Why Collaborate?

Studies have shown that there are lower turnover rates for beginning teachers in schools with mentoring, induction, and collaborative programs in place. When teachers are staying at a school in one grade level for longer they become more comfortable with the curriculum and more easily discover better and more innovative ways to deliver their instruction: thus creating higher levels of student achievement. Collaboration makes teachers more successful, which in turn makes students more successful. When it comes to collaboration I always think that two heads are better than one. When I’m having trouble academically or behaviorally with a kiddo and I am out of ideas to help, I need to collaborate with other teachers and specialists at my school to come up with new ideas. This has a direct affect on the success of one specific student. Collaboration can take many different forms. I collaborate with my grade level team on a daily basis with one designated planning meeting a week. We collaborate on what we are teaching to make sure we are all on the same page. We also share responsibilities to make our instruction better. One of my teammates focuses on social studies units. We all help and we all teach the social studies units to our respective classes, but she is the one who collects all the ideas from our team, does research into standards and curriculum, and then types up a formal teacher lesson plan and makes worksheet copies for all of us. I do the same thing for science. If I had to independently plan science and social studies units simultaneously I would not be able to put enough creative energies into either of them to make the units as engaging as possible. We work together to help create the best possible lessons for our students.

Technology	How it can help with collaboration
Google Docs	We use Google Docs religiously at our school. Every form that we use and lesson plan we create is on Google Docs. One person creates a document or spreadsheet and shares it with everyone else. Then everyone can simultaneously add to and change the document in real time. We create lessons and units together while all sitting at our computers in our respective classrooms. Everyone always has the latest version of the document and can access it from any computer or wireless device with Internet.
Skype	At the beginning of the school year our principal went on maternity leave. She is very big into collaboration and she still wanted to be available to us teachers. We were able to have a few grade level meetings on Skype and were able to bounce ideas off our principal while we were at school and she was sitting in her living room. There are even more possibilities with Skype as well. We could chat face to face with any person no matter where they are in the world. I have a friend that is teaching elementary school in Indonesia and I Skype with her and we work on our lesson plans together. Distance is not a hindrance with this new technology.
Pinterest	I have recently discovered the amazing website that is Pinterest. And while it is great for finding new recipes or ways to DIY your house, it is also a cornucopia of teaching ideas. When I “Pin” a teaching idea, I am sharing it with and collaborating with thousands of teachers all across the country. If I am looking for a specific topic or strategy I can search for keywords, or I can just browse. I have found so many wonderful ideas on Pinterest that I never would have thought of on my own. Teaching blogs fit into this category too. This reiterates that two (or a thousand) heads are always better than one.
Youtube And Teachertube	With so many teachers becoming more technology savvy these days, there are tons of educational videos online. On Youtube or Teachertube educators have recorded thousands of complete lessons and share ideas. You might find a way of teaching multiplication that you never knew before and now you can teach those few students lagging behind in math. Websites like Kahn Academy fit into this category too, and while they are a valuable resource, they by no means replace primary instruction.