Improving my understanding of Collaboration and Co-Teaching Part 2

 WHAT?

 

As part of the 2nd webinar, Mark started with a refresher on the tree analogy (preparing for Co-teaching) and how they connected to the team culture of co-teaching – practice, infrastructure and culture. He also asked for some feedback on what resonated with us from the week before webinar.

 

It is important to understand what co- teaching as compared to what it isn’t.

 

 

The 5 Elements of Culture

 

1. Mahitahi (working to a common goal) – the team coordinates their work to achieve a small number of common, publicly agreed-on goals. These goals could relate to WHAT you want to achieve (teaching and/or learning, class culture, behaviour etc.) or HOW you will go about achieving it (team function, collaboration).

 

2. Pukenga (using each other’s strengths) – share a belief system that each of the co-teaching team members has unique and needed expertise.

 

3. Ako (learning from and with each other) - demonstrate parity by alternatively engaging in the dual roles of teacher and learner, expert and novice, giver and recipient of knowledge or skills.

 

4. Whakaroto (employing distributed leadership) – use distributed leadership whereby tasks and functions of the traditional lone teacher are distributed among all co-teaching group members.

 

5. Whanaungatanga (building and maintaining productive relationships) – use  cooperative processes that support collaboration including face to face interaction, interpersonal skills, trust, respect, positive interdependence, performance, monitoring, evaluating and individual accountability.

 

SO WHAT?

 

As part of building a great environment for my partner and myself, we need to work together to create our vision/goal for where we want to aim for – our Mahitahi and how we will use our principles and practices to make this happen for ourselves and for the benefit of our students.

 

 

One of things to do for our Mahitahi – we need to make sure we have understanding of what our/own expectations of what a ‘good’ team member  are. We need to unpack a few scenarios to understand each other’s perspectives and what ‘our’ 6-8 group norms are for meetings, planning, evaluating etc.

 

To establish Pukenga, we need to understand our strengths and each other’s strengths. We have started a ‘user manual’ already, my buddy has put in heaps and I have just scratched the surface. I do have some understanding of how she ticks – we need to do this also with our ‘other’ teacher that will be sharing our class. What grinds each other’s gears? Look at the possibility of doing personality tests – what kinds of people are we? We need to build a foundation of trust.

 

There is an expectation in Ako – there is a sharing of skills expectation where the importance of being a good learner is paramount. At times, I will need to be the lead, the expert in an area and at times I will be the learner in the situation learning from the others in the team. By using the tools such as ‘Spirals of Inquiry’, Inquiry circles and other reflective practice tools where we are looking at data on what we are doing well, what we can improve on ‘our’ problems of practice we are establishing a way forward.

 

To make Whakaroto work, we need to be mindful of how we operate day to day, making sure that we still do what we do in our own classes and not default expectation for sorting out behaviours to one person, teaching the same ‘ curriculum’ content and leaving one person with an uneven amount of work to do – we will need to establish distributed leadership early on and be flexible to make changes to this as the year progresses. We need to think about our skills and adjust what we do according to the competence and commitment of the team members.

 

Whanaungatanga is so important and communication demands increase – some is day to day, business as usual, or there may be time where face to face communication is essential. Infrastructure will be needed – emails, online google sheets etc. We need to use tools and opportunities to share communication. How will we use assessment – collection and data to plan?

 

 

 

 

 

NOW WHAT?

 

Looking forward, I need to establish a relationship with my co-teaching team and create a way forward together without taking over. I need to be mindful of creating goals for myself – holding onto my ideas lightly and being prepared to challenge my own ‘norms’.

 

I am excited to be working with these colleagues and I am aware that we are all at different stages of family life needs, this is where communication will be key to helping us through the ‘trickier’ times and guide us forward.

“There’s always a new challenge to keep you motivated.” ~  Sean Connery

How can I improve my practice to improve the writing of those children who are struggling to record their ideas? Part 7

WHAT?

I started the new term’s writing by introducing a poem called “The Leap by Selina Powell”, this is a poem that I have shared with half the

class last year. I have come to realise that holiday recounts don’t work for my class and I really don’t enjoy teaching recounts either.

 

The poem captures a moment in time of a girl remembering her holiday at the beach and how she is glad that she overcame her fears

and jumped off the wharf. Because the text was familiar to some of the children, I asked them to explain what had happened and they were

about to give the others that ‘aha’ moment.  What I really like about this poem is that it has a beginning, a middle and an end.

 

I asked the children to share what they noticed about the way the author had deliberately structured her poem and what writing tools she had

used to create a picture in our minds – activated nouns, precise choice of words. I guided the children to notice the structure of the piece

showing them that there was a beginning, middle and an end, in the way the piece was set out I also directed them how there were links

from the first stanza into the second stanza. I directed the children to use their pens to circle the beginning ‘when’ and the activated

nouns and this became the success criteria for their piece of writing.

 

After we had analysed the text, I gave the children time to share what had stuck in their mind from the holiday, they sat ‘knee to knee’

to do this. The children were very excited to share their adventures and even my low ability writers were engaged. I used the

pop sticks to choose a few children to share their holidays with the class. After I had drawn more ideas and activated the nouns

verbally I asked the children to take a moment to close their eyes and visualize the end part of the holiday, what they could

see, even who and what they were glad they did.

 

I could feel the anticipation, I told the children to now write, they all had a good idea and were very motivated to write. I worked with

a number of children roving around the class, after 30 minutes of solid writing I invited the children to come back to the

Helping Circle and share. The mini lesson (helping circle) began with the children pointing to their work, the ‘When’, the activated

nouns and had they used the correct structure in the way of stanzas. The children all in all hadn’t written much but they knew what to write.

 

Over the next couple of days, not that we had many due to Athletic skills practice and the usual start of the term, the children worked on

crafting their writing and adding enough information for the reader to create a picture. To publish these poems, I encouraged them to

handwrite them out, because it was a whole week of not using iPads. Unfortunately, I hadn’t left the correct sized paper for the

reliever to do with them on Friday so we continued into the following week to finish them.

 

SO WHAT?

 

The children wrote well, using a variety of topics and made the structure their own. Some did imitate the structure and the flow

of the poem using words from the text but all in all only a sprinkling of children did this. I was really pleased with the Helping

Circle during the writing sessions and how the children were happy to give and receive advice from their peers.

 

After talking with Verity, she said that I should get my children to record themselves reading out their poetry and share it on

the school TV station so that other teachers and children could see what is possible for holiday writing. I managed to record a

few and make an iMovie and the children who featured were visibly chuffed seeing themselves on the morning notices.

 

NOW WHAT?

 

I need to put up the rest of the children’s published writing in a place where they can be read. I am struggling to do this in my

class as they are A3 sized. I am thinking of getting them laminated so I can decorate the stairwell up to the Staffroom

to encourage others to follow Verity’s programme.

 

As far as my next lesson, Verity is coming in the class to trial a descriptive piece and encourage the children to stretch their

ideas by working on a vignette but do it well.

 

“Good writing is like a window pane.” ~ George Orwell

How can I improve my practice to improve the writing of those children who are struggling to record their ideas? Part 6

 

WHAT?
As suggested by Verity, my following writing lesson was all about encouraging

the children to use a poet’s eye when looking at everyday objects. The lesson

started as all my lessons do with the children seated in a circle, I gushed with

enthusiasm about how Mrs Short had really enjoyed working with them and

how they had impressed her with their language choices and that she was

looking forward to seeing and reading their poems later.
 
I provided the children with random objects from my science table, hidden

under the sink, my back room and encouraged them to look at items in and

around the classroom, such as their own pencil case and even an old pencil,

anything that appealed to them. Their choice. The children were then set the

task of writing about it, some children couldn’t decide on an object to choose

so I said take two and write about one then pick another, no limit.
 
Some of the children had asked whether or not they could go back and write

more about the first object from when they worked with Mrs Short. I gave the

children ownership on choice and what to write, encouraging the use of the

writing tools we have used before. The class was a bit noisy to start with and I

encouraged them to work without talking as they need to think and really use

a poet’s eye to capture that image so others could see what they could see.
 
After about 15 minutes I brought the children back to the Helping Circle and

asked who would like to share, there was a mass of hands up so I used the

named sticks to pull out the children randomly. I used this strategy with the

class so this something that they are used to. The children who were chosen

were excited to share and the other’s response was heartwarming. I used

specific feedback as Verity had and encouraged the children to offer ideas to

improve as well. Verity had suggested using the prompt, “What would happen

if…” I tried this with some success.
 
When looking through the children’s book later, I noticed that some had

written end to end, line upon line of great imagery and that one of my boys

had structured his writing like a poem. This would be my next place to start.

My next lesson started with me sharing a poem written by a very shy girl in

the class, I asked for permission to share first, I forewarned her what I was

going to do with her work. I read her writing with the class, a huge round of

applause and congratulations, I read the structured poem as well, another

round of applause. I turned the books round and showed the children the

difference in the writing, knowing full well that everyone else's looked like the

girl’s. I asked them to tell me what they noticed.
 
Because I have taught structure, the setting out, the children quickly told me

what I was asking for. I asked the children to now focus on one object and

stretch out their ideas and try thinking about their setting out, and where they

thought the line breaks needed to go. Again the children were very engaged, I

worked with one child who is in my priority group and supported her to draw

out her ideas about a shadow. She was visibly delighted that I was amazed

with her ideas and what she had imagined. I felt like this was a breakthrough

for her.
 
The children worked well and were quickly ready to share with each other

their poems. I provided an opportunity for this picking only four children to

share. The results were amazing, we also had before the writing started, set a

success criteria of three to four ideas, setting out like a poem and activating

nouns. The Helping Circle started with the children finding their successes

very powerful. I enjoyed this lesson and the following one working on structure

and the best choice of words.
 
 
SO WHAT?
 
The children in the class, the next two sessions were all at different stages,

some still exploring ideas, some stretching ideas and really being critical,

others redrafting working on line breaks and others actually publishing their

poems. I buddied up children to share their work, find their errors, support

others to record their ideas. I mostly worked with those who struggled to

record, sometimes being a scribe or just keeping them on task.
 
My heart was swelling with pride as I was sharing these amazing poems later

with Verity and other colleagues. They were surprised and visibly pleased

reading the children’s work. As part of our classroom practice, the children

are encouraged to share their work on a portfolio internet platform for the

parents. This just confirmed my thinking that writing needs an audience and

that the children are be achieve success in writing with poetry.
 
 
NOW WHAT?
 
Where to now? More poetry writing. I hope to redo a lesson that I worked on

last year. A lesson about a moment in time during a child’s holiday that is

written as a poem, some of my children have done this before but I know they

will do a far better job of it after this latest poetry session.
 
I will need to fill my head with some more ideas from Verity and clone some of

her thinking. Not that I think I will ever be as good as her at it, as she lives and

breathes the teaching of writing, although I do know that my teaching of

writing is way better than it was.
 

“In order to grow in life, we need to be able to accept that we do not know everything. When you become flexible in your beliefs, you become open to learning and receiving.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Improving my understanding of Collaboration and Co-Teaching? Part 1

 WHAT?

As part of improving my leadership capability, I am taking part in a Webinar with Mark Osborne on Collaboration and

Co-Teaching for the next 4 weeks. This is in preparation for 2021, as I will be working in a collaborative space as well as

being a leader of other teachers working in collaborative spaces and co-teaching.

 

Mark Osborne, is a leader for teaching in and working with Innovative Learning Environments. He has been working

on improving outcomes for teachers making the change into collaborative environments and co-teaching from single

cell classrooms. He shares a presentation as he lectures to us and the first session is about Effective Team Function.

 

“Setting up a high functioning collaborative team is essential whether or not you are in a co-teaching space or working

as part of a team in a single cell space.” Mark starts by asking a question on where we are at to start and sets him up

for the rest of the sessions. He shared the three “Ps”, he unpacked the graphic organiser and discussed the components

of an effective teacher in a collaborative environment.

 

These components work hand in hand, and he also stressed the importance of making change but we need to be

prepared and  ready even before we begin to teach. So that effective team function is going to help stabilise the journey.

The justification for co-teaching is because we know that children thrive when they are exposed with a variety of

pedagogies, that no two brains work the same, by giving the children the choice empowers them to take ownership

of their own learning and the learning becomes more future focussed. It also supports deep learning for diverse learners.

 

“Co-teaching among teachers was shown to offer…’a powerful means of continuous professional learning that can

result in expanded instructional knowledge and practice, as well as higher and consistent expectations for students.”

York-Barr et al. (2007)

 

When we co-teach, we become more capable teachers. Learning from each other and expanding our own capacity to

be the best we can be. Research says that the best teachers produce the best outcomes and those children who are

in front of poor teachers then we are handicapping the progress for these children for up to three years. Mark outlined

the research as something we can use these ideas with families and whanau as well as teachers and colleagues.

 

He also stressed the importance of the fact that you can’t just put people in a room and tell them to co-teach. 

Foundations need to be in place well beforehand to make it happen successfully. We need to be mindful of what works –

To improve our knowledge Mark posed a number of activities where we have to label and number statements on where we place the more collaborative statements and shared a framework for collaboration to help us to understand what it all actually means.

 

 

Defining co-teaching:

“Co-teaching is two or more people sharing responsibility forteaching all of the students assigned to a classroom”

(Villa, Thousandand Nevin, 2008)

 

In preparation for co-teaching and collaboration, Mark uses a tree metaphor to explain what is needed to make this

successful.

 

Mark also used Tuckmann model to illustrate effective team performance.

 

Mark stressed the importance of storming is the most phase is the Storming phase and

this is a form of conflict and there are 5 sources of conflict.

 

All these forms of conflict are present in the Storming phase, but the first 2 stages are productive and the others can

be destructive. Relationship based conflict is the most poisonous, as it attacks the person and is damaging to both

parties. But if you stay on the topic and process based conflict then this can be very productive, arguing about

strategies to take and order of events. It is still difficult as we can have our own ideas and be upset as we see

the attack on us not the idea. Something to be mindful of as we are in the STORMING Phase.

Mark suggested that you “HOLD YOUR IDEAS LIGHTLY” as this will help the team dynamics and will help you to be

in a productive form of conflict. Mark goes on to share a text called “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, he gave

the 5 statements for the dysfunctions and the author says that there is a root to all dysfunctionally. Mark asked us to put

them in order.

 

The order is:

1.   Lack of Trust

2.   Fear of Conflict

3.   Lack of Commitment

4.   Avoidance of Accountability

5.   Inattention to Results

 

Mark stressed the importance of having frank, honest and open debate. He also stressed that we need to build

trust with our colleagues and is going to help us go a long way with collaboration and co-teaching. He finished

with a recap and reflection for where to next.

So What?

  

I feel privileged to be one of the 4 teachers from our school taking part in this, I am the only Team Leader with

the DP experiencing this alongside me. There are many facets of this that I feel I need to get my head around

although I’m not sure who I am working with next year as the team hasn't been decided yet.

 

There are many take-aways for my current team about building up that sense of trust and moving through

the different levels of dysfunctionality as I can see comparisons for them. I believe that all team leaders should be

exposed to this PD especially looking forward to next year and that we are working with whanau grouping too.

 

Now What?

 

I need to be open minded to where this journey will take me and how it will impact the children, my colleagues

and myself going forward into 2021. I need to actively seek the purpose of the combinations of teachers to

gain a better understanding of what I am required to do in my role as

Team Leader.

 

It will mean that it will be necessary to involve my co-Team Leader and upskill her with this thinking as well as

the other Team Leaders around me so that we are speaking the same language and can elevate the whole team

not just a select few.

 

“Setting up a high functioning collaborative team is essential whether or not you are in a co-teaching space or working as part of a team in a single cell space.” Mark Osborne