I love co-teaching! I wrote about it here, talking about how teams help make teachers stronger. I still believe it and I still love co- teaching but something I have really been reflecting on is what co-teaching and collaboration looks like on the inside of the relationship and work and on the outside.
Building a team is no easy feat. It is more than figuring our who does what part of the teaching or who sends out for what copies. When building a team these are some steps my coworkers and I take to help us be the most successful. First, we get to know each other, a soft place to land is an outside of school coffee/lunch. This basic knowledge of each other can help us better understand what will help our team be a well oiled machine. Another thing that helps us work better is setting a common vision and goals. Of course, after a common vision and goal, even with norms everything is not always smooth. Storming and norming, or over coming challenges big and little, although uncomfortable is all what it takes to grow a strong team.
This year we have seen tremendous growth in our team collaboration and co-planning that has lead to great benefits for our students.
Observing 3rd grade at the beginning of the year, you would have seen all of us (yes, all 54 kids in one room) coming tog
ether at the end of the day to share information about each other. Our small move in this way allowed our team to be more understanding and find commonality across the grade level. This small move allowed us to gently step into serving our whole community of learners in a flexible way that helps everyone get their needs met.
Not only are we planning together to serve our learners in math across all 3 rooms, using flexible groups and low ceiling high floor tasks, but also, students are working collaboratively to create small business and products together. This growth in our students’ collaborative work is directly correlated to the time, energy and daily collaborations we as teachers are putting time and energy toward.
Thanks for sharing Helena! I love how thoughtful you are when describing the processes it took to work in and on a high functioning team. You all are awesome.