Thing 15: Collaboration

I always thought that I did a pretty good job of collaborating with my media specialist. However, when I looked at the rubric that was included in the core with this "thing" I can see where I certainly fall short!

I see myself mostly at a level 1: ask Jeanne for some resources and then use them in my classroom. I can't think of a time when I was functioning at level 4: being an equal partner in the planning, teaching, and evaluating of a unit.

One of the articles I read about collaboration pointed out the biggest obstacle: time! Isn't time always a problem?! I also read that teacher training programs don't necessarily teach people how to collaborate. I would tend to agree with this.

While Jeanne and I certainly collaborate here and there...like on research projects throughout the year and History Day, we have yet to work on a unit together. I want to continue the sporadic collaboration of course (especially with the Medieval Unit coming up) but I would really like to look at a unit from beginning to end.

This gives me a goal for next year! I always think my Ancient Rome unit lacks pizazz. It is a fascinating area to study, but I sometimes feel like I am running short of ideas by this time of the year when I hit my January slump. I know that Jeanne is a very creative person, so I believe the two of us could come up with some great stuff!