Collaboration

Georgia Cox-Wright & Emily Speedy - Tui hub

Collaborative Teaching 2019

2019 introduces me to collaborative teaching. With time, teachers can develop genuine collaborative teams in which they share goals, engage in mutually beneficial professional learning, use communal resources to increase student achievement, and advance their own skills, knowledge, and beliefs related to student learning.

So far in my teaching career I have experienced what it was like to teach in a single cell classroom environment, where I was able to establish my own teaching philosophy. I appreciated having this experience in my first year as I was able to learn from my mistakes without any pressures.
Now I have the opportunity to take my teaching to the next level and work alongside an experienced teacher. I am looking forward to my professional development and critiquing my ideas and teaching skills so I can get the best out of the children in my class. I believe the biggest challenge for me this year will be stepping in to support, when to support, and being confident about what I can contribute to a lesson or discussion.

Ten things teachers can do to help boys learn

TEN THINGS TEACHERS CAN DO TO HELP BOYS LEARN

Talk Less
- Boys are not terribly good listeners. Cut the words you use down to the absolute minimum. Get boys active early in the lesson. Avoid a long preamble.

Get boys doing
- Focus on - what will boys do in this lesson? Most males are focused on action. It comes partly from their biology. And partly from what we expect of boys.

Use humour
- Use a joke now and then. It really helps to get boys on side and it discourages trouble from appearing because they are bored.

Get help
- Use a teacher buddy to help you watch underachievers who slide under the radar. Tell the class someone is coming in to give you a hand.

"Can you do it"
- Challenge boys more. Boys say school doesn't challenge them enough.

Competition works
- Get boys competing against each other, against themselves, against teachers. 

Help with writing
- Cut down writing tasks to what is necessary. Show boys how to write assessment items. Use guidelines, rubrics, models. Work on what interests the boy in front of you.

Being a man means
- Get boys talking about what it means to be a male.

Keep it clear
- Explain tasks simply, step by step. Put the steps up somewhere and refer boys to them.