Glocal Collaboration Resources
What is collaboration? What does the research say?
- The Case for Children's Rights to Read (page 17-18)
- Connecting Classrooms Across the World
- A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Teacher Collaboration for School Improvement and Student Achievement in Public Elementary Schools
- High Quality Collaboration Benefits Teachers and Student
Collaborative Projects
- International Dot Day- (#DotDay #MakeYourMark) is September 15th-ish. It was born out of Peter H. Reynolds' book The Dot. You can sign up, get connected to a network of other classrooms through the International Dot Day website. Here is a blog that my students write about their experiences with Dot Day and a slideshow of all of our events. I also created a Pinterest board of Dot Day inspiration. In Literacy Today Online, I shared some additional ways that you empower your learners through Dot Day and other collaborative literacy activities, Through the Pages: Digital Journeys, Connections, and Communities.
- The Global Read Aloud- ( #GRA19) takes place in the Fall each year. You can begin your journey at the Global Read Aloud website. This project is always a highlight for my students each year, I have written much about the power of these connections: One Book to Connect the World, Through the Pages: Digital Journeys, Connections, and Communities, Looking to Connect Your Students? First Steps in Social Media, A Wow Way to Support Student Learning, and Oh the Places They Can Go: Sharing the Journey to Destinations Unknown. Be sure to check out my Global Read Aloud resources page that is full of ideas to get your students reading, writing, connecting, discussing, analyzing, collaborating, and having fun.
- Student-led Book Groups- What happens when students get to take control of their reading and lead their own book discussions? Truly amazing things happen when our students are given voice and choice. Here is a piece that I wrote about some of our experiences: Once Upon A Time: Student-Run Book Clubs.
Tools for Collaboration
- KidBlog- Through KidBlog, students can engage in ongoing book conversations. With this tool, a teacher can easily manage to meet safety concerns. Using this tool makes connection to other class simple for participating in existing programs like The Global Read Aloud and Quad blogging , but also is easily adaptable to support project you or your learners design. Because students are ego-centric, blogging gives them a voice to think beyond themselves and their comfort zones and share their ideas.
- Video Conversations on Skype, Google Hangout, or Facetime- realtime video conversations gives students the opportunity to not only connect with their favorite authors and mentors, but also provides them the opportunity to connect with their global peers;
- Flipgrid- With this short video tool, students can create book chats, reader response, or read aloud to other peers. Others respond via emoji or video responses. We are participants in the 40 Book Challenge and this is a great way for my learners to share and find books for their “Next Great Read.” You can find collaborative partners by turning on #GridPals to connect with other classes.
Management Tips
- Communicate expectations up front. The first step that my students do when forming a new collaboration partnership is to outline a list of the norms and expectations that they have for their upcoming project. They discuss timeline, deadlines, behaviors, work ethic, and accountability to the group. Through these conversations, they have the opportunity to share their goals and their concerns about their impending work together. This dialogue lets every member know before they begin the first step exactly where they are headed. It not only helps them create a relationship with one another where they feel safe to be transparent in their thinking, but also connect with one another as individuals on a deeper level. Although this may seem time consuming in an already jammed packed learning day, the group will make up the time in the long run as their project will not suffer from constant derailing due to miscommunications.
- Remain flexible. Things happen. People get sick. Schedules get rearranged. Parents set appointments. As adults, we understand this is part of life, but sometimes students get frustrated when a deadline isn’t met by a teammate, one member seems to fail in following through with their part of a project, or they miss a time for real time communication. By guiding our students into becoming adept at adjusting plans, they are learning valuable life skills. Often when a student comes to me aggravated because something has disrupted their project, we can lean on the strong foundation that they set in the beginning. Once they open that dialogue, the learners discover a solution together that stronger than their initial plan. They learn to listen to one another, have patience, and pull their resources to reach towards their common goal.
- Keep an open mind. As adults we understand that not everyone is like us. However, many of our students in spite of being globally connected, often live under the false premise that everyone is like them. I’ve discovered over the last several years that this is often the most challenging part of collaboration for students. Students may feel that they are the expert, the smartest, the most organized, the most creative, or the most talented individual in the group. Those beliefs are why I believe that collaboration is an integral part of the learning process. Students need to have experience with students who in many ways may not be like them. No single person is who they are with the talents they have without the guidance and input of others. We become the best version of ourselves by working and learning with others.
Let's Collaborate
Resources
- A list of educators that want to build collaborative partnerships for their learners
- An Activity for generating professional conversations around collaboration
- How to Encourage a Global Perspective in Your Classroom
Connect with Us
Julie D. Ramsay
http://juliedramsay.blogspot.com/ Twitter and Instagram: @JulieDRamsay Email: [email protected] |
James V. Hoffman
Email: [email protected] |