessons. Moreover, sharing professional concerns and the constructive criticisms of other teachers helped me to better my teaching practice and to increase my self esteem.

Ana Pinheiro, Portugal

air_pinheiro — 2016-11-14 23:07:42 UTC

At this time, I have no doubts about the benefits and advantages of collaborative learning. However, I miss the more concrete examples given, the planning of the lessons given as examples, as well as the evaluation tools developed.To convince our colleagues, we must show the evidence of a collaborative activity. But the change in the attitude of the teacher, will not be from one day to the next.

Alex_PT

teacheralex_dua — 2016-11-14 23:34:34 UTC

My reality is completely different. I teach EFL to older students / secondary level and co-teaching rotation has never been on the desk. However, just like our Bulgarian colleague, my experiences with collaborative work have started and blossomed with eTwinning :)

My concerns, though are exactly the same as those voiced by Valentina: - how to convince some colleagues of the importance of teacher collaboration when all is simply sent / shared by email or via dropbox? How to set examples for the students when even teachers have difficulties in working collaboratively? How to find the (common) time needed for collaboration? From my own experience it’s not easy to introduce different methodologies and assessment rubrics when you’re the only one doing it, even though you’re sure of what you’re doing…

Maria Natália Couto, Portugal

2016-11-14 23:50:00 UTC

I tried team teaching some years ago. It was a rewarding experience, but concerning practical organisation, it turned out to be really difficult to find a schedule to prepare classes together, as in Portugal we have many classes. Some students enjoyed the experience, some others hated it.

Petra, USA

2016-11-15 04:00:52 UTC

The ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration approach sounds interesting, but I have no experience of this model. I agree that teachers need to bring their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adept to better ways of working. As long as criticism is constructive, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be beneficial. It can improve your teaching practice.

Lidia, Romania

lidiaristea2004 — 2016-11-15 07:57:43 UTC

Teaching methods can be adapted depending on the level of each class,if the school has the resources, in collaboration with other teachers for a fair sharing of knowledge.

Helly, Vienna

h_swaton — 2016-11-15 08:42:52 UTC

I practised co- teaching rotation in my German lessons with my colleague for many years. We often switched our roles- and the pupils loved it. Sometimes other colleagues visited our lessons- some of them liked it but some teachers told us that they didn’t like to leave their “leading role” in the class room.

Tihana, Croatia.

t_svoren_kolarec — 2016-11-15 09:51:58 UTC

Collaboration between teachers is very important. In my school there are teachers who co-operate often and student love it and learn better. Unfortunately there are still some teachers who don't like co-operation. I am always full of ideas for co-operation because my subject has topics from almost all other subjects (I teach English as a foreign language).

SIdonia, Romania

sidogeocris — 2016-11-15 10:08:28 UTC

I think collaboration between teachers is constructive .It would be profitable both for students and teachers and I would like to take part in a project like this.

Cinzia F., Italy

nicomd — 2016-11-15 11:15:52 UTC

I believe in the importance of sharing best practices among collegues because in that way we can share professional skills and grow in them, we remain open to accept advice from collegues, we can provide or have support in problem solving .

Valerica-Romania

dvaly2010 — 2016-11-15 11:36:36 UTC

In Romania we use collaboration in teaching during projects or activities where we share our experiences.

David Doherty Co. Donegal Ireland Module 4

2016-11-15 11:51:04 UTC

I absolutely concur with the final sentiments of Valentina in her video. I am part of an 8 teacher collaboration initiative in our school and although we have been working for a year together, sharing best practice and assessing our teaching through video analysis it is proving to be a really hard job getting others involved. I like her statement that " Collaboration is not always a concept that is greeted with open arms. Educators who have had success working in isolation may view this process as an invasion of their pedagogy and a waste of time."

Maria Panou/ Kalymnos, Greece

maria_themelis — 2016-11-15 12:09:17 UTC

I agree that collaboration among teachers and students brings new ways of learning.

Mimma, Italy

mimma_gioia — 2016-11-15 12:21:57 UTC

Collaboration between teachers is very important. Teachers can learn new pedagogical techniques. Working in teams allows more opportunities for students. I think the co- teaching rotation collaboration model is really interesting. Teachers learn to be flexible, to share thoughts and to connect with colleagues.

Simona, the Czech Republic

simonabrothankova — 2016-11-15 12:44:40 UTC

I have only a very negative experience. I have taught two lessons with a collegue who made fun of me during both the lessons. I assume it is exceptional and other colleagues would not do it. I would not do it myself.
I believe it is useful to adopt new methods and get feedback, which is why I am taking part in this course. I must admit that preparation is time-consuming and if you cooperate with a weak collegue, you must even correct their mistakes or confusing statements, which would be embarrasing for your colleague as much as for me.

Elisabete Carvalho, Olga Seabra, Paula Cavadas, Paula Usha_Portugal

2016-11-15 13:08:43 UTC

Alentina Marinova, who teaches children between the ages of 7 and 11 years old at Vasil Levski secondary school in Bulgaria, presents us in this video, the teaching experience she applies ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model. Without a doubt, it is a model in which teamwork leads to an expertise of skills and focus on teaching for all. We also found the idea of role rotation among older students very interesting. It has been an experience that we have also done in our schools and that has led to very positive results regarding both the development of autonomy and the management of conflicts between students.

As for this ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model it seems to us, as it seemed to Valentina Marinova, that can originate some problems when designing and coordinating the works. Once again the key note endured that it is important to motivate teachers to be open to change, to adapt to new technologies and to work according to this model. Perhaps a way to do it may be the diffusion of the results of experiments of this model in other school. It looks as if motivating students has been easier.

Nehir ÇABUKER

nehircabuker — 2016-11-15 13:20:59 UTC

I m a high school teacher so I couldn t imagine how much difficult to make collaborative studies in primary school.

Mirjana Jovanovic, Serbia

mirjana_jovanovic_ns — 2016-11-15 14:04:44 UTC

In my opinion, teacher collaboration, if it is well established, enables teachers to share ideas, compare teaching methods, share responsibilities, so everyone takes benefit - both students and teachers themselves. Unfortunately, it sometimes occurs that collaboration turns into kind of "one teacher works, while the other one use benefits from his/her work". According to my experience, first teacher have to learn what collaboration really means.

Katarzyna Kwiatek-Grabarska, Zabrze

2016-11-15 14:28:39 UTC

Interoperability - a wonderful idea, of which I dream. Sorry, I have students aged 13 to 19 years. I meet with them 1 time a week for 45 minutes. At the same time there are in the class of 25 students. I talk about cooperation. It is to realize the material - because that is the system. I also work on many international projects - they give me satisfaction just because there is a possibility of cooperation. Two, three people cooperate and mutually reinforcing. I wish the school system has changed enough that we finally are able to become teachers - guides and not just teachers, leading the knowledge.

Elisabete Carvalho, Olga Seabra, Paula Cavadas, Paula Usha_Portugal

2016-11-15 14:31:43 UTC

Maria and Anna, Italy

mariadecarlo — 2016-11-15 14:56:56 UTC

Thanks Valentina for your experience. We share the importance of collaborating between teachers for our professional growing and also to support...
It's true! It's difficult to collaborate with colleagues ... but we started to exchange experiences, to share difficulties and new teaching practices ... also sharing the CO-LAB experience.

emma giurlani, Italy

2016-11-15 14:57:02 UTC

Very interesting video and really involving thoughts! I have experienced the same need for innovation and we tried, my eTwinning partners and me, to innovate the traditional model used by our school systems . I totally agree withValentina Marinova. What she says for primary school and kindergarten applies also for secondary school:Teacher can profit a lot from collaboration, not only students. Since I found out of eTwinning and I discovered a new and motivating way to collaborate not only for my students but also for me , my professional life has changed a lot. Of course there is a deep need for coordination, flexibility and adaptability to new methodologies and willingness to adopt multiple instructional approaches. I totally agree with Valentina when she says that a "successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support” : I have been experiencing since over 8 years many of these aspects and above all a stage of togetherness through eTwinning, the biggest collaborative community among teachers in Europe.

Anna and Maria, Italy

annagrignetti — 2016-11-15 14:57:07 UTC

Thanks Valentina for your experience!
We share the importance of collaborating beetween  teachers for our  professional Growing and also to support us. It's true! It's difficult to collaborate with the collegues..but we Started to exchange experiences, to share difficulties and new teaching practices ...also  sharing the CO-LAB experience.

Jesus Leão, Portugal

2016-11-15 15:11:31 UTC

As I understand it, the "co-teaching rotation" collaboration model is similar to the "coadjuvation" model we implement in our first cycle schools. In the first two years, twice a week, there are two teachers to teach Portuguese in order to differentiate strategies and approaches, promote individualized monitoring and reinforce reading and writing learning. The same occurs in the ICT discipline in the two final years of the cycle and in the discipline of artistic and physical-motor expressions of all years of schooling.

For this to work, it is imperative that teachers collaborate effectively, which requires involvement and cooperative work, from planning and evaluation to preparing materials and creating assessment tools, which is not always the case.

I totally agree with Valentina when she says that "successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support."

João Sá, Portugal

joaosa — 2016-11-15 15:14:20 UTC

Co-teaching is a great strategy. Unfortunately, due to education system rules and teacher allocations it is rarely possible. Nevertheless, I have occasionally experienced similiar strategies. Due to a partnership with a university, we integrate workshops in some lessons, promoted with the collaboration of university students, which are planned together. I observe that motivation and commitment of everybody is higher in this scenarios.

Serena Visai, Italy

2016-11-15 15:53:41 UTC

I think collaboration and co-teaching is stronger in elementary school than Middle school. I teach 10-13 year-old students and it is difficult to work with teacher of different subjects , but I’m trying to involve my geography colleague and share ideas to work together.

Maria Stalia, Greece

mastalia — 2016-11-15 15:58:37 UTC

Although I have collaborated with colleague teachers in different interdisciplinary projects in my school, i admit I have never tried co-teaching but from what I have seen and heard from Valentina it seems worth a try!

Teresa Pires, Portugal

2016-11-15 16:48:52 UTC

As I read about Valentina's experience, I liked the kind of approach she showed. I live this kind of reality currently in the discipline of Portuguese, 4 hours a week.
This form of pedagogy brings teachers closer together, facilitates work, allows them to diversify strategies and to profit from shared time.

Richard, Brussels

2016-11-15 16:58:40 UTC

The model explained by Valentina sounds very positive: the teachers appear to work closely together and this benefits the teaching and learning in the class. Moreover, it results in a better experience for the children. I have co-taught with a colleague and it was a very positive experience, and I will do it again. It allows for the teachers and children to bounce many more ideas around the class and allows for a much richer teaching and learning experience. It does depend upon the colleagues however, and how happy they are to collaborate with one another. Constructive criticism is always welcome as it encourages us to reflect upon and improve our practice.

Clara Abegão, Portugal

acjesus — 2016-11-15 17:13:33 UTC

I believe co-teaching is a model that can play a very important role in a teacher professional growth. It is necessary to rely on the first barriers, where the second teacher may have some difficulty in "subjecting himself" to the methods and ideas of other colleague, to have some fear about the way in which he is received by the students of the class and especially by the teacher, once that not everyone readily accepts having another colleague in the classroom.

Once the first barriers are overcome, the main goal is clear: to help as many students as possible in the classroom, so that they don´t demotivate due to the accumulation of doubts. Students feel that two teachers can help them in a much more effective way and value this support.

In my school we have this model in contents subject to national exams and in which the failure rate is higher.

Clara Abegão

acjesus — 2016-11-15 17:13:40 UTC

Paulo Martins_Portugal

2016-11-15 17:49:53 UTC

I think that we have 19th century classrooms, we are teachers from the 20th century and we are teaching kids from the 21st century so we have to improve, to adapt to a new reality and to provide our students new approaches in the way of teaching so that they can be well prepared for this new world. The ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina it is not an interesting approach. I am experiencing collaborative teaching with a trainee teacher from Greece and so far it has been a great experience.In my case I don’t have any issues by working with other teachers. I am always open to new ideas, new approaches, new methods.

José María Díaz, Spain

josemaria_diazfuentes — 2016-11-15 18:15:54 UTC

It is fortunate to be able to work under such conditions. In my school we have only one teacher per classroom (25-30 students). However, we can share ideas and working methods if several teachers work from our areas in a similar way

Sofia, Portugal

sofia_bailo — 2016-11-15 18:18:57 UTC

I think teacher collaboration is essential nowadays. We have a lot to learn from each other. It's a shame we don't have enough time to meet and share different points of view, new ideas, new approaches. Bureaucracy takes away most of our time here in Portugal.

Helena Louzeiro, Portugal

helenalouzeiro — 2016-11-15 18:30:39 UTC

The co-teaching rotation model seems very interesting, because the teachers can help the pupils and each other. I think that this kind of work in the beginning is not very easy and needs to be very well planed.
I have only worked in co-teaching one or two years, one hour per week, and it was very good because I have learned new techniques of plastic expression and my colleague also learned with me.
We done a good job together

Nicola S. - Italy

spotonicola — 2016-11-15 18:32:24 UTC

Collaboration is always a good thing and it would be very useful to have a colleague with you in class. But it's not so easy to have the possibility of co-teaching in Italy, especially in Secondary schools where usually there is only one teacher in class per hour. So I can't use this kind of approach. On the other hand I do believe that a flexible attitude towards other colleagues' tips is a key point in education. I usually share ideas and experiences with some colleague of mine in non formal moments, when we take a coffee together, for example. This moments are always inspiring.

Emiliana, Italy

emiliana_rufo — 2016-11-15 18:49:19 UTC

I think collaboration is a very important tool, but it is not so easy to collaborate with colleagues at Secondary School. In Italy teachers haven't the chance to stay in class with other colleagues, so only if timetable is set in a certain way from the beginning of the year, teachers of same subjects can work to projects with "open classes". I did e-twinning projects this way.

Lucrezia Di Molfetta Italy

edimol — 2016-11-15 18:58:52 UTC

Teacher collaboration is very important. I always work on eTwinning project at my school and I've created a team of teachers of different subjects who work with me on cross curricular themes. It's a great experience.

Jasna Šojer/Croatia

jasna_sojer — 2016-11-15 19:12:50 UTC

In my experience teacher collaboration is very important not only on a school level than European one. My first contact with etwinning was Portugal teacher who taught me everything to start using twinspace. Also from the etwinning colleagues I've learnt a lot as well as I share my knowledge with them.

Giuseppe/Italy

profgcorsaro — 2016-11-15 19:36:00 UTC

It's very difficult for secondary italian school to collaborate with others collegues.

In Italy only primary school teachers have the chance to stay in class with other colleagues.

Iolanda Moya

2016-11-15 19:58:16 UTC

Teacher collaboration is very important and I try to work with my colleagues in some activities. But it is not easy. In my school there is only one teacher per classroom. When the teachers have another teacher in the class he/she works as a support and not as in a collaborative way. it is a pity but sometimes classrooms seem crystal bubbles in which every teacher does her/his job individually. We need to improve a lot in this way

Catarina Rodrigues, Portugal

canrodrigues — 2016-11-15 20:48:05 UTC

"Co-teaching-rotation" is something we must experiment. However, this is not easy to implement in our school system. If we could have 2 teachers working in the same class at the same time, that would be great! In what concerns criticisms of other teachers, I think we must open our mind and don't give up.

Anna La Montagna

2016-11-15 21:06:18 UTC

The video shows a model of collaboration between teachers which was a positive experience.
In Italy it has only been made in primary school before it is returned to the single teacher and it is present in the kindergarten which is not required as a school. In both lower and upper secondary school unfortunately it never planned the simultaneous presence of two or more teachers in the same class. Only if you are lucky and you are part of a class council where teachers are highly motivated to participate in projects such as eTwinning or even to national projects you can create a very efficient team that shares common goals and this also contributes to raising the quality of education.

Camelia Sanda Popa, Romania

2016-11-15 21:13:14 UTC

I teach math in a school with a relatively small number of students (about 300). The big advantage is that we all learn from 8 to 14 o'clock, from preparatory class to eighth grade, which promotes collaboration between teachers, both vertically and horizontally , meaninggymnasium--gymnasium but also preparatory- primary-gymnasium.We collaborate both, in school activities and in extracurricular activities where many times we involve parents. So I can say that collaboration between teachers is the benefit of both, the student and the teacher.

Filipe Mira, Portugal

filipe_mira — 2016-11-15 21:20:18 UTC

The co-teaching rotation model presented in the video is quite interesting. I may consider that I have had an identical experience with a colleague of T.I.C (IT). I think it's motivating for teachers and students. I agree that with the spirit of mutual aid between teachers, sharing their ideas

Marta, Portugal

istruka — 2016-11-15 22:04:48 UTC

I've experienced the co-teaching approach but with adult students. It worked very well. I've never tried with children. But I like the idea of sharing a class with another teacher. This situation benefits the children, who will have a more personalised teaching. They will also have a stronger behaviour control. And the fact that there is a rotation in the roles of the teachers is great because different teachers have different approaches to the same subject and the students will only benefit from that.

CÁTIA SANTOS PORTUGAL

badkat187 — 2016-11-15 23:16:59 UTC

I did not know the "Co-teaching rotation" collaboration model and I have no experience about it, but I think it's a very interesting and motivating approach.
I agree with Valentina, I believe that sharing enriches activities and teaching models, but sometimes it is difficult because not all teachers are available to share and give their time out of school to work in collaboration, and change their teaching methods

João Reigado, Portugal

2016-11-15 23:40:27 UTC

I didn’t have experience on this kind of co-teaching rotation approach, but I had beneficial experiences with team teaching in music classes, particularly at the pre-school level. As teachers, we all win if we are open to new ideas and methodologies and flexible enough to re-adapt our experience, integrating new skills learned from the experience of colleagues. From the perspective of the students, they also win with co-teaching approaches. On one hand, they benefit from complementary guidance strategies for learning; on the other hand, they find first-hand that erring, correcting and altering are all part of learning process, even in adults. In my opinion, a dedicated teacher is someone who is willing to learn forever.

Vanesa, Croatia

2016-11-16 07:04:46 UTC

I have no experience with co-teaching rotation approach, but it sounds interesting and I would like to try it.
I agree that we have to share our ideas and in our school teachers often talk about the new ways of their teaching and positive and negative sides of it.

Arnaud Perrier, France

2016-11-16 07:16:23 UTC

Co-teaching seems to be very effective. But it's not easy when there's just a teacher per classroom. That's how it work in our primary school. Even if we can exchange teachers sometimes to try. It worth being tested. We need to make a collaborative work between teacher teams. It's sometime hard because all teachers don't have same methods, don't want to use new technologies or don't have the same vision you have.

Kateryna Kramnychna, Ukraine

rocksy_12 — 2016-11-16 07:43:07 UTC

I agree teachers should collaborate. As for my experience, it is easier and funnier to work together with colleagues. I have 2 like-minded collegues (they also teach in 4 grade). And we collaborate to provide more interesting lessons for our pupils. And teacher collaboration really works)

Catia, Sweden

katyfpr — 2016-11-16 09:01:48 UTC

I did not know about co-teaching rotation. It seems to be interesting although I think that we will have the same problem of having just one teacher for a huge group. In this case the teacher can't give de individual support as if it was 2 teachers in the classroom. The co-teaching rotation it might work better if the class was smaller.
I agree with Valentina about the challenges for a good collaboration among teachers. Sometimes is difficult to find time for teachers to sit together and work together, due to all the bureaucratic work, it might help if administration organise in the school year programme time for this. If teachers do not have time to spend together it will be a big gap for collaboration.
I also agree with Valentina when she states that collaboration is a very wonderful teacher tool.

Ana Franco, Barcelos, Portugal

ana_lufranco — 2016-11-16 09:08:30 UTC

I find this process interesting but difficult to implement if teachers are not motivated. We see that there are formatted teachers, with the same materials and methodologies as they teach, do not adapt to new realities and are always in their comfort zone, even if it involves dealing with the indiscipline and failure of their students. The most similar experience I had with co-teaching rotation was during the pedagogy stage. It was an excellent experience. There would have to be a great paradigm shift for this concept to be well implemented.

Paola Arduini, Italy

paolarduini — 2016-11-16 09:55:43 UTC

I find this contribution very interesting . I like the idea that teachers follow pupils, observing their needs and feelings, basing in this way the school activity on students and not on contents or subject curriculum. In my experience, as a primary teacher in the Italian model of " Tempo Pieno" I could apply fully the model here called " Rotation". In our schools, each class has two teachers who work in the mornings or in the afternoons, exchanging days and each one is in charge to develop a group of subjects. When the pair works teachers cooperate constantly and the teaching is mostly project based , with a strong interdisciplinary / competences based approach. I also underline that in primary schools in Italy there are two hours a week in the afternoons to plan with teaching team the work.
As often happens, this effective model of school, is going to be destroyed under the cuts done for savings reasons. So in many schools school authorities are not giving the needed numbers of teachers to cover the need of Tempo Pieno model

Cristina Paliotes, Portugal

2016-11-16 10:04:16 UTC

The 'co-teaching rotation' model is quite interesting, it's a different way of teaching and collaborating. I fully agree with the message that Valentina conveys when she says that collaboration is a wonderful teaching tool. In my school, we are working in this direction, especially between teachers who teach the same year of schooling and the teachers who support these classes. This collaboration actually makes our work easier, richer because we exchange experiences and through them we can learn other ways of teaching, but it involves a lot of work and many hours of planning, but they become very enriching and have a way Contributed to the success of students in different classes.

Hülya, TURKEY

hulyaos31 — 2016-11-16 10:18:25 UTC

The co-teaching rotation is a great method. I love it. However, we have to accept the move away from traditional teaching methods. Sometimes our collegaues are resisting it. I thought that the traditional teachers will be the final generations of this era.

Gaia, Italy

gaialombardi69 — 2016-11-16 11:09:05 UTC

I find this method very interesting. it's completely different way of teaching and collaborating amongst the teachers and in the whole school. A kind of "revolution" of the roles and the methodology.
The pupils and their needs are really at the center of the learning- teaching process.
Obviuosly, teachers must be very motivated and involved: this kind of activity requires a lot of preparatory research, an excellent planning, and the attitude to use non traditional methods and to share ideas and materials.
The Italian primary school organized in the "tempo pieno" offered the opportunity to experiment a work like this.

Lívia, PT

liviasor — 2016-11-16 11:42:08 UTC

This is new to me, and it is also very interesting. It's definitely something I would like to try! Even though, I know it would be difficult in my school. I loved the idea of getting older students to go to your younger students' class and collaborate with them. That is something possible to do. Teachers need more than time, openness and support. Right now we need motivation. These courses can change perspectives and motivate as well. Let's try to move forward in the process of collaboration.

Paula Gomes- Portugal

2016-11-16 12:25:05 UTC

I find this contribution very interesting, but difficult to implement if teachers are not motivated.
We have a lot to learn from each other. It's a shame we don't have enough time to meet and share different points of view, new ideas, new approaches. Bureaucracy takes away most of our time here in Portugal.

Emilia/Romania

Emilia_T22 — 2016-11-16 13:37:08 UTC

I consider it to be a good and fruitful method.I have experimented it in my school.Because of lack of time, busy curricula, lack of motivation it is not always possible to implement this type of collaboration. I think a teacher assistant, a collaborator can help if the class is bigger in number.

Heidi Belgium

heidischrijversterbeuke — 2016-11-16 13:37:34 UTC

I agree with Paula from Portugal. It is very intresting but so hard to implement if not all teachers are motivated. at our school we have each 1 or 2 hours of co-teaching. But this is not helping on projects, it is just helping students individually. . We have a few teachers who are motivated to do collaboration projects. I think first we need to get our whole team explaining the advantages of teacher collaboration. And provide some sort of trainig so that they also seem comfortable with it.

Vitalija

2016-11-16 16:15:19 UTC

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:15:31 UTC

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:15:49 UTC

Valentina

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:15:53 UTC

Valentina'

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:15:55 UTC

Valentina's ideas about co-teaching are inspiring, but I haven't experienced that yet a lot. It is wonderful and motivating to bring the best teachers' skills and practices to the team and look for better ways of working. But there are not many teachers who would like to work in a collaborative way. They try to avoid working in a team because they like working on their own, according to their own, time-tested methods. School administration also should want to implement collaboration. This year we'll start Erasmus+ project. I'm sure we'll start collaborating.

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:15:58 UTC

Valentina's ideas

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:16:04 UTC

Valentina''

Vitalija, Lithuania

2016-11-16 16:16:08 UTC

Valentina's

Astrid Hulsebosch

AstridVE — 2016-11-16 16:41:33 UTC

I already experienced co-teaching even 30 years ago in Holland. My teachers and school ambience educated me to seek always for collaboration. Nowardays I live and work not always in places where people like to collaborate for several reasons. One of them is culture...I had some very good colleagues in the past. I go on and see that other teacher are curious but often they aren't so well willed to spend more time after school.

Maria Teresa /Italy

teresarughi — 2016-11-16 17:56:10 UTC

In this interesting video, the model of "co-teaching rotation" is a practice that shoul be exported widely!.

I was pleased to know that all these teachers have changed and improved their teaching methods also through etwinning which turns out to be an excellent way to teach and learn differently. I particularly appreciated two suggestions:

pupils taking the teacher's role
pupils of different ages working together

which are a good example of learning by doing (in this specific case teaching

others).
The challenges mentioned are also in my experience: teachers spend time before and after school to coordinate their effort. Asking teachers to work extra-times is not easy. I share the crucial final question in which she asks the experts::"How might we convince colleagues about the importance of collaboration"?
and I would add : "Is it enough to show good models"?

Maria Teresa

teresarughi — 2016-11-16 17:56:30 UTC

DEBORA

debora_defina — 2016-11-16 17:57:06 UTC

DEBORA

debora_defina — 2016-11-16 17:57:13 UTC

These exp

DEBORA

debora_defina — 2016-11-16 17:57:17 UTC

These experiences improve

DEBORA

debora_defina — 2016-11-16 17:57:37 UTC

These experiences

DEBORA

debora_defina — 2016-11-16 17:57:40 UTC

These experiences improve not only teacher's performances and their professional teaching but those of students too. They can improve their skills and abilities. To have a good team between teachers improve the work projects in a classroom where pupils of different ages can

DEBORA

debora_defina — 2016-11-16 17:57:50 UTC

These experiences improve not only teacher

Mariangela, Italy

mariangela_biel — 2016-11-16 18:11:39 UTC

The model suggested by Valentina is a good one and in Italy is suitable and I think often used in Primary schools. In secondary schoosl the issue of teachers’ collaboration is more complicated. However I agree on the benefits of collaboration among teachers and also on the flexible approach because no collaboration is possible without flexibility.

I have a very positive experience of collaboration in eTwinning projects with a colleague and we have benefited a lot from this collaboration and the students, too. Unfortunately this close collaboration is only with one teacher – this approach is not common yet.

Two teacher

mfventuro — 2016-11-16 18:16:17 UTC

MFrancesca

mfventuro — 2016-11-16 18:16:17 UTC

In my last experience with primary school children of nine years, I have noticed that for a good job based on collaboration and mutual help, the presence of at least two teachers is required.
Perhaps it also depends on the origin and the social fabric of children. But often it is more difficult to work on the floor of the relationship of the content. What do you think?

Two teacher

mfventuro — 2016-11-16 18:16:28 UTC

viki doga, greece

2016-11-16 18:32:35 UTC

it is good to collaborate with teachers

viki doga, greece

2016-11-16 18:32:35 UTC

viki doga, grreece

2016-11-16 18:32:40 UTC

Merle, Estonia

merle_pahn — 2016-11-16 18:33:52 UTC

In my opinion the co- teaching rotation is very interesting and useful collaboration model. Co- teaching rotation is common on primary classes in our school. My experience involved with projects. Sometimes we visiting other collegues lessons to share skills and practices.

Jaime Martins, Portugal

joncmartins — 2016-11-16 18:55:56 UTC

I think that co-teaching rotation is a very useful and interesting collaboration model. I've never tried it. I think it is more used in primary schools. But the collaboration among teachers is also very useful and has lots of benefits, however it not very easy to implement in school. There are teachers with no open-minds to these methodologies.

Paola, Italy

2016-11-16 18:58:44 UTC

I agree with Francesca (Italy) because also in my school my colleagues teach to their class while I'm in my classroom so it's very difficult to find an hour to teach together.

Argiro Zikouli

2016-11-16 19:22:53 UTC

Could not agree more on the flexibility one must have when collaborating! It is essential!

Antonia, Nethelands

chanja — 2016-11-16 20:12:39 UTC

Thank you Valentina for sharing your experiences. You mentioned that many teacher who are used to work solely face difficulty when asked to work as a team. Working interdisciplinary together already helps to start the process of collaboration with other disciplines within a school, evolving to collaboration outside the school. Step by step.
Observing each other's lessons also helps to understand different approaches. Having an open-mind creates collaboration.

Dhurata Albania

albanianL — 2016-11-16 21:54:19 UTC

Great !

Ângela and Tânia, Portugal

taniaalves23 — 2016-11-16 22:06:10 UTC

This approach is interesting and is a positive experience because each teacher can share their knowledge and practices, valuing their work and their colleague.
We must make constructive criticisms in order to improve the work of the other.

Isabel Graça, Portugal

2016-11-16 22:58:42 UTC

In my school we have a similar situation, having two teachers working with the children; one dedicated especially to those in difficulty in learning activities. Also we are implementing a program, referred by our ministry of education as a good practice, “Programa Ancoragem” where a teacher works with a small group of students outside the class, 8h/week, helping them particularly to develop reading skills. I have the same question to ask the experts and my peers on the course, how do we convince colleagues of the importance of teacher collaboration and let go the feeling of invasion of their pedagogy and a waste of time?

Armindo Serra - Portugal

profarmindoserra — 2016-11-16 23:22:01 UTC

I‘m a teacher of arts and ICT, already somehow working collaboratively, in arts initially in my career, worked in pairs and later as an ICT teacher I worked with other teachers in the classroom. So, I can only speak well and agree with the model of collaboration "co-teaching rotation".
As a team we can go further and make learning richer not only in knowledge but also in practice, both for teachers and for students, especially.
I am of the opinion that students with this method gain and much, they will benefit from the complementary strategies of guidance in the teaching-learning process, we are all learning.
In our grouping we started to work collaboratively and learn a lot.

Isabel Nunes, Portugal

2016-11-16 23:24:40 UTC

I think the model of collaboration “co-teaching rotation’ mentioned by Valentina is quite interesting.
More and more schools are faced with the multitude of students, diversity not only in learning, but also in the form of thinking and learning, not to mention of the different cultures, values and language domains. Thus, the creation of projects becomes increasingly a pedagogical imperative.

Develop a pedagogical practice for all students is not an easy task. Involves several types of changes in the classroom work, such as the nature of the tasks proposed, the working method, and the rethinking of the role of the teacher and of the student among others.
To be effective, collaborative art requires thoughtful consideration on the part of teachers. Collaborative teachers have to spend time before and after school to coordinate their efforts; It's not always easy to make time for these tasks, but I think the motivation it takes to overcome the constraints.

Cristiana, Portugal

cristianafreire — 2016-11-16 23:50:42 UTC

I find this approach very interesting. Since last year, in the school where I work there is a discipline called "Science in Action" where two professors, one from the Natural Sciences and the other from Physical Chemistry, develop preferably practical activities. The activities to be developed are defined by the two teachers, according to the needs of the students. Pupils work collaboratively to solve the proposed tasks.

I agree with Valentina about the flexibility that is needed to work in this way; It is not always easy to give up our own ideas and convictions, especially when the results are not bad. As far as I am concerned, I believe that the end product of teamwork is always better, both between students and between teachers, so I have no difficulty accepting constructive criticism from my colleagues.

Margherita-Ital

margheritabalistreri — 2016-11-17 05:42:19 UTC

I agree with Valentina' s "co-teaching rotation approach".I t could be helpful both for learners and teachers.In my school we don't have such flexibility yet. I love sharing experiences and innovative methods through collaboration and mutual inspiration and motivation and through this course I'm learning a lot.

Elvia/Italy

2016-11-17 07:06:46 UTC

We have different primary school model and the "Full Time" ( 40 h per week)model, too.
That means: two teachers sharing subjects and class, in this way: two mornings + two afternoons + 1 day alternatively rotating . At the beginning of this school model, teachers developed the same subjects together and everyone started teaching where the colleagues had finished; now, teachers prefer to be specialized in their teaching, so they divide the subjects and each has a half of subjects to teach. They have some hours more ( about 4 per week) in which they work together to enhance the class. In my experience, this doesn't mean to be sure of enhancing collaborative working,because it always depends on the single teacher motivation.

Sandra, Portugal

sandra_alves_ — 2016-11-17 09:49:03 UTC

I think that the collaboration of teachers is something very interesting that allows the exchange of experiences and professional growth. Students can enjoy a more differentiated, more motivating and more engaging teaching.
The time needed to develop activities in collaboration with the different colleagues is one of the main difficulties, normally a teacher has several classes with 26 to 30 students. On the other hand co-teaching facilitates the relationship with so many students in the classroom.
Another great difficulty is the teachers themselves who are very accustomed to working alone in the classroom and who naturally resist change.
With a little more flexibility in the management of curricula by the school management, it is possible to begin this change.
In my school we're just starting to implement teacher collaboration in the class room.

Siobhan, Ireland

2016-11-17 11:24:21 UTC

Teachers need to collaborate to ensure students get the best possible school experience. By collaborating we learn new methods of teaching etc

Sara Gamito, Portugal

sgamito — 2016-11-17 12:31:50 UTC

The collaboration of the teachers allows the exchange of experiences and the work in sharing and the student can enjoy a more differentiated, more motivating and more involving teaching. The time required to develop the activities in collaboration with the different colleagues is one of the main difficulties, on the other hand co-teaching facilitates the relationship with so many students in the classroom. At my school we are just beginning to implement teacher collaboration in the classroom.

Costas Moschonas

2016-11-17 16:16:37 UTC

I believe that co-teaching is one method for improving skills of teachers. One can observe the other and reflect about his/her own methods of teaching

Ljiljana Lez-Drnjevic, Croatia

2016-11-17 17:06:36 UTC

Collaboration between teachers is a great way to improve our methods and skills.

Carlos Silva, Portugal

2016-11-17 17:06:51 UTC

I never have done co-teaching but, more than that, I think the collaboration between teachers is really important and necessary. Close to me, i find lot of teachers using only traditional model teaching, and usually are not much open to change it. The collaborative work that I can see is only about the instruments of evaluation. I don´t see teachers integrating Project Activities in their lessons. The first step is change the way of thinking of the teachers and show them different and successful new models of teaching. I think we should change, students need it.

Paola, Italy

paola_biondi19 — 2016-11-17 17:46:09 UTC

In secondary school, in Italy, I have witnessed a general sense that teachers, when it comes to their performance in the classroom, tend to stick to themselves. This could be because of self-consciousness or embarrassment, but the attitude of professional privacy is not conducive to professional development. In Italy it is not a practice, but I would love I would be lucky to have a mentor in my school that know what teaching is all about. I would do to get the most out of my formal and informal collaborations with other teachers:

build relationships,
observe,
ask questions,
share,
come prepared.

Sabrina Petrillo, ITALY

2016-11-17 18:16:23 UTC

While in my country “La Buona Scuola” continues to implement public education reform with experiences of scaffolding activities (“potenziamento”) held by a teacher who further supports students, I must say that in High Technical Schools we have had this kind of co-teaching as well as co-evaluating for a long time. Secondary School Laboratory Assistants have been working together with subject teachers of ICT in order to improve students’ practical skills. Since I teach ESL I would like to have such a chance but the Italian school system does not provide either co-teaching or a ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model.

Carla Mansilha - Portugal

cmansilha — 2016-11-17 18:21:27 UTC

In the last school year I participated in an eTwinning project with 2 more teachers. The experience was really positive and i'm look forward to being able to repeat it. It requires a great effort of coordination and collaboration between teachers and students but we all love it.

Anabela Gonçalves, José Rui Ferreira and Teresa Fonseca, Portugal

2016-11-17 19:22:13 UTC

The 'co-teaching rotation' model presented by Valentina is interesting and effective. In our school, some teachers already had and some still have the opportunity to implement a very similar one, known as “coadjuvâncias”. Two teachers, from the same subject group, are in the classroom and they previously coordinate the best way to work with that particular class, be it working in the same room with the entire class, supporting and helping students developing their work, be it working separately in small groups in different rooms. But implementing this model is not a choice make by teachers. It is the school principal who, in the beginning of the school year, decides which subjects, and classes, are going to work within this framework. We know, from our experience, that working collaboratively demands more time, more flexibility, more planning and more coordination from the teachers involved but our efforts are, most of the times, rewarded by students’ achievements.

Olga Keramida-Greece

2016-11-17 20:30:52 UTC

Very interesting approach.

Ana Fernandes, Portugal

apmfm — 2016-11-17 21:37:37 UTC

I think that the "co-teaching rotation" collaboration model mentioned by Valentina is interesting with young age students. When working with older students, like I do, it will be difficult to apply this model in class.
I agree that the best practices must be shared between teachers. Constructive criticism is always important and useful to improve our way of teaching.

Ana Chambel, Portugal

aachambel — 2016-11-17 21:54:59 UTC

The model of "co-teaching rotation" is quite interesting, it is a different way of teaching and collaborating. I fully agree with the message that Valentina conveys when she says that collaboration is a wonderful teaching tool. In my school, we also have some classes in which the teachers collaborate in projects of the class or in the teaching of some disciplines, mainly in the areas of arts and ICT. I think that students have a lot to benefit from this contact and this teaching model.

Francesca. Italy

francescagiala — 2016-11-17 22:17:45 UTC

I think that co-teaching approaches require great commitment in collaborative planning. I don't have experience about that because I teach in a secondary school

Ioannis Velonakis, Greece

2016-11-17 22:27:31 UTC

The model which is mentioned by Valentina is asimple but interesting approach. Of course my personal experience from such a model is limited since I work in secondary schools. On the other hand, for years in some classes we had to teach students with some kind of special educational needs. In this case, since me and most of my colleagues did not have special knowledge about the case, so special teachers were sent and we were strongly advised to colaborate with them so that these children were able to kept to attend the same lesson with their classmates. For this collaboration we used a model similar to the one described by Valentina, since we in most casew we worked in pairs in the classroom and one was teaching while the other one was helping him as well as the children to take part in activities or experiments or simply to understand the lesson. Note that the above process was attended by every student in the class, although it was mainly about the ones with special educational needs. Also, during a lesson the teachers exchanged roles. By this way we tried to integrate these students to the educational process as well as to the class. It was an interesting and constructive process which should be followed in most of the similar cases. As far as the need for teachers to bring their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adapt them in case others suggest better ways of working, I strongly agree. In my point of view, constructive criticism by my partners and colleagues is something which I expect and strongly need. I want to discuss all their opinions, despite the fact that they may look wrong, explaining not only to them but also to myself the reason why I follow each specific method and try other alternatives which look better, if possible.

Betina Astride, PT

betinaastride — 2016-11-17 23:34:34 UTC

It sounds very interesting. Thanks a lot for sharing, Valentina. I wish I could work this way because shared responsibility with responsible teachers is always better than working alone. It may be not easy, sometimes, but I’m sure it’s worth to try.

Carla Nascimento - Portugal

cmfn140263 — 2016-11-17 23:39:28 UTC

The model of "co-teaching rotation" is quite interesting because it is a different way of teaching and collaborating.

I never have done co-teaching but, more than that, I think the collaboration between teachers is really important and necessary.

Jana, Germany

oldpadlet — 2016-11-18 06:42:41 UTC

This type of teaching takes financial commitment by the authorities. Our classes are too full, we work too many hours. Schedules overlap. We don't have time to collaborate.

Giovanna, Italy

giovanna_biceg1 — 2016-11-18 07:24:08 UTC

Co-teaching is very interesting but in my school timetable is quite difficult to apply. It requires a different approach towards curriculum, assessment and organization.

Thomas, Austria

2016-11-18 09:13:00 UTC

For the "co-teaching rotation" model you have to co-teach with a colleague you actually get along with very well - otherwise I don't think that would work. Also you/the school/the authorities need to / have to provide the resources.
I think that one of the most difficult tasks is, as Valentina mentioned, to convince teachers who have had success working in isolation that working collaboratively may acutally enrich their teaching as well.

Concetta Drago, Italy

concetta_drago — 2016-11-18 09:43:05 UTC

I have no any experiences of co-teaching rotation model, since it is not used in Italy. I would like to have such a kind of experience.

Galina, Bulgaria

galia_770505 — 2016-11-18 09:44:19 UTC

I am convinced that co-teaching has many a great number of advantages, but it is not common for our work. Each class has

Lúcia, Portugal

2016-11-18 10:13:41 UTC

I concur with Valentina when she says that “ Collaboration can be a wonderful teaching tool”, but I also recognize that there are still many obstacles to overcome in order to effectively teach collaboratively. The first challenge is in the changing of minds, as many teachers are used to working in isolation and are not receptive to this teaching method . On the other hand, collaboration requires time and, in the context where I teach, teachers are overwhelmed with preparing classes for different levels, huge classes, meetings, paper work…there is no collaboration time in our working week and all the collaboration, sharing of ideas, discussion of strategies is done outside school hours.

I think that the Co-teaching Rotation model is very interesting and it would certainly be very useful for both teachers and students. Many years ago I experienced this type of work and it was very rewarding . What happens in some schools and in some subjects, in Portugal, is that there is a supporting teacher, but this teacher has only a supporting role in the classroom.

We need to adapt to new realities, try new approaches, set the example to our students in order to motivate them.

In some portuguese primary schools, teachers are develloping a similar situation, nevertheless, no class can have 2 teachers unless there are pupils with special education needs.

2016-11-18 10:58:15 UTC

Vitor M. N. Fernandes, Portugal

vmnf — 2016-11-18 12:31:28 UTC

I think it is very interesting to see two teachers supporting a classroom at same time or switching teachers present from time to time. This way students can benefit from the two teachers experiences and when both are present I think learning process will be more fluid and student questions and doubts can be addressed in half of regular time with a single teacher is present in classroom.
I have reduced experience with such young students still sometimes this has been tried with same age and also with older students in my own school. Primary school has introduced programming to curriculum and when those classes happen there is in classroom an ICT teacher and also the "regular" teacher that will make it to be similar to "co-teaching". At older ages, on secondary school, in programming courses we are also testing "co-teaching" and switching teachers, but last mostly when a teacher is absent and other teacher supports classroom learning.
Every teacher is different, teach same subjects with different strategies. Learning with peers strategies is a must have experience and bring other teachers good practices to your own classes.

Margarida Sousa P

margaridaferin — 2016-11-18 12:58:16 UTC

I totally agree with the last words ..." successful teachers collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thougths and being ready to provide support."
Sometimes it is very difficult to have this.
In my school, we have already shared an experience of " coadjuvação" in order to promote writing and readind skills, in Portuguese classes. We shared classes , we have divided the students and we worked in small groups in order to help them with their individual difficulties.
Maths had this tool, too.
This year, it wasn´t possible and I think it was a good tool because we have 27 / 28 students in the 5th grade.

Agata Kuźmiek - Poland

2016-11-18 13:19:39 UTC

It is certain that scientific cooperation has a lot of advantages and pluses. In each class, such cooperation should take place.

Arminda Pereira, Portugal

armindapereira1 — 2016-11-18 15:04:14 UTC

In one of my classes I have two teachers in the same classroom only 90-minutes. This class has allowed to foment the work in pairs and the work of group. Group work has been instrumental in student learning.Most importantly, working in teams allows more opportunities for students to understand and connect with content thereby maximizing individual learning potential.

Giorgia, Romania

giorgiagroza — 2016-11-18 16:27:01 UTC

I totally agree with the succesful teachers collaboration

Zeljka Korlevic, Croatia

mravak57 — 2016-11-18 16:32:41 UTC

I like the idea of co-teaching but I don t think it can be widely used in our school system. I also like mixing the students of various age, I use this idea in my practice and I think it s a very good way of developing both social and mathematical skills of students

Gisella de Liddo, Italy

2016-11-18 17:22:13 UTC

Very good example of teacher collaboration! You could see the satisfaction and enthusiasm on the children's faces!I agree with Valentina, a teacher's skills and best practices can be brought to the colleagues and help them grow, professionally speaking. In Italy we do not have much practice of constructive negative evaluation of our work, but it is an aspect that should be absolutely developed.

Teresa Rowett - Portuga

2016-11-18 17:53:10 UTC

Teresa Rowett - Portugaç

2016-11-18 17:53:10 UTC

Teresa Rowett - Portugal

2016-11-18 17:53:10 UTC

I can easily relate to Valentina’s words when she says that it is difficult to “watch over a group of 20-25 children during the lesson and consider their learning tempo and assist them when they are experiencing difficulties”. Although older, teaching a foreign language to 28 students’ class and having the worst of times trying to make them actually talk it’s a nightmare. In order to allow the students to practice the orality the class should be divided in two groups.

Like she says, working in a collaborative model demands a lot of time from the teachers, both before classes, planning and organizing and after, assessing the work that was done, the effectiveness of the planning, reformulating the planning, analyzing the students response to what was done… It is also true that many teachers are not available to work that way. They are afraid of letting someone else enter “their space” and of being judged by that other person. I would be delighted to have someone sharing the classroom space with me, the space could be organized in a different way and we could implement different strategies according to the students needs.

Antónia Brandão e José Ruão, PT

dolores_brandao — 2016-11-18 19:04:49 UTC

The ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina seems very interesting but we have no experience in that type of collaboration. Teachers bringing their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adapt them in case others suggest better ways of working seems amazing and we can see that situation several times ( for example i’m not very good on manual work but my colleague is...so he can help me on a certain task...and vice -versa)

Acting upon the constructive criticisms of other teachers it’s not easy and sometimes they misunderstood our intentions. We need to be very diplomatic and avoid to hurt our colleague feelings, but we must exchange thoughts, experiences and be open minded , Our students can benefit a lot!

Ana Rebelo, Portugal

aisrebelo — 2016-11-18 19:49:04 UTC

I've had the opportunity to work with the same class with another teacher, but there was a "head" teacher, anda a "helper", which means there wasn't a true collaboration. It is very powerful to sit down with other teachers and brainstorm strategies/ resources. If we are open-minded great ideas can arise. However, I think most of us are used to work alone and it is necessary to invest time in the process. Far more time!

Olga Tsaruk, Ukraine

ovotsaruk — 2016-11-18 20:18:35 UTC

I agree with my colleague that collaborative teachers have to spend time before and after school to coordinate their
efforts. Most of the teachers from my school are not ready for this. But I understand that what is new today, it'll be way behind tomorrow. I'm working on my project in Twinning space. It's difficult for me. Sometimes I learn from own mistakes. Thanks to your course I found out how to assess my students.

4.2 A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration susanna, italy I'm agree with these theachers. this is a good example of teacher collaboration.i'm agree with Valentina

27luglio63 — 2016-11-18 21:37:23 UTC

Cristina Rocha - Portugal

mcrisroch1 — 2016-11-18 23:46:19 UTC

I always felt that, dispite the increasing number or students per class, preschool and primary school teachers always make an effort to collaborate between them. They exchange results, exercises sheets and look for several moments during the schoolyear to work as a team and put up together real lovely activities.
indeed time to get together and prepare, debate and create together is needed. In Portugal, teachers from primary school work 25 hours per week. Time is never enough. Yet, at my school, we try hard to get time in order to create, plan and organize, sometimes in formal meetings, some times in an informal way. But I also feel that, when we get a strong, well organized way of preparation, all the work becomes lighter and results become better.

Jole, Sicily

jolecapo — 2016-11-19 08:11:59 UTC

Beautiful experience told by Valentina. I support a model of collaboration 'co-teaching rotation' but, in my school actually, it is a difficult pattern to apply because, in relation to a methodological, my colleagues were the classic lecture and do not like meddling.

Cesare Maramici, Italy

2016-11-19 09:37:42 UTC

In the italian primary school there are two or three teachers on the same classe and they try to collaborate and sometime they try to achieve the same aim, but I think that is not enough and teachers need to spend time before and after school to coordinate their
efforts and improve their collaboration to succeed.

Fatih TOY / Turkey

mrtoy — 2016-11-19 14:16:59 UTC

I have never experienced such a model and I don't think that I will be able to perform in that manner at least in my secondary school.Due to heavy load of curricular activities and imposition of central exams, most of my activities are based on classical assessment procedures.

Cristina/Pisa

2016-11-19 14:18:19 UTC

I work in a middle school and sicne I have been working on European projects like etwinning, Comeniua and now Erasmus, (I started in 2008), collaborating with my colleagues of different subjects have become normal. Unfortunately, we cannot work together in the same class because of the schooltimetable but we can plan and work together on our didactic activities or projects before or after we are in class with pupils. I think it is very important to have a comparison with peers, We cannot experience "co-teaching rotation" but we are trying our best to cooperate and learn from each other.

Ann, Ireland

ann_mchugh — 2016-11-19 14:44:07 UTC

The Bulgarian model of team-teaching is admirable. This would be very useful for many aspects of teaching - classroom organisation, behaviour management, relationships with the students etc. Also very beneficial for the teacher - learn new methods, reflect on your practice as a team, offer / receive constructive feedback.

Vanda, Portugal

vbatista70 — 2016-11-19 16:43:46 UTC

It´s a fantastic experience, for sure! In my counry , i find it very difficult to implement.

Rossana,Italy

rossana_demartino — 2016-11-19 17:29:18 UTC

Rui Vieira, Portugal

miguelvieira_com — 2016-11-19 18:50:33 UTC

I believe that co-teaching approaches require a big commitment in collaborative planning. I have some experience about this way of teaching. If mismanaged can cause the opposite efect and become negative to learning processes.

Daniel Caridade, PT

dcaridade — 2016-11-19 19:23:34 UTC

In Portugal this system has already showned
some positive outcomes in the past. We had a discipline called Educação Visual e Tecnológica in the 5th and 6th grades that had this system, and it worked well. A few years ago our Education Ministery ended this collaborative process, in an effort to reduce the number of teachers nationwide, separating the discipline in two (Educação Visual and Educação Tecnológica) tough by the same teacher. In order for these systems to flowrish and bare fruits we need political awareness and a better understanding of the concept of education for the XXIst century. I agree that a lot of teachers might resist at first at this kind of collaboration, being used to work alone in 'his or hers' classroom. But with time and results I think it would be most useful for all the people involved in the process.

Sara Viotti, Italy

sara_viotti — 2016-11-19 21:07:58 UTC

Erasmus + has been such an opportunity too
for my colleagues and obviously for me to experiment new collaboration teaching ways!

Maria Rizza/ Sicily

2016-11-19 23:52:52 UTC

I have not any experience in co-teachng rotation collaboration as in my school colleagues work individually and they get anniyed when you try to plan lessons together on interdisciplinay way. However, I agree with Valentina’s idea of collaboraion among teachers. I had this experience with colleagues from other european countries in Comenius Project; I learned from these collagues and they learnt from me, exchanging best practice, ideas, lesson plan and didactic materials helpful to everyone.I think that constructive criticism of other teachers helps, because comparing and observing the way other colleagues teach is positive. I regret this does not happen in my school, Indeed. I find out that the students have no benefit in coping with different methodologies used by their different teachers: this creates problems to students because they get disoriented

Ivana, Slovakia

luptacikova_ivana — 2016-11-19 23:59:39 UTC

I agree with Valentina's conclusion about successful teacher collaboration. I have some experiences about it when I did a little eTwinning project and I had to cooperate with my partner on project's aims and activities. In my school we have a project week twice a year and this expected of teachers collaboration on the preparation.

Erika, Colombia

erikahobrecker — 2016-11-20 03:36:47 UTC

Valentina is right when she says that the most difficult thing is to find time with other teachers. I believe there are much more collaborative learning activies in my class that I had imagined. The video comfortd me and gives me security with my work. After watching the video two times I can say: I have so much to learn!

Cristina Teixeira, Portugal

2016-11-20 11:05:58 UTC

A few years ago in Portugal, this system has already been tested in a discipline called Educação Visual e Tecnológica (artistic classes) and the results were very good. But actually this collaborative process has ended, in an effort to reduce the number of teachers. Sometimes in my Physical Education lessons, I work in collaboration with another teacher if the sport and the level of the students are coincident. But this is a rare situation because teacher’s schedules don’t match. In my opinion everyone wins with collaborative process and it should be implement in all schools.

Maria Tomaz, Portugal

anjostomaz1 — 2016-11-20 11:57:00 UTC

The earlier we work with this methodology with our students, from the 1st cycle level, more and better learning outcomes will be achieved.

The suggestion to work in rotation and in collaboration with other teachers will allow a greater possibility to diversify the areas and themes of the necessary contents and fosters interdisciplinarity. I Like and appreciate very much this experience.

Sabrina Petrillo, ITALY

2016-11-20 11:57:18 UTC

I found very interesting the models of collaborative teaching quoted in the video, from “Lead, Observe, Assist” and “Teach and reteach”, to “Simultaneous Teaching” and “Co-teaching Rotation”. Moreover, they were largely and successfully tested within eTwinning and Erasmus+ projects, which is an added value for Valentina’s experience of co-teaching.

Reneta Raicheva, Bulgaria

renyraicheva — 2016-11-20 14:44:43 UTC

Nice experience, great model, creative children! Congrats, dear Valentina & team! :)

Adina Marcu,Romania

adinamarcu9 — 2016-11-20 18:05:28 UTC

I found very interesting the models of collaborative teaching quoted in the video, from “Lead, Observe, Assist” and “co-teaching rotation"Nice model and creative children!

Grazia Italy

2016-11-20 18:38:15 UTC

Good ideas for collaboration.

Nazaré Firmino, Portugal

nazare_firmino — 2016-11-20 18:52:07 UTC

In my school for some years co-teaching is done, initially with the objective of pedagogical supervision and lately also in a logic of coadjuvation. My experience of the co-teaching approach allows me to say that It can work very well, bringing benefits to students, who will have a more personalized and differentiated teaching, and to teachers, to whom it facilitates behavior control, allows different strategies and approaches, the sharing of doubts, materials and ideas. I think it’s a good practice if teachers involved commit to collaborate, find time to connect, to share ideas, to discuss problems, remain opened and are available to provide support. I think the constructive criticisms of other teachers allow improving the pedagogical practice of any teacher.

Raul Coutinho

2016-11-20 18:53:03 UTC

Nice experience and good ideas !

Rosella, Italy

2016-11-20 19:06:13 UTC

Co-teaching can have a highly positive impact on student learning outcomes, largely due to the increased opportunity for student participation that team teach- ing provides. The presence of more than one instructor in the classroom increases the occasions for student-teacher inter- action.
More importantly, a collaborative teaching environment invites students to take a more active role in the learning process. Because team teaching encour- ages a variety of perspectives on a topic, students are more likely to feel they can make valuable contributions to class discussions.

Veronica, Italy

vb_keohane — 2016-11-20 20:38:09 UTC

I agree that one of the most important factors in ensuring the successful collaboration between teachers in that of being open to new ideas and of sharing responsibility. It would be very easy to fall into the danger of making a 'partner' teacher feel that her way of teaching is not appreciated. This also entails the need for careful planning of the activities to encompass all suggestions for the benefit of the students. It is true what was said at the beginning and that is that if students cannot see that their teachers are collaborating they will not feel the need or desire to do it themselves.

Evi Karella-Greece

spevispevi — 2016-11-20 20:57:17 UTC

I find Valentina's ideas very helpful. I also agree with " Collaboration is not always a concept that is greeted with open arms. Educators who have had success working in isolation may view this process as an invasion of their pedagogy and a waste of time." This is exactly the way my colleagues face collaborative projects, assessment, digital tools in the classroom. I really don't know how to make them change their mind.

Pedro Elias, Portugal

pedroelias — 2016-11-20 21:32:27 UTC

I think Valentina's idea is very useful. Having more than one teacher in the same classroom can bring many advantages to the students, although it does require a great sharing (collaboration) of ideas and methodologies between the teachers.

Maria Vasilopoulou, Greece

mbasilopoulou — 2016-11-20 22:56:49 UTC

I can't say that collaboration among teachers usually takes place in my school no matter how many the benefits are. Teachers are not willing to leave their comfort zone and try new methods and that makes teaching poorer I guess. As far as Co-teaching Rotation, it seems to be a very interesting teaching approach when two teachers share the same class. This is rarely the case in Junior High schools where I teach in Greece. I usually collaborate with colleagues during my eTwinning projects and both my students and I reap the benefits of team work. Personally I'm willing to receive constructive criticism and improve my work and always adapt my practices if my partner's suggestions suit better our goal.

Teresa Pombo, Port

teresapombo — 2016-11-20 23:25:45 UTC

At my school, we have very successful experiences of co-teaching in primary levels. The collaborative work between teacher can in fact inspire and facilitar students work.

Dulce Freire, Fernanda Cunha, Marco Fernandes and Vítor Silva, Portugal

marcocfernandes — 2016-11-21 01:47:18 UTC

We never experience collaborative “co-teaching rotation”. It seems interesting.

We believe this should be an enriching experience for students and teachers. This method implies that there is a real collaborative work among peers without fear, openness and flexibility and lots of trust between colleagues that will certainly bring benefits to the students. However, not all teachers are receptive to this type of approach, there are many who still regard the classroom as being an enclosed space

rosa calvino

rosacalvino8 — 2016-11-21 07:33:56 UTC

I foud it really interesting

The Robot Helps!, Paulo Torcato, Portugal

2016-11-21 09:18:36 UTC

3rd Grade Class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OExazB7APc8&t=69s
4th Grade Class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfxTfjBaSY&t=42s

Hanefi ZOBAR, Turkey

2016-11-21 12:46:56 UTC

Since I am working in a small village school and dont have many teachers, I think it seems impossible to collaborate with other teachers. Since they are in different classes. I agree with Bulgarian teachers; successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support.

Cinzia Masia, Italy

attasonitabas — 2016-11-21 14:11:52 UTC

co-teaching rotation is similar to our Italian primary school system , particularly at the "tempo pieno" where pupils stay at school from 8.30 till 16.00 or 16.30. Mainly too teachers rotate. The Bulgarian example is interesting too but it is easier at primary school levels not for higher ones.

Ariana Vacaretu, Romania

ariana_vacaretu — 2016-11-21 14:12:27 UTC

The 'co-teaching rotation' collaboration model seems to be interesting. I've heard about this model - it is implemented in some private kindergartens and/ or some private primary schools in Romania. I'm teaching high-school students - I've never experienced this model. From Valentina's description, I understand that this model supports both, the students learning and the teachers' professional development.

Isabel Cabo - Portugal

isacabo_1978 — 2016-11-21 15:16:36 UTC

The ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina it´s a very interesting approach and I had one experience like this. I think ‘co-teaching rotation’ should be an enriching experience for students and teachers.

Daniela Miranda, Portugal

f1196 — 2016-11-21 17:50:06 UTC

A great experience...

Katarina,Serbia

2016-11-21 17:58:28 UTC

Very interesting.
But I am special educator teacher in primary special school.And our school system do not allow rotate teachers.We have curriculum and Individual Education Plan for every students separately.And our students do not like changes about almost everything.

Roberta Minì

robertamini — 2016-11-21 18:17:45 UTC

It's surely an interesting experience, in Erasmus+ projects I experienced because as a team we worked together, but these activities are acted extra time. It's difficult in higher school to work in co-teaching rotation excepts for some subjects that are planned to be taught like this in labs.

Münevver, Turkey

2016-11-21 18:31:13 UTC

It was one of the most important videos for me, because in my school it is not easy to collaborate with other teachers, as they do not have any idea about collaborative teaching and learning. They believe in old-school methods and they really are close to criticism. They are not interested in new techniques and methods, either. As a result, I feel really alone in that term. My only collaborators are my students :))) (thanks God!) But, after watching the video I have thought that I should mention them again and again the effectiveness and good examples of collaborative learning to make them encourage about searching or using it in their classes. Who knows, maybe we can work together with them in the future…

Atanasija, Croatia

atbilic — 2016-11-21 20:13:48 UTC

I have no experience in co-teaching rotation collaboration model but I found it very interesting.

Ana Nojkovska

spasovska_ana — 2016-11-21 23:10:43 UTC

I have no experience in this type of teaching, but I find it quite interesting

Jose, Portugal

jafscruz — 2016-11-22 01:43:02 UTC

"successful teacher collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, remaining open, sharing thoughts, and being ready to provide support."
This sentence says everything... it's impossible to stablish some kind of collaboration without having the time to connect to others, and being ready to provide support. Sometimes it's possible to do that, but only after our workday. In Portugal a teacher has to much administrative work to do besides being with students. Because of that our school stablish some places in our timetables to be together in meetings, and this is useful and became a good practice, because we learn how to share and help each other in case of difficulties and in how to act according class needs. Also it allows us to plan together activities among several subjects, providing innovative activities.

Lorraine

2016-11-22 04:29:17 UTC

I have always used a rubric or checklist so my colleagues can measure and evaluate my performance so I could have feedback and adjust the styles and objectives to make a better class. The support between peers is important because sometimes it lets up intertwine our classes and integrate the curriculum in advance advantage reinforcing skills in every discipline

Marina-Italy

2016-11-22 08:55:24 UTC

As part of the Italian education system, teachers before taking a definitive role in the school, have to follow a path that includes theory and practice. In this field I have cooperated with a teacher attending my classes and me hers and afterwards sharing our ideas and comments. I think the rotation can be an excellent way to work, but I haven't had the chance to do it yet, because I was the only teacher of my subject in the school. Now things have changed, so I'll try!

Irena , Poland

irenagd — 2016-11-22 09:23:25 UTC

The model presented by Valentina is interesting. I teach in technical school and we do not use rotation model. However, our headmistress organise teachers ' training sessions prepared by more experienced teachers who share ideas which can be useful in our classes. of course there is also professional path for teachers to gain different levels of their career ladder and then other teachers observe lessons, collaborate , assess tchem giving advice.
All in all, I am sure any kind of teachers ' collaboration must bring only benefits for our students and enrich our classes.

Asun Ara, Spain

2016-11-22 10:26:55 UTC

Co-teaching rotation is a good idea and I am sure that students will learn more since they can learn from two different teachers. But I can see some difficulties to apply it in my school. The first important thing is that both teachers must be very well coordinated in order not to repeat or forget important matters of the topic and we don't have a lot of time for coordination in our schedules. Moreover, in state schools in Spain it it not possible to have two teachers in the same class at the same time; and if we mix two groups together, they can be more than 40 students, and there aren't so large rooms in my schools. Another problem can be that not all teachers are fixed ones, so every year the teaching staff changes, so it is difficult to find teachers who really want to work in a collaborativelly way.

Conceição Aleixo, Portugal

caleixonline — 2016-11-22 10:36:42 UTC

Valentina explained the ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model in a very clear way. ? I think it is a very interesting approach. A crucial aspect is really the need for teachers to bring their best skills and practices to the team an also being able to remain flexible to adapt their own skills and practices in case others suggest different and better ways of working together.

Fátima Nave, Portugal

2016-11-22 12:06:19 UTC

"Co-teaching rotation" is a very good way to implement collaborative teaching. The difficulties are that teachers have to spend time preparing and planning the activities together and it's not always possible. Furthermore, teachers have to be prepared to share their ideas and to be open-minded to receive and apply other ideas and methods. For students, it's a great value, not only because they have more support in the classroom, but also because two teachers in a classroom can provide more learning and motivating activities than only one.

Patrizia, Italy

patrizia_brion — 2016-11-22 16:36:06 UTC

I think Valentina's ideas very helpful. I agree that collaboration is not always a concept that is greeted with open arms. Educators who have had success working in isolation may view this process as an invasion of their pedagogy and a waste of time. This is exactly the way my colleagues face collaborative projects, assessment, digital tools in the classroom. It isn't easy acting upon the constructive criticisms of other teachers.

Marta Pereira

mpereira89_1 — 2016-11-22 16:45:25 UTC

In my disciplinary area we work mostly collaboratively. We prepare and plan classes together. Sometimes we give classes together guiding the student's group projects. Each teacher has his own way to explain and send the message to the students, this is important because the students are also different and they learn in a different way.

Ana Schade, Portugal

ana_vaz — 2016-11-22 17:25:01 UTC

The co-teaching rotation mentioned in this video is a very interesting approach and I have experienced in my school. Weekly we worked together and we chose the more specialized colleagues to teach the classes they felt more comfortable with the contents. Currently, we invite students to present their work in other classes, both at the elementary and secondary levels.

António Gonçalves, PT

2016-11-22 17:34:02 UTC

The co-teaching rotation mentioned in this video is a very interesting approach and I've used it a few times inviting specialists into the classroom.

Ionela Lazea, Romania

kameeliah16bis — 2016-11-22 17:44:35 UTC

I also have a colleague in my kindergarten group. We use the rotation because this is the standard program for state kindergarten with prolongued programme. We work very well together and collaborate in all the activities as we each have out own talents to bring to work.

Palmira Serrano, Portuga

palmiraserrano — 2016-11-22 18:08:31 UTC

Collaborative work among teachers is very important for student success, and this model of co-teaching rotation seems interesting. We teachers should always be open to learning new ways of working and everything that our colleagues can give us is positive.

Elisabete Gouveia, Portugal

2016-11-22 19:39:22 UTC

I think that this model of co-teaching mentioned by Valentina is a very interesting approach and it's also important for student's success. It develops teachers: time to connect with colleagues, remain open to learn, share ideas and be ready to provide support. This increases student's learning.

Maria, Portugal

ameliamagalhaes — 2016-11-23 00:15:07 UTC

The earlier we work with this methodology with our students, from the 1st cycle level, more and better learning outcomes will be achieved.
The suggestion to work in rotation and in collaboration with other teachers will allow a greater possibility to diversify the areas and themes of the necessary contents and fosters interdisciplinarity. I Like and appreciate very much this experience.

Honorata Pereira, Portugal

honoratapereira — 2016-11-23 06:53:46 UTC

In my daily practice, I work based in project so I seek the help of other colleagues and researchers. In many cases the students go to the institutions (universities) to develop activities when we can´t develop in the school.

Sandra Teixeira, Portugal

2016-11-23 13:07:42 UTC

I think that this model of co-teaching exemplified by Valentina is a very interesting approach for student's success. It develops teachers: time to connect with colleagues, remain open to learn, share ideas and be ready to provide support. This increases student's motivation for learning more and more. In portugueses school's that I used to work, it's unusual practice. The 1st cycle has a teacher, that guides his/her students and that teacher don't accept very well the other teachers suggestions.

Cristina Abegão

2016-11-23 17:30:03 UTC

This model is a very interesting approach for student's success. It develops teachers time to connect with colleagues, share ideas and provide support. It's a way to increase the students learning progress.

Carmela Cundari - Italy

melcunda — 2016-11-23 18:39:33 UTC

"Co-teaching rotation" is a very interesting way to really collaborate with colleagues. In Italy, in Primary school, we have two hours a week to plan activities with our team colleagues... Years ago we had also "compresenza": two teachers working together (same time - same class), it was really good, because we could easely manage group work or reinforcement for weaker students, Know we don't have it anymore, and it becames more and more difficult to collaborate with colleagues. Things are changing lately (our school sistem is changing a lot... hopefully in a right way!)

Rebecca Ireland

2016-11-23 18:40:28 UTC

I think co-teaching is an extremely effective and interesting way to teach. It allows sharing of ideas and allowing each other to develop and critique what we are doing which results in greater results. It also increases students engagement and improving interpersonal skills.

Rosa Caeiro, Portugal

rosafcaeiro — 2016-11-23 22:56:14 UTC

I think co-teaching mentioned by valentina is very productive because it allows you to check various ways of addressing the same subject. Share doubts, knowledge and methods. I already used it with a colleague of geography

Manuela Ortigão, Portugal

mortigao — 2016-11-24 15:46:50 UTC

I think "co-teaching rotation" collaboration model is a very interesting and productive approach in classroom. I'm not experienced in "co-teaching rotation" because that is not possible in my school. We have a project related to peer and self assessment of our colleagues classes and sometimes I go to my colleagues classroom as a observer. We analyse the lesson plans and how teacher implement, assess and communicate with students. We have pre-observation meeting and a post-observation meeting. We share ideas and give feedback about the lesson plans and the learning process in our classes. So, I agree teachers have to bring their best skills and practices to team and have to be comfortable with constructive criticism from their peers. I learnt a lot with this project at my school. We are always "growing" when we do collaborative work.

Alena Jandlová, Czech Republic

tabor1 — 2016-11-24 17:13:06 UTC

I consider a co-teaching model really challenging although not easy to start. It offers collaboration and sharing among teachers.
What I also liked is the idea of interaction between younger and older classes which is beneficial for both parts.

Beata Rola Poland

2016-11-26 16:44:00 UTC

He works as a trainer of teachers. The knowledge gained during the course not only allows you to use is the classroom, but also as a training co-operation in the teaching council

Anna C. Italy

ciaramellaanna — 2016-11-26 18:15:39 UTC

The "co-teaching rotation" collaboration model mentioned by Valentina in my opinion, is interesting.
I do find it an interesting approach, unfortunately now in primary school with the only teacher it is not easy "co-teaching rotation".

Anna Maria, Italy

mattielloannamaria — 2016-11-26 22:00:25 UTC

In Italian middle school a co-teaching model doesn't exist. There was in primary school. I can't immagine its effectiveness even if in the video it seems to work very well.

Marilia Baçao,Portugal

mariliabacao — 2016-11-26 22:46:09 UTC

I think co-teaching is very interesting but I'm not used to it . In many schools It's difficult to do so because teachers are not use to work that way. It's a pitty because It really seems to be a good way to work

Cristina Parente, Portugal

CrisParente — 2016-11-27 17:33:15 UTC

I find "co-teaching rotation" an interesting approach and it's a great value both for students and teachers. I don't have any experience of it but some of my colleagues have already experienced and they liked it. However, it requires more time for teachers to plan together in advance and sometimes it's difficult because of teachers' schedule. I agree with her when she says teachers need "to bring their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adapt to new methodologies that can benefit student learning". When we collaborate with our peers we learn from each other, sharing practices, and methodologies, and students are the ones to benefit from it

I consider co-teaching a very interesting model - it is challenging but ever so beneficial for the students and teachers who can develop both professionally and personally, ensuring students with a wide array of techniques, rendering the learning truly interesting.

paulina_rozmus — 2016-11-27 21:42:18 UTC

It”s an inovative method on teaching kindergarden children level. I also work on kindergarden here in Romania but the educational process is related to one teacher at the time. It”s important to pupils to learn thru collaboration method and others strategies in developing their competences. Collaborative teaching brings toghether teachers experiences and documentation.

adela_redes — 2016-11-29 07:13:02 UTC

Tanya Rappazzo, Italy

trappazzo — 2016-11-30 19:21:46 UTC

Co-teaching rotation collaboration model into my opinion is a good collaboration method to apply since from the first years of education. I hope to use it in my teaching.

Virgínia Esteves, Portugal

virginiaesteves — 2016-11-30 19:46:43 UTC

Co-teaching rotation is great to improve collaboration inside the classroom and among teachers. Some people still prefer working individually but it is time to change methods in the classroom and start collaboration among teachers and students if we want to prepare our students for their future life.

Marian Dragomir, Romania

2016-12-13 09:02:07 UTC

I think that this model of co-teaching mentioned by Valentina is a very interesting approach and it's also important for student's success.

marialuisabarreiros — 2018-02-15 23:00:46 UTC