Collaborative Teaching : One Awesome, Engaging, Royal Mess

“Take this card from English and bring it to World Geography. Write all of the things that overlap. Topics researched in English that you talk about in Geography. Then take the card to Math and do the same thing. Same thing with Science. Then to Band, choir, art, tech ed, and FACs. Every day you will have a card filled with topics and themes that cover all of the content areas. Use these to cement facts and ideas in your mind. File them in your ‘Cross Curricular Receptacle’ in your locker.”


Imagining an education system which would work like this makes me insanely excited. There is nothing more advantageous than to link relevancy to material in class. Students are much more likely to recall information and apply difficult themes when they have received it in several different places and possibly different methods. This type of instruction is referred to as Cross Curricular Teaching or Collaboration or Interdisciplinary teaching. But they all basically mean the same thing. Students are taught, sometimes with several teachers, material which spans the different curricular areas.


My own experience with this type of instruction was complicated! I agree and advocate for collaboration with teachers and content. I believe this is the best way to link relevancy to material which doesn’t directly apply to their lives outside of school. Plus, I believe it denotes the nature of education being that it is not to be segregated but built upon. I teach a concept in English that my fellow science teacher also teaches (even something simple as research and I use the Big 6 Research method) and it would be great if we used the same method, same terms. Students latch on to this because they are already comfortable with or at least familiar with this method. But it can be so hard to do this in a small school where the system isn’t set up to directly easily accommodate this type of teaching.


When I student taught in Fargo, I was lucky enough to be in a middle school where it was set up in teams. Cross curricular occurred all the time! We had team meetings daily where we would discuss how we were approaching certain topics and it became easy to say, “I want to teach research methods in my classroom, what do you guys use in your classes so I can teach something they will be familiar with or use later?” Plus we all taught seventh grade so if we wanted to team teach a class it was as easy as saying, “Okay Math and English together today in the team center.” This system was smooth and forward thinking.


However, when I accepted a job I went to a small rural school where I taught seventh grade English this was not the system. Though the positives of teaching in a small school are many, there are also many challenges. One of these was the difficulty in setting up collaboration with other teachers. I did make this happen as often as I could. However the first time, it is almost comical how difficult it was to make it happen. The first step was to search out a teacher who would be willing to do this with me, no matter what. I found one in an 11th grade social studies teacher. Odd combo to say the least but we planned and planned until we came up with an interdisciplinary unit which we felt would be a positive experience for students. With this arrangement I felt our students also benefited from learning to work with students of a different age and especially with my seventh graders this would be an opportunity for personal growth. So then we went and presented it to the principal. He was accepting and positive about it. He said “figure out how you are going to do it and let me know what you need me to do.” That was the tough part! We taught several periods in which the other did not have students. We had to adjust our lessons for the classes which would not be paired (one only 7th grade lesson and one only 11th grade lesson). And then we had to reschedule our days (my eating lunch at a different time as well as my students from one period). We had to teach through our own preps and keep all of this straight for our students. In general we made a royal mess out of the schedule. But it was worth it. Seeing the students working together and on their group projects which included research, presentation and a creative writing piece was amazing. Students requested this activity again and again through the year.

I was lucky to find a teacher who was as dedicated to this project as I was because there were many times where it would have been easier just to drop it. But the rewards of cross curricular teaching are immense and we need to strive to include in our curriculum this as much as possible.

Motivation Proclamation

When we go out looking for information about our students, our classrooms, our target demographic, we find it. Overwhelmingly we find that we need to figure out how to “motivate” our students. How to reach the students by understanding where they come from and what is important to them. Our students are constantly changing. Each generation is different than the others. However, it seems that motivation is a perpetual problem. Teachers have taken it upon themselves to try to motivate their students to learn with different techniques. The techniques of motivations are varied. However, they are pretty consistent. These techniques, if implemented, could change the level of realistic student learning.

In Carol Wells article "Motivational Techniques for Improving Reading Comprehension Among Innercity High School Students," several techniques are listed to motivate students. The article references "Innercity" students but states that it can relate to any students that have turned off or tuned out. I believe the techniques can be applied to all students as a way to motivate students.

The first technique for motivating students to read is to maintain a relaxed atmosphere. This can be accomplished by taking an interest in what students are interested in. Then books can be selected for students based on those interests. One way to determine what students are interested in is to have students complete a questionnaire. It is important to know that there is a different direct way to have students to do specific tasks. It becomes set how students will do tasks and sometimes our current technology falls short. With the technology available, it is only a matter of time until something perfect comes out allowing all of these things to be done for the teachers and students alike.

A second technique for motivating students to read is to make time for sustained silent reading or what I refer to as independent reading time. By showing students how to create time for reading they will be motivated to read more. This is an example of modeling when teachers also do the same thing. As a teacher, I try to give time to read. When students are assigned time to read, I try to do that as well. This shows students reading is as important (if not more) than the current filing or copies to be made.

Another motivating technique that I found particularly interesting was make the school library inviting. It was suggested that libraries arrange books just like a book store by displaying attractive covers rather than the uninviting Dewey decimal notations. This technique discusses the issues of the standardization versus patron needs. It is a fine line but when the audience is clear, it may be best to keep it in the bookstore layout.

Providing a reading list is another way to motivate students to read. This list should be developed based on the answers to the student questionnaire. The list will help students to find books that match their interests and will keep them excited about reading.

Finally, another technique that is given to motivate students to read is to form a book club or reading club. With the rise of social collaboration web sites, there will soon be the option available to teachers and students to join an online book club community. That issue will have to be explored in a future blog.

Censorship

The dirty word in library circles echoes in the school classrooms

The constant flux of the education system is not ditch right outside the doorway. This perpetual change trails into the Media center just like any other place in the school. Media Centers are full of energy, books, policies, information seekers and, hopefully, guidance. One thing that has no place in the media center is censorship. Library Media Specialists, ones who are true to their profession, fight to keep censorship out and the Right to Read in the Media Centers. These individuals are advocates for intellectual freedom and educate students about their rights to all materials. This blatant support of student’s rights is awesome but is implied for their positions. It is the other teachers and staff that are often overlooked when thinking about censorship. There are so many ways that classroom education has changed with technological advances and modifications in education. However one thing that hasn’t changed too much is sadly the censorship of books and materials in the classroom.

Censorship is not only not allowing books but also censoring what students can write about . Both of these are happening daily in American schools. When reading about acts of censorship in the public schools it is fascinating. When Carrie Courogen wrote an article about censorship for her high school paper she was surprised to have this article censored by her advisor. She did make a particularly interesting quote, “If school districts deem something inappropriate, they have a responsibility to protect the rights of the majority before the rights of the minority.” The power to censor student works is in the hands of the school districts. Teachers are often held responsible for their student’s work and in a system where teachers who are not willing to do this are often fired or ridiculed. The issue of whether or not teachers should be held responsible for the student’s work is often debated. Though it is not easy to make a clear statement of where the responsibility lays, the true point is student rights. Though society wants to figure out to whom we can point a finger at, we also may need to decide that students could be responsible for their actions. If we let student’s take responsibility for their actions we could enrich their sense of self and teach them about results of their actions. Giving students their rights and teaching them the responsibility of these rights could be the best teaching tool we have.

When we think about student’s rights, we need to focus on this poignant statement about censorship by Courogen:

“Students should not be asked to abandon their rights at school doors. They should not be the subjects of constant censorship of school officials. The school environment is one of the few places that students should feel comfortable expressing themselves in an effort to grow and mature intellectually.”