Doreen+Marie+Lemise



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Increasing Collaboration of the English Department to Enhance Student Learning  This purpose of this wiki to be a resource for teachers and administrators who would like to increase collaboration in their schools. This wiki identifies possible resources and websites that teachers can use to understand the benefits of increasing collaboration and the framework needed in order to increase collaboration as well as links to surveys and a planning matrix that I have generated.          Print Resources:        <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> Horn, Ilana Seidel. (2008). The Inherent Interdependence of Teachers. //Phi Delta Kappan, 89, 751-754.//      <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://education.washington.edu/areas/ci/profiles/documents/Horn_PDK_2008.pdf//  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #15b2f9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">This article reinforces the need for collaboration within schools. It is a case study that involves a teacher who recommends a young black boy for a higher level math class. The boy refuses to be moved. Eventually, the teacher discovers that the boy doesn't want to move because the teacher of the higher level class is a racist. It brings home the point that there is a need for there to be more awareness of one another and less isolation of teachers. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #15b2f9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #15b2f9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">I do believe that if the department was working in collaboration with one another that this situation would not have gone on unchecked for so long. If the teachers where working closely with one another, other people might have caught onto it and would have been able to give guidance on other more appropriate ways to interact with the students. This article is motivation for me to continue to move forward, so we can minimize the risks of things like this happening in our school and going unchecked. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="COLOR: #11ee87; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #01fe6e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">** Miller, Leanne. (2005) Professioanl Learning Communities: Model for Collaborative Teaching or the Latest Bandwagon? //Professionally Speaking//, June, 1-8. **       <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://www.oct.ca/publications/professionally_speaking/june_2005/plc.asp    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1ccafd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">Although the title of this article would imply that is going to be questioning the validity of professional learning communities, it is pretty much a pro PLC/collaboration piece. It discusses the need for a cultural change in order for a change over to collaboration to take hold. It also urges for strong leadership because the principal needs to set the tone and make sure that the faculty has the support that they need in order to succeed, such as allocating sufficient time and resources to the cause. It also discussed the need to have teacher buy-in and a shared vision and valuing of the process in order for the changes to take hold and have a lasting effect. They also state that the six steps to a PLC culture are collectively defining the group's mission, vision, values and goals; ensuring collective inquiry and constantly question what is being done; develop a common purpose; focus on action and experimentation; value continuous improvement; seek results. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1ccafd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">       <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1ccafd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">The layout of this article was very easy to follow. It gave more of an overview of PLC's and collaboration. It is a good starting point to gather ideas and start to focus an approach to collaboration. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">       <span style="COLOR: #0ad168; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">           <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">       <span style="COLOR: #0ad168; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">           <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">       <span style="COLOR: #0ad168; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">           <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">       <span style="COLOR: #0ad168; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">** McEnery, Doug & Hillstead, P. (2005). Letting Teachers Lead: A Story of Collaboration. //Principal Leadership, 6//, 34-38. **         <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=11-09-2013&FMT=7&DID=986660351&RQT=309   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">This article is a case study about a school that instituted a system a system of collaboration that focused around a teacher leader. In this school, there was an anomaly in the schedule that left a master teacher with an extra free period. The administration decided that the best use of the teacher's time would be to make her a teacher leader. In this role, she would guide professional development for the faculty. The teacher leader (Her actual title was "teacher resource"...she felt it would be less threatening to the staff.) would work one on one with faculty members to help them to develop their professional growth plans and to fill out applications for grants and workshops, work with computer programs, create web pages and develop lesson plans. Additionally, they had bimonthly meetings in which teachers would discuss various topics. The control of these meetings shifted from being solely administrator led to teacher led. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">This article is important because it shows a method to increasing collaboration in a district and focusing professional development to benefit all of the faculty members. It is also encouraging to see that major improvements can be made by looking for little openings and working with the resources at hand. This change was triggered by a scheduling fluke. We all need to look for opportunities to make improvements. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">** Darling-Hammond, Linda & Friedlaender, D. (2008). Creating Excellent and Equitable Schools. //Educational Leadership//, May, 14-21. **   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=105&sid=37f9bfd1-0845-4084-8393-b6374167a550%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ehh&AN=32135631   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">This article delves into the structures of five successful urban high schools. The common features of all five schools are personalization, rigorous and relevant instruction, and professional learning and collaboration. The article also looks at the areas of necessary policy changes in order for students of color to succeed. These include developing small learning communities, recruiting strong teachers, instituting "forward-looking curriculums" and raising funding from creative atypical sources. The part that focuses on collaboration urges for the collective scoring of assessments, the collective development of performance based assessments, and collectively designing course work that challenges the students to solve real world problems. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">This article is helpful because it points out the need for the allotment of a considerable time to be set aside for the teachers to work together on common goals and curriculum and assessment development. They had 7-15 days of common professional development time a year as well several hours a week for teachers to work on examining student progress, and develop curriculum and assessments. Additionally, funding is discussed in a realistic manner. Not all schools, mine included, have the necessary funding available to support a major change in structure; this article gives suggestions on how to overcome that obstacle. This information can be used when setting up the guidelines and funding for my department's collaborative efforts. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  **<span style="COLOR: #0edd58; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  Monahan, Patrick J. (2006). Paddling Together Through the Rapids: A High School Department Learns to Stay the Course toward Collaboration. //English Leadership Quarterly,// 29, 12-15. **    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=11-10-2013&FMT=7&DID=986660351&RQT=309   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #51c5f6; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  This article is a case study of a high school English department that shifts the power within the department in order to work more collaboratively to increase student learning. They started the process by having training over the summer that would hlep to give them the skills and understanding they would need to become a collaboratively functioning group. A large part of the article focused on the departmental meetings. One of the methods of restructuring the meetings was to determine what items that are typically covered at department meetings could be removed from the agendas in order to leave room for important issues that need to be discussed at the meetings. Additionally, the leadership of the meetings shifted from being lead by the supervisor to being lead by the team teachers on a rotating basis. They also would focus on issues of importance that focused on student learning and outcomes. Additionally, they would break into small groups to discuss issues and develop assessments and curricula. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #51c5f6; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">      <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #51c5f6; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  This article is useful because it gives a framework for collaboration within an English department. Furthermore, it doesn't sugar coat the issues. It was a realistic look at the process and showed the difficulties that the team encountered during the conversion process. For instance, many of the teachers felt that small groups were over used and not as productive as the larger group discussions. Therefore, the supervisor took their ideas into consideration and modified the approach, which ended up being more successful because the teachers took ownership and responsibilty for the altered approach. Obviously, any change is going to have its rough moments; if I can take lessons learned from sources like this one, I will be a step ahead of the game when instituting a collaborative system within my department. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; COLOR: #2bce0d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> **   Hanawar, Vaishali. (2008). Working Smarter by Working Together. //Education Week//, 27, 25-27. **    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dworking%2Bsmater%2Bby%2Bworking%2Btogether%26ygmasrchbtn%3Dweb%2Bsearch%26fr%3Dush1-mail&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2008%2F04%2F02%2F31plc_ep.h27.html%3FlevelId%3D1000%26tmp%3D306250710%26&levelId=2100&baddebt=false    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1cd1fd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> This Article focuses on the Adlai E. Stevenson School which has been utilizing professional learning communities for over 25 years. It is an exemplary example of teacher collaboration at work. The give and take between the teachers is almost constant. They have literally set up the teacher desks so that they butting up to one another, so that during their free periods they have immediate access to one another on a continuous basis, which enables them to have a constant sharing of ideas. All of the teachers on the team have access to ideas, strategies, material, and talents of the entire team. Additionally, teams meet each week to develop assessments, discuss improvement plans, formulate lesson plans, and review assessments to improve instruction. Teams are also involved with the hiring new employees. The article makes a point of discussing that there are rough spots during the collaboration process and that developing a cultural change within a school requires a lot of discussion with the staff and sensitivity to the difficulties that they will have to overcome in order to be an effective collaborative team. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1cd1fd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> This article shows another successful approach to collaboration. I like how it points out that there are rough spots during the process and that sometimes the conflict amongst the team members can be a good thing because it can push for even further improvement by questioning one another's biases and preconceived ideas. Collaboration is not about blindly agreeing with someone but rather pushing one another to reaching excellence in education. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #11e86a; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">** Gajda, Rebecca & Koliba, C. J. (2008). Evaluating and Improving the Quality of Teacher Collaboration: A Field-Tested Framework for Secondary //School Leaders. National Association of Secondary School Principals//, 92, 133-153. http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=11-10-2013&FMT=7&DID=1527173361&RQT=309 **     <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1fdbf9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> This article discusses the Teacher Collaboration Improvement Framework (TCIF). The TCIF acts as a guide for overseeing, assessing, and improving the quality of teacher collaboration. The TCIF sets forth six key actions points: 1)raise collaboration literacy 2) identify and inventory communities of practice 3)reconfigure teacher teams 4) assess the quality of collaboration 5) make corrections 6) recognize accomplishments. In step one, the article explains that all collaborative teams should practice continuous inquiry. It is through the inquiry that teachers share, examine and transform knowledge and experiences for the greater good of the collaborative effort and improve performance. Additionally, they need to have a shared purpose. If the groups do not have a shared vision and goals, how will they know where they are heading and what they should be focusing on? In step two, the school administrators need to determine who is working with whom and for what purpose. Again, the purpose of the group needs to be clear inorder to appropriate place and utilize the human resources. They then took online inventories to determine if the groups needed to be redistributed. In step three, teams are reconfigured based on the findings from the inventory. In step four, they assess the collaboration efforts using a predetermined rubric which was broken down into the categories of dialogue, decision making, action and evaluation. In step five, the administration uses the information garnered from the assessment to determine how to best support the collaboration and direct the teams. In step six, the administration makes sure to acknowledge the efforts of the teams who are engaged in high quality inquiry. They also stated that to be successful schools needed to not only have the appropriate time and space to collaborate but they needed to have the appropriate guidance and professional development to help them meet their goals. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1fdbf9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> This article is helpful because it gives a step by step process to implimenting collaborative teams with in a school. It also had samples of the rubrics and the questions that were included on the surveys. These can be used as starting points when we move to the implementation stage in my school. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #0de36c; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #1fdbf9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> ** Lee, Hwa. Collaboration: A Must for Teachers in Inclusive Educational Settings. //Project Shure (Seton Hall Universtity Revitalizing Education)// //The Iris Center, Vanderbilt Universtiy// **       <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/info_briefs/shure/collaboration.html    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #07bcf2; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #4fcbee; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">In this article it is suggested that collaboration is necessary so that ideas can be shared, improvement strategies can be developed, problems can be solved, outcomes can be evaluated and student progress can be better monitored. Furthermore, it states that true collaboration can only take place when the goals are clear and all members of the teams feel that they are contributions are valued. The following six key attributes to collaboration are presented:  1) collaboration is voluntary 2) contributers must contribute equally 3) teachers must divide the work and share the responsibility for key decisions 5) Accountablilty for outcomes are also shared 6) all teachers involved need to contribute some type of resource. The point is also made that as the teachers get more experienced in collaboration the process and results will continue to improve. Once again, the issue of time came into play as a necessity of collaboration. Additionally, the article goes into team teaching and co-teaching.     <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #07bcf2; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> I liked this article becuase several of the teachers in my department are having difficulties in in-class support situations. Although the article doesn't go that into depth about the process of working in an in-class support situation (It actually is more general about collaboration), at least it is a starting point. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #07bcf2; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">     <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #07bcf2; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">        <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #07bcf2; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">     <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 140%; COLOR: #cb1043; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">Websites:    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="COLOR: #1dd756; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">**<span style="COLOR: #fded3a; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">Teacher to Teacher Collaboration **    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #1d6cd7; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~lynda_abbott/teacher2teacher.html#A     <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #a217d9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> This website is really cool. It has a multitude of links to other sites and articles. They include links to teacher-to-teacher and resource sites, which include resources shared by teachers, how-to about teachers' collaboration, information about professional development and organizations supporting teacher collaboration. There are also a bunch of teacher-to-teacher collaborative sites where there is peer-to-peer communication and support. One of the links that I really liked is http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin005.shtml which goes to an article on making sure that your school is receiving all of the funding it should be. This is important because as many of the articles point out funding is an issue when it comes to changing the structure of schools to accommodate collaborative teams, and it always an issue in my school. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #a217d9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #17d943; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">**<span style="COLOR: #fcf536; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">Hamilton County Virtual SchoolTeacher Collaboration **  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; COLOR: #0049ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> http://hcvs-e4tn.wikispaces.com/Teacher+collaboration   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #a000ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; COLOR: #0049ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  This is actually a wiki for online collaboration within a school district. As far as I can tell, it is seriously underutilized. However, I included it here because I think an interactive wiki could end up being a valuable resource for a department that is switching over to a collaborative approach. One of the main issues that has come up in the resources that I read is the need for time to collaborate. This is definitely an issue in my district. Our department does not have a common planning time and many of us teach six classes and have up to five different preps. Therefore, time is definitely a commodity in high demand. An interactive site like this would enable the teachers to have an ongoing back and forth communication at time that are convenient to them. However, since I don't find the wiki pages overly easy to navigate; perhaps a blackboard sy stem might be better or a Google discussion board. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #a000ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; COLOR: #0049ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; COLOR: #0049ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; COLOR: #a217d9; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #1d6cd7; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #1d6cd7; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #1d6cd7; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="COLOR: #11ee87; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #1a1414">     <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 150%; COLOR: #ff1200; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Links:   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #f3d04f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">[|Interview Questions for Department Teachers]    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #f3d04f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">[|General Teacher Survey]    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #f3d04f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">[|Planning Matrix]    <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #00d8ff; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace; TEXT-ALIGN: left">     =====