´Collaboration divides the task and multiplies the success.´
How my thinking has changed
I decided to demonstrate in the eportfolio how my way of thinking about teacher collaboration has significantly changed and why it happened. While exploring the issue for four semesters, I became so interested in teacher collaboration that I decided to focus on it in my MA thesis and explore different models of collaboration of CLIL teachers in Polish primary education.
I will start with presenting what I used to think about collaboration in the first semester of my MA studies. I was sceptical towards collaboration as I did not witness many examples of a good collaboration myself and I used to think that teaching is one of the most isolated professions. In my eportfolio I demonstrate how I adopted an attitude of collaboration and willingness to share my teaching and learning experiences with others.
In my first reflection on teacher collaboration I pointed out that collaboration works only if there is trust between teachers, parents, students and educational institutions. Moreover, I emphasized that if we want to change something, we should start with teachers' attitude towards collaboration. Teachers should witness various examples of a good cooperation, be encouraged to do it, not forced.
There should be the atmosphere at school that encourages and promotes collaboration between educators, parents and the others involved in the educational development of students. They should feel a part of a team who has the goal in common – improvement of the overall learning experience and environment for their students.
I will start with presenting what I used to think about collaboration in the first semester of my MA studies. I was sceptical towards collaboration as I did not witness many examples of a good collaboration myself and I used to think that teaching is one of the most isolated professions. In my eportfolio I demonstrate how I adopted an attitude of collaboration and willingness to share my teaching and learning experiences with others.
In my first reflection on teacher collaboration I pointed out that collaboration works only if there is trust between teachers, parents, students and educational institutions. Moreover, I emphasized that if we want to change something, we should start with teachers' attitude towards collaboration. Teachers should witness various examples of a good cooperation, be encouraged to do it, not forced.
There should be the atmosphere at school that encourages and promotes collaboration between educators, parents and the others involved in the educational development of students. They should feel a part of a team who has the goal in common – improvement of the overall learning experience and environment for their students.
teacher_collaboration.pdf |
The importance of teacher collaboration
Teacher collaboration is considered to create a stimulating learning environment for teachers’ professional development by building a professional learning community.
As a participant of the Bilingual education Graduate Programme in Teaching English To Young Learners (University of Warsaw) I developed a new understanding of collaboration between teachers. I had an oportunity to collaborate with my colleagues,experienced teachers from different educational contexts and experts in the field of teaching foreign languages.
As a participant of the Bilingual education Graduate Programme in Teaching English To Young Learners (University of Warsaw) I developed a new understanding of collaboration between teachers. I had an oportunity to collaborate with my colleagues,experienced teachers from different educational contexts and experts in the field of teaching foreign languages.
Collaboration during advising in The British School of Warsaw
From March 2015 until May 2015 I have came to the British School of Warsaw to observe and participate in the classes of Year 2. It is an international school that follows the British National Curriculum. My advisor shared her experience and knowledge with me and from the start involved me in all the activities of her class. GUIDED READING SESSIONS Collaborating with my advisor I did two guided reading sessions with children. In one session I used the book 'The Woman who Fooled the Fairies'. Guided reading has a beneficial impact on word recognition, fluency and accuracy of students. A child reads out loud to an adult (or other proficient reader) and the adult provides correction, feedback and instruction on specific skill development. The child is assisted in decoding difficult words. Moreover, guided reading involves asking high order thinking questions to students. Both good and stuggling readers benefit from guided reading sessions. I worked with one guided reading group, the teacher worked with the other group and the teacher's assistant with the third group. Each group read a different book (children were grouped according to their reading abilities) and before the session I prepared the file in the appendix on the right consulting it with the teacher. The experience of guided reading session with children was very satisfying and helped me to understand the needs of young English language readers. The collaboration with the teacher gave me the support and advice I needed and let me explore my own teaching skills as far as teaching literacy in the bilingual setting is concerned. PLANTS I collaborated with my advisor working on the topic of plants. We talked about the conditions plants need to survive and grow healthily, described the growth process of a plant and the functions of different parts of a plant. Next, we grew cress seeds together working with 3 groups of children. This is the topic that can be used in CLIL teaching as it provides opportunities for using English in practical and motivating contexts, while stimulating comprehension and interaction in a natural way and developing the social skills of cooperation. New understanding: While collaborating with my advisor I understood that collaboration builds a sense of shared responsability for students' learning and it affects positively the learning environment of the school. |
|
Collaboration during practicum in the elementary school
From April 2015 until May 2015 I did my teaching practice in the elementary school no. 109 in Warsaw. It is a public school that introduced pedagogical innovations in a form of CLIL implemented in the English lessons in all first grades.
CLIL UNIT
I started collaboration with my mentor teacher from observing her lessons, then participated in the parts of the lessons and finally taught the sequence of 5 lessons of the CLIL unit I developed. I consulted the topic with my mentor teacher and selected the topics of single lessons creating one unit. More details about the CLIL unit are provided in the section 'CLIL LESSONS' of the e-portfolio.
The collaboration with my mentor teacher helped me to deepen the understanding of CLIL teaching. I had an opportunity to improve some areas that I struggled with or did not have enough practice in. My mentor teacher provided valuable feedback both in a written form of comments on every activity I conducted in the classroom with the suggestions for areas of improvement and pointing out good elements as well as oral comments after the lessons. Her advice helped me to a great extent in particular in lesson planning and classroom management.
I believe this kind of collaboration between experienced teachers and preservice teachers during praticum is an invaluable experience for students who are at the start of their career paths and need some support and advice from more experienced professionals.
OBSERVING THE MODEL OF TEACHER COLLABORATION
In the school I observed a great model of collaboration between two language teachers (LT + LT). My mentor teacher collaborates with another English teacher in the school as far as lesson planning, preparing and exchanging materials are concerned. Each of them teaches one half of the class, but sometimes they also have joint classes. While they are teaching, they divide tasks, give each other constant feedback and help each other. Being interested in teacher collaboration I observed this model with a great appreciation and I was truly impressed.
New understanding: I have learned that 'If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse'. I discovered that it is possible to develop a good model of collaboration between teachers in every educational context. It all depends on teachers and their willingness to do it. Moreover, I have learned that it is always worth to show the other people good examples of collaboration. Teachers can make changes on a local scale, because what they do matters and if they want to change something, they should start from themselves.
CLIL UNIT
I started collaboration with my mentor teacher from observing her lessons, then participated in the parts of the lessons and finally taught the sequence of 5 lessons of the CLIL unit I developed. I consulted the topic with my mentor teacher and selected the topics of single lessons creating one unit. More details about the CLIL unit are provided in the section 'CLIL LESSONS' of the e-portfolio.
The collaboration with my mentor teacher helped me to deepen the understanding of CLIL teaching. I had an opportunity to improve some areas that I struggled with or did not have enough practice in. My mentor teacher provided valuable feedback both in a written form of comments on every activity I conducted in the classroom with the suggestions for areas of improvement and pointing out good elements as well as oral comments after the lessons. Her advice helped me to a great extent in particular in lesson planning and classroom management.
I believe this kind of collaboration between experienced teachers and preservice teachers during praticum is an invaluable experience for students who are at the start of their career paths and need some support and advice from more experienced professionals.
OBSERVING THE MODEL OF TEACHER COLLABORATION
In the school I observed a great model of collaboration between two language teachers (LT + LT). My mentor teacher collaborates with another English teacher in the school as far as lesson planning, preparing and exchanging materials are concerned. Each of them teaches one half of the class, but sometimes they also have joint classes. While they are teaching, they divide tasks, give each other constant feedback and help each other. Being interested in teacher collaboration I observed this model with a great appreciation and I was truly impressed.
New understanding: I have learned that 'If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse'. I discovered that it is possible to develop a good model of collaboration between teachers in every educational context. It all depends on teachers and their willingness to do it. Moreover, I have learned that it is always worth to show the other people good examples of collaboration. Teachers can make changes on a local scale, because what they do matters and if they want to change something, they should start from themselves.
Mentor teacher's comments.pdf |
Challenges of the teacher collaboration - Action Research project
Being inspired by some examples of a good practice of teacher collaboration I started to think how to promote, support, improve and change the way of thinking about collaboration among teachers in the school where I had my teaching practice. The lack of collaboration between teachers in the school puzzled me. I believe the problem does not refer to this school exclusively, but many teachers feel that they are left alone in their profession and find it difficult to create a professional learning and teaching community in their schools.
Action research puzzle.odp |
International collaboration during the study visit in Finland
One of the opportunities of teacher's professional development offered by Bilingual Education Graduate Programme in Teaching English to Young Learners to the project participants - student teachers of the Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw was the study visit in Finland organised in March 2015.
In Finland collaboration among teachers is an essential aspect of instructional improvement MEETING WITH JOSEPHINE MOATE During the study visit at University of Jyväskylä I met Josephine Moate, the author of articles about collaboration between teacher community in Central Finland "A narrative account of a teacher community" that suggests the importance of mutual pedagogic relationships to support teacher development and "Voicing the challenges of an innovative teacher community" that draws on sociocultural theories of learning and activity theory to explore the challenges faced by an innovative community of teachers. After reading Moate's articles I got inspired to explore the issue of teacher collaboration more in depth and to focus on the Polish context. Meeting with her in Finland helped me to understand some characteristics of the Finnish educational context and how it influences the collaboration between teachers. I realised the importance of social trust in building professional teacher community. TEACHER COLLABORATION IN FINLAND During the study visit in the city of Jyväskylä I had an opportunity to observe the lessons taught in English in two Finnish schools: Viitaniemi lower secondary school and Kortepohja Elementary School, to meet and talk to CLIL teachers and staff in both schools, teacher trainers, researchers, university professors and Jyväskylä university students. All meetings and discussions contributed to the development of my understanding of CLIL methodology, enriched my knowledge about CLIL teaching and the role of collaboration. CLIL teachers shared their experience and answered all the questions. Finnish teachers create CLIL curriculum on the school level and municipality level collaborating with each other. Administrative decisions are not taken on the national level, but on the municipality level, which allows teachers to focus on the familiar context of local schools and adjust to the needs of the society in municipality. Implementation of CLIL differs between municipalities, as in the area of Helsinki, there are numerous schools were 'hard CLIL' is successfully implemented, whereas in the area of Jyväskylä the 'soft CLIL' model is the dominant one. Teacher meet every day in order to plan lessons. They are encouraged to give each other feedback using the special boxes in the staff room. In Finland teachers are not inspected or controlled, their students' results are not being compared so they do not have to compete with each other or prove that they know how to do their job. I believe that competitive teacher assessment schemes reinforce teacher isolation. New understanding: I have learned that the culture of the country influences educational system and collaboration between teachers. I realised how important is social trust in building professional teacher community. |
|
Teacher collaboration in the Polish bilingual school SMART SCHOOL in Zamość
COLLABORATION MODEL - TEAMS WORKING TOGETHER
In May 2015 I participated in the study visit in the private bilingual primary school Smart School in Zamość.
There are 160 students attending the school in the school year 2014/2015 who have approximately 2-3 hours of English daily integrated with the Polish curriculum of integrated education. The model of collaboration between teachers is unique, as teachers work in teams of two. Some integrated education teachers works in the same team with English language teachers, but there are also teams that consist of two teachers who are both integrated education teachers and language teachers and they teach parallel classes so the collaboration is based on planning units and projects together and implementing them in the classrooms. Teachers are also involved in online collaboration by using E-twinning projects with a Spanish school.They use e-board for joint projects.Thanks to the study visit I had an opportunity to observe a very interesting dual model of teacher collaboration that worked effectively in the context of the school. The model that I find innovative is the one in which a subject teacher and a language teacher (ST + LT) work together. They plan the lesson together in advance, taking into consideration the Polish national curriculum, and divide who teaches which part of the lesson. Then, during the lesson the English teacher interrupts the subject teacher in some moments and teaches the same content, but in English. This way students learn the same content in both languages during a lesson. The school headmaster explained that the ideal model for the school is the one in which there are teachers who are qualified to teach both content and language.
New understanding: Thanks to the visit to Zamość, I understood that every school should adopt the model of collaboration that suits it the most. The SmartSchool adopted two different team models successfully and teachers have a lot of satisfaction from working in teams. Moreover, I realised how important is school headmaster's attitude and support towards collaboration and if collaboration is rooted in the school policy. Instead of forcing teachers to compete with each other, the headmaster is actively involved in helping them find new ways to work together.
In May 2015 I participated in the study visit in the private bilingual primary school Smart School in Zamość.
There are 160 students attending the school in the school year 2014/2015 who have approximately 2-3 hours of English daily integrated with the Polish curriculum of integrated education. The model of collaboration between teachers is unique, as teachers work in teams of two. Some integrated education teachers works in the same team with English language teachers, but there are also teams that consist of two teachers who are both integrated education teachers and language teachers and they teach parallel classes so the collaboration is based on planning units and projects together and implementing them in the classrooms. Teachers are also involved in online collaboration by using E-twinning projects with a Spanish school.They use e-board for joint projects.Thanks to the study visit I had an opportunity to observe a very interesting dual model of teacher collaboration that worked effectively in the context of the school. The model that I find innovative is the one in which a subject teacher and a language teacher (ST + LT) work together. They plan the lesson together in advance, taking into consideration the Polish national curriculum, and divide who teaches which part of the lesson. Then, during the lesson the English teacher interrupts the subject teacher in some moments and teaches the same content, but in English. This way students learn the same content in both languages during a lesson. The school headmaster explained that the ideal model for the school is the one in which there are teachers who are qualified to teach both content and language.
New understanding: Thanks to the visit to Zamość, I understood that every school should adopt the model of collaboration that suits it the most. The SmartSchool adopted two different team models successfully and teachers have a lot of satisfaction from working in teams. Moreover, I realised how important is school headmaster's attitude and support towards collaboration and if collaboration is rooted in the school policy. Instead of forcing teachers to compete with each other, the headmaster is actively involved in helping them find new ways to work together.