Proficiency Statement:
I
have demonstrated proficiency in Collaboration for Instruction by
working with teachers and other members of the school community to
develop engaging lessons using instructional strategies that address
students' various approaches to learning as well as their interests,
abilities, and needs by working collaboratively with:
- Mr. Stuart Gay for a 10th-grade English curriculum-based unit of study about the Big 6 and novel connections.
- Mr. Nate Dent for a 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Social Studies curriculum-based lesson about resources better than Wikipedia and Google.
- Mrs. Cindy Edgerton for School Library Media responsibilities.
Description:
The
unit of study is entitled “REVIEW: Extending Knowledge from Novels” and
is intended to engage 10th grade students in topics related to class
and independent novels read in the sophomore English classroom. The
focus skills of the unit center on how to find relevant and reliable
information for any search topic and to prepare for a formal MLA-format
research paper using an annotated bibliography and basic paragraph
construction.
My
teacher partner is Mr. Stuart Gay, an education professional of over 30
years. We selected this topic because Mr. Gay and I firmly believe that
it is important to teach sophomores how to research and the steps that
go into thorough research, regardless of the type of data or topic. By
offering a range of content-related topics we hope to encourage both
further understanding of course material as well as student choice to
pursue learning beyond classroom assignments.
Analysis:
When I spoke to Mr. Gay at the end of this planning, his biggest
feedback was the benefit of thinking about teaching in different ways.
By having a dialogue between the two of us as education professionals,
we both had the opportunity to get “off the rabbit track and out of our
comfort zone” according to Mr. Gay. He highlighted that many of the
concepts in his own classroom mirror the goals of information seeking.
The school library offers a different environment and new resources or
approaches to the same student concepts and challenges. This is
consistent with my expectations coming into this collaborative project: I
hoped to meet MR. Gay at his curriculum needs. I imagine this will be
much more difficult or at least new challenges depending on different
student levels and subject matters. However, this should be the goal of
the school librarian: meet the teacher and students with the resources
they need.
Additionally, Mr. Gay commented that we did not meet every day or even
on a set, regular basis. Instead, we made the best use of time by a few
efficient meetings of about an hour rather than daily or weekly
check-ins. When either of us had a question or suggestion, we did have a
few ten-minute phone calls or quick emails. I like this method of
co-teaching, but it necessarily relies on trusting the other educator to
fulfill their roles. I imagine that this reality would be much harder
during the school year as teachers and librarians both have multiple
responsibilities and goals that must be met simultaneously.
Reflection:
I have learned to be clear and precise in my communication with peer
educators by completing this collaborative unit. I think that I will
still need to explore exactly how the flow of co-teaching would be
amidst the challenges and everydays of classroom and student life. I
have high hopes that my Pathfinder and collected resources, as well as
the format of lessons and introduction of naming the research process to
the students will benefit them as the year unfolds.
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