Collaborative Teaching

One of the most enjoyable things about being a teacher is that when you close the door you are completely in charge of what goes on in your class. I think the fear of losing this sense of independence is one of the biggest reasons that teachers are often hesitant to collaborate with other teachers. However, by maintaining independence, teachers hinder students from seeing the relevancy between subjects, and keep them from gaining a deeper understanding of the content. In reality collaborative teaching doesn't mean giving up control of your content, in fact collaborative teaching can give teachers more time and freedom to focus on the content that is most important to their students.

If you are a teacher that is interested in collaborative teaching, or you are skeptical about working with other teachers, this blog post has some tips that can help you start expanding your teaching beyond your classroom.


      1. Stay organized with technology. 

              This is a technology blog so I would be remiss if I didn't start by saying
              technology is at the heart of good collaboration. Of course you can
              collaborate with other teachers without technology, however it will require
              a lot more planning and after hours meetings. Technology makes the process
              much easier to plan, and it also makes it very flexible when changes need to
              be made (and you will need to make changes). Here are some examples of
              how technology can be used to help in collaborative teaching:

• Create a Google Classroom and make all collaborators teachers in the class. This will allow every teacher to check on where students are in other subjects, and it will give the teachers access to reference specific assignments that students are doing in other classes. 
• Split grading responsibilities. If an assignment covers more than one subject, come up with a rubric so that one teacher can their content and you can grade yours. (Ex. Research Paper on the American Revolution. English teacher grades writing, History teacher grades historical content). 
• Create a shared folder in Google Drive that all collaborating teachers can access. Share things like vocabulary lists, rubrics, handouts, etc. 
• Create a shared Google Calendar. Make sure that all teachers know when specific content will be covered so that you can adjust as needed. 
• When you email questions or ideas CC all collaborating teachers so that no one is left of the discussion. (Emails can also keep you from having to hold so many after school meetings). 

     2. Start with the obvious.  

               I love ideas that teachers share online. I am constantly checking twitter, 

               pinterest, podcasts, and blogs. The problem I have with them is that they 

               can make teachers feel like they aren't doing enough. You do not have 

               start with a grandiose interdisciplinary project to be successful at collaborative 

               teaching. So instead of trying to copy what you find online simply sit down 

               with the teacher(s) you will be working with and look over each others 

               standards. If you find things that obviously go together, start with that. For 

               example if you teach English and you are working with a history teacher you 

               might see that your students are reading a book that covers one of the history 

               standards. From there you can try to schedule the book and the history 

               lessons accordingly, or you  might create a shared vocabulary list that would 

               help students in both classes. This is a great way to try out collaborative 

               teaching because content is reinforced, but you as the teacher still maintain a 

               substantial amount of control over your class. 

               Once you start looking you will see that there is a lot that over laps in between 

               Math and Science, as well as English and Social Studies. What might 

               surprise you is when you start working with electives as well. You can come 

               up with some really engaging lessons when you tie your content with Art, 

               Computer Science, Culinary Arts, and PE. 

     3. Respect the teachers with whom you Collaborate. 

                We should always respect our colleagues, but this is exceptionally true when

                are working closely together. You may have a great idea about a collaborative

                lesson, but that doesn't mean the other teacher(s) will be as excited about it 

                as you are. This could be that they are not completely comfortable with 

                collaborative assignments or they may feel that the activity doesn't focus 

                enough on their content. You can state your case to try to change their 

                mind, but let them know they are completely free to say no and you will 

                not hold it against them. 

                On the other side of this is if they come to you with an idea try to find 

                ways to make it work instead of reasons why their idea won't work. You 

                might find out that assignments that you thought would be pointless can 

                be the most successful. 

In the comments below share ways you have to 

successfully collaborate with other teachers.