Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
Educators teach the standards every day, conveying information through literature and informational text. We want to ensure the curriculum is learned and is taught the right way. Wait, is there a right way?  The reality is we all have our own way of teaching, but making sure all standards are taught can be stressful; therefore, letting our kids take over during our teaching can be conflicting. There is great value in direct teaching because our objective is explicitly taught, and stopping for our students to talk could cause us to lose focus.  What we can’t forget is that most of our students are coming into our classroom with a vast amount of background knowledge that they are ready to build upon. We need to know where our students come from, be aware of their academic level and begin to link it to their cultural, personal, and educational journey. In doing this we begin to enrich our own learning and teaching experience.
Educate with student-led conversations and you will see the curriculum come to life. The smiles and thoughts that come out of young minds can be mind-blowing, and challenge you to better your practice every day. The academic growth will be evident, but more importantly, you will also begin to see professional growth take place.
	Educational studies show how strongly we are influenced by the behavior of others when we are kids, and how innate our collaborative tendencies are. Kagan’s Essential 2 states that, “Teamwork can make a huge difference in achievement and engagement and can take their students a very long way simply instead of “calling-on-one”.  Along with higher academic achievement you will see a reduction of the gap between high and low achieving students, improved social skills and cooperativeness,  improved self-esteem, increased liking for school and learning, improved classroom climate, decreased discipline problems, increased leadership and employability skills, improved conflict resolution skills and increased empathy and concern for others!” (Clowes, G. The Essential 5: A Starting Point for Kagan Cooperative Learning San Clemente,CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine, Spring 2011 www.Kaganonline.com )
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. ~African Proverb
Direct teaching with collaborative conversations is the ideal situation, but not easy by any means. As previously stated, I begin collaborative conversations from day one. This can definitely be noisy and conversations can quickly go off-topic at the beginning of the school year.  You can start with “Partner Sharing”; Partner A talks to Partner B, or vice versa and then move into Rally Robin.  In order to maintain control and have valuable discussion during this time, hold students accountable. Set up each table with Kagan Mats for students to know who their face and shoulder partners are.  Have an anchor chart or table notes to address accountable table talk. Then, tell students which partner will be talking first (ex. Partner A will share their thoughts first) and then the listener should take a quick note (ex. My partner stated…) on the writing mat, of his/her partner’s response.  Students will begin to share their thoughts as they get to know one another and then learn to discuss the curriculum being taught.  Depending on the group of students, effective collaborative conversations can be visible within 3-5 weeks into the school year.  Even then the conversations and student’s work will not be perfect, but don’t get discouraged!  As someone once said, “Mistakes are proof that you are trying.”  Students need to get to know one another, trust one another, and feel valued in order to disclose their thoughts.  This may take time, but once you get that ball rolling you will see your students engaged in the learning because you shared ideas, communicated concepts, and inspired academic conversations.
	Live, Love, Teach, Hilda Sanchez