I have been doing a lot of thinking about “teams” this summer. I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with an incredible teaching partner, Gina Bucciacchio (@_missginab), and I’ve loved planning with her this summer. I know that it’s going to be a great year! A great “team” is a wonderful thing!
In the past for me, a “team” was always about those people I worked with at school, but now I’m starting to think that it’s much more than that. On Sunday, Gina and I met with Michelle Fawcett (@michellefawcett), an outstanding Grade 5/6 teacher from a neighbouring school. It’s funny: our schools are about as close as two schools in our Board could be, and yet, we have only met face-to-face a couple of times. That’s going to change starting now! 🙂
Michelle brought along two other Grade 5 and 6 teachers at her school: also great educators that have lots to share. Along with them, we met up with Moojean Seo (@moojean_seo), a wonderful Grade 6 math and science teacher at another Ancaster school. Then, as a fantastic last minute addition, Andrew Campbell (@acampbell99) came to join us. Andrew teaches a Grade 4/5 class in Brantford, and I’ve actually never met him in person before, but I love following and learning from him on Twitter, and I was thrilled that he joined us too.
For 3 1/2 hours, seven of us sat at Starbucks and shared our learning with each other. We asked questions. We spoke about our plans. We figured out ways that we can collaborate together. We looked at how activities can be modified to meet different learning needs and abilities. We explored split classes, and how to meet these different learning needs as well. We connected!
We may not all teach the same grade, but maybe that’s what makes a team like this even more powerful. We are looking across grades. We’re seeing the similarities between the curriculum documents, and we’re seeing the differences. We’re learning how to look ahead to where students will be in a couple of years, and we’re learning how to look back to where they started.
On Sunday, the seven of us formed a “team,” and whether through face-to-face meetings, tweets, or emails, I hope that this team continues to work together throughout the year. Sunday’s meeting reminded me that together we’re better, and I know that I’m better by working with these six other amazing educators!
So what do you think? What defines a “team” for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
Aviva