What is Teacher Collaboration?


Collaboration between teachers promotes the examination of what should be taught, the rethinking of practicum experiences for teachers, the sharing of knowledge and expertise, the faculty modeling--all have high potential to support teachers' ability to work together for meaningful change (Winn & Blanton, 2005). Teachers that have collaborations among each other help with support of lesson plans, classroom managment, behovirol problem and so much more. Take the following video into consideration:

Teacher Collaboration Explained


It can be difficult to understand how to collaborate with other teachers when time does not permit. This can be addressed by utilizing the following format to help with optimizing ones time wisely when meeting.
 We all know how important time is in education. Utilizing the check list will help keep teachers on tract when they meet each week.Take the following scenario:

Debra a first year teacher meets with her buddy teacher once a week. Over the last week Debra has felt she is unable to control the classroom due to a couple of students behavioral problems. In addition Debra, has felt overwhelmed with the up coming STAR test and it is starting to show in her lesson plans.

How would you fill in this check list to help Debra?



When meeting with your co-teacher remember to be positive and supportive of their problems by finding solutions. Teachers that collaborative with each other help most teachers feel better about themselves and their work, and provided them with opportunities to learn from each other (Johnson, 2003). Be open minded and work together!

Laugh and Collaborate



Each teacher will do one of the following to test their knowledge of teacher collaboration:

Think about Debra's situation and how you would help her to keep moving forward. Explain by doing one of the following:

Create a training blog
Make a YouTube video
A word document

With your choice ensure you address solutions and how the two of you would collaborate to fix the problem. Remember when creating your activity to include absorb, do, and connect activities. Please review our last training for reference.

For more information on Teacher Collaboration check out these links:

Teacher Collaboration

Collaboration Activities

The Power of Collaboration

Lets get to Collaborating! 

References:

Johnson, B. (2003). Teacher collaboration: Good for some, not so good for others. Educational Studies, 29(4), 337-350.

Winn, J., & Blanton, L. (2005). The call for collaboration in teacher education.Focus on Exceptional Children, 38(2), 1-10.

Learning from each other!

Over the last few weeks we have been implementing new ways to incorporate our lesson plans and increasing our teaching skills. We have reviewed how absorb and do activities can be used not only in the classroom, but in the training process as well. The next step is a connect activity. According to Horton (2012 p.) connect activities range from simple stop-and think questions to complex real-world work assignments. What does this mean to you? Connect activities help bring the training in a full circle by making connections to real classroom situations. Furthermore Horton (2012 p.) explains that connect activities include rhetorical questions, meditations, and cite-example activities. This can be achieved through storytelling activities, learners tell stories relevant to the subject they are studying.

First lets look at what makes good storytelling. Please look at the following YouTube video.

Storytelling School 101: The Simplest Story

Let's review, making a good story there has a minimal of three parts beginning, middle, and end. Then you need to ask the question "What is the purpose of this story?" or the intent? Take the following diagram into consideration. Each of you have been assigned a topic over the success and down falls of implementing the last two training models. Using your assigned topic make a YouTube video telling your classroom story. Be creative. Use a felt board or puppets to explain how you implemented the lesson and what you struggled with in turn of the classroom. Remember to use the diagram below to help make each video a success.


(Image Source: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com)

This is a story about your real life situation of implementing the last two lessons. Please try not to add to much fiction to your story. It is a reenactment of your success and struggles.


(Image source: http://www.digitalsherpa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/visual-marketing.jpg)

Once you have made your video post it onto our wiki site and select two videos to watch. Comment on What you knew? What you want to know more? and What you learned? Use the following as a guide.

(Image source: http://whysospecial.com/tag/k-w-l-chart/)

Answering these questions will help you decipher the information presented in the video. KWL charts is designed to enhance comprehension in the content area (Mok, Lung, Cheung, & Ng, 2006). By enhancing the comprehension each of you will be able to learn from each other and use that knowledge in the classroom.

References:

Horton, W. (2012). E-Learning by design (2nd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: W

Mok, M. M. C., Lung, C. L., Cheng, D. P. W., Cheung, R. H. P., & Ng, M. L. (2006). Self‐assessment in higher education: Experience in using a metacognitive approach in five case studies. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(4), 415-433.

James and the Giant Peach Vocabulary

James and the Giant Peach

Vocabulary for Chapter 1-3

nuisance
permitted
desolate
wistful

peculiar
crouching

First re-introduce the vocabulary words to the students. Ask the students to give examples of the words or to use them in a sentence. Using the smartboard would be a great way to allow the students to manipulate the words by having them phonetically mark them. Then do the following activity. 

First lets Review:

Review below on how each word works in a sentence:

1) Kimberly was a nuisance while her mom was trying to clean the house.

2) Bobby was permitted to play his video game after making 100 on his vocabulary test.

3) Susan felt very desolate after no one picked her for a team member.

4) Trent was wistful for a red truck on his 10th birthday.

5) It was very peculiar how April decided to color her paper blue.

6) Bobby was found crouching behind the couch after he broke his moms vase.

Grab a pencil and paper and make your own sentence then trade with a friend. Read the sentence out loud and check your work. 

Vocabulary is very important to understand what you read. By reading the words out loud the students will become familiar with the material not only visually but orally as well. It is important for the tell the students what the word means, but also discuss its meaning. This allows the student to develop an understanding of the words connotations as well as it denotation (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2002). Open discussion whether in the classroom or on-line helps students make a connection to help them retain the information. 

Now lets incorporate a do-type activity. There are several types of do-type activities such as practice, discovery, games and simulations. According to Horton (2012), do-type activities convert information gained from an absorbed activity into skills and knowledge. Make sure when making your own to keep it relevant to the lesson and that the students are participating on all levels. 

For this activity introduce the students to the on-line web-base of Crossword puzzle making. This site allows students to create and make their own crossword puzzles. First have each student make an account. Then the fun begins as the site allows you to create your own piece of art. Click on the link below to see a demo 

Link: Vocabulary

Once the students have created their crosswords instruct them to print them out. Then have the students switch papers with another student to complete. 

Be creative and allow the students to display their papers on the wall. Help them show pride in their work!

Resources:

Blachowicz, C. L., & Fisher, P. (2002). Teaching vocabulary in all classrooms. Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Horton, W. (2012). E-Learning by design (2nd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: W

Cognitive Stages and lesson plans

Each one of the students in your class is learning on a different cognitive stage and it important to understand which one they are on. Please watch the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt3-PIC2nCs

As you can see cognitive development is important to how much the student obtains from a lesson. By taking the time to identify the level they are can help with lesson plans and ultimately helping the student strive in your classroom.

Not only will this help the child succeed it excels your teaching ability into a new domain. Once the teacher has achieved the goal of understanding what level of development their students are on one will notice a few things such as; classroom management, decrease in behavioral issues, easier lesson planning, and so much more. 

The question now is how to know what stage your students are on? First an understanding of each stage must be mastered by the teacher. Next on the back of the lesson plan is the stages of development and how they relate to each students level.

 This means lots of observation on your part! Take the following example:

During outside play you notice Susan is having trouble running with the other students. 

You as the teacher observing this activity will mark on the back of the lesson plan under physical development mark Susan's initials next to demonstrates basic loco-motor skills. This is going to help  remind you with next weeks lesson to add a gross motor skill training to the weeks objectives. To help Susan master this goal! 

How about another example:

During library Dill opens a book. He starts to point to pictures as he verbally reads out loud from memory the story. 

Now look at your choices where would you place Dill initials?

Dill could be placed in a few spots. First under Reading and Writing line 44. Dill is showing us that he enjoys and values reading. By making this observation we can build on this skill to help him enhance his development level. Next you could also place Dill initials under Reading and Writing line 47. 

Observation is a key element that each of you must master to excel your students into the next group of cognitive learning. 

 This is Shadow our to cool for school Boarder Collie!He is 3 years old and tries to be the center of attention!

Meet Lacy who likes to show her belly and Bailey who is the ring leader! These two by far think they run the house!

About Me

Welcome,

       My name is April and this is my husband Jason. We are new to the blog family, but are excited for everyone to see our journey through life. We are pretty simple country folk from Texas both raised out in the middle of know where. I can only wish we can do the same for our son. We where raised with good family values and taught to respect our elders early. It still amazes me living in the city that no one uses eye contact. I wounder if they are afraid I might say "Hi" anti-social city folk ;) So next time you walk into a store "put the device down" and watch for the old lady you almost plowed over! okay rant over :) Here is to family and simple livin!

My Journey

On a stormy day in April a booming baby girl was born... Okay maybe two far back :) How did I end up here you ask? Well I started out going to college at Kilgore Community College where I obtained my Associates in Early Childhood Education then moving to a University I ran out of money! So, I joined the Air Force to help pay for school. My first station was in Germany for three years where I started to finish my BA in Education from Ashford. I also worked at the Child Development Center (CDC) for a year in Germany. I had 22 3-5 year olds that I even to this day miss. It was to much with the AF and working at the CDC. I was then move to my last station in Abilene Tx. I was back in the states a whole two months when I was deployed to Afghanistan for 7 months. I came back from my deployment having finished my BA in Education from Ashford. I then started my Masters in Education with a Focus in Mathematics finishing about a year ago. Taking a year off my husband and I then decided we wanted children and I was going to stay at home with them. This is how I decided to get another masters in teaching on-line with teaching technology. My goal is to become an on-line educator, so I can still contribute, but yet be home with the kiddos.

January 20, 2015 @ 1724 we added our first addition Travis Henry Snider.

 I can say he loves to help with homework and sleep :)

My Studies:

My K-12 education journey was not a pleasant one. I was made fun of a lot, because we didn’t have money for nice fancy clothes. I also struggled academically even though a lot of teachers tried to push me off I finally had a sub-teacher that noticed something that changed my life! She went to my parents and had convinced them to have me tested for dyslexia. By this time I was already in the 7th grade. The test came out positive and I was put into a class for help. Four years later I walk across the stage 3rd in my class.

What the Future May Hold:

Since obtaining my MAED with a focus in Mathematics I was tutoring students around San Antonio. This was very time consuming and as you see I have my own little one to tend to so I stopped at the end of the school year last year. Not wanting someone else to raise my children and having a passion for teaching is what made me want to teach on-line but as I started to look for jobs I found many schools and colleges wanted some training in on-line teaching. This helped me with my decision of going back to school for another master to help me stand apart and teach on-line.  

This quote speaks to me, because this is how I learn. I believe if we as instructors go the extra mile to ensure we know how our students learn then each student will gain something from the class.