Looking for some collaboration how-to

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

AP/GATE

MEMBERS

2 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

AP/GATE Teachers Chatboard

Looking for some collaboration how-to

by Jamie in MO

Apr 14, 2011

Hi,

I'm seeking ideas (mostly for next year) to help increase collaboration with classroom teachers. I am building-based, K-5, and I teach district-designated (but teacher-created) theme units as part of my regular curriculum. Additionally, we do work with writing, problem-solving, and independent study projects. My identified students meet with me once a week for a full day (K/1 half a day) in grade level groups. I see second graders for 75% of the day, and use the remaining time for enrichment workshops for non-identified students.

I offer a number of online resources for students in our school who are identified for the gifted program as well as those who are not (things like book club, vocabulary quizzes, and so on). I also have leveled problem-solving pages that are open to any interested students. I host a morning Independent Study Project time for students to come in before school to work on projects of their choice from a menu of options. I have run enrichmen...See MoreHi,

I'm seeking ideas (mostly for next year) to help increase collaboration with classroom teachers. I am building-based, K-5, and I teach district-designated (but teacher-created) theme units as part of my regular curriculum. Additionally, we do work with writing, problem-solving, and independent study projects. My identified students meet with me once a week for a full day (K/1 half a day) in grade level groups. I see second graders for 75% of the day, and use the remaining time for enrichment workshops for non-identified students.

I offer a number of online resources for students in our school who are identified for the gifted program as well as those who are not (things like book club, vocabulary quizzes, and so on). I also have leveled problem-solving pages that are open to any interested students. I host a morning Independent Study Project time for students to come in before school to work on projects of their choice from a menu of options. I have run enrichment clusters numerous times in other settings, and we are considering that for next year.

While I am doing lots of things, I'm looking specifically for ways to increase collaboration with classroom teachers. It's difficult, because I can't sacrifice our gifted theme units to support other grade-level content theme units. However, I would like to find ways to work more directly with classroom teachers to support identified gifted students, as well as other students who might benefit.

How have some of you done this successfully? Do any of you have great strategies for supporting classroom teachers as they work with gifted students? Are there things that you do regularly to keep communication open(besides newsletters and hallway conversations)? I'm also interested in hearing from classroom teachers in terms of what they would find most helpful.

Limited planning time is a factor, but I'd like to consider the most effective model possible, even if I can only take parts of it. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Comment

(3)

report post

Melanie Hi, Jamie. I'm in Francis Howell. I may have met you at a conference.

I support school-wide enrichment through our school-wide intervention time. I rotate grade levels every four week and get to meet with the grade level for planning at least once during the four weeks. Meeting with them to plan intervention has made the most impact on col...See More

Apr 17, 2011

report post

Jamie in MO This is very helpful. Thank you for taking time to respond.

It makes sense to dig deeper by offering meaningful training instead of "on the fly" kinds of hallway conversations. It's a great idea to offer wiki access to build support materials, too.

I also love Math Rules!

Thanks for your many good suggestions here--this...See More

Apr 17, 2011

report post

Melanie Absolutely. Glad to help. You share many interesting ideas here, as well.

On 4/17/11, Jamie in MO wrote: > This is very helpful. Thank you for taking time to respond. > > It makes sense to dig deeper by offering meaningful training > instead of "on the fly" kinds of hallway conversations. It's a > great idea to offer wiki ac...See MoreAbsolutely. Glad to help. You share many interesting ideas here, as well.

On 4/17/11, Jamie in MO wrote: > This is very helpful. Thank you for taking time to respond. > > It makes sense to dig deeper by offering meaningful training > instead of "on the fly" kinds of hallway conversations. It's a > great idea to offer wiki access to build support materials, too. > > I also love Math Rules! > > Thanks for your many good suggestions here--this opens a lot of > possibilities. > > On 4/17/11, Melanie wrote: >> Hi, Jamie. I'm in Francis Howell. I may have met you at a >> conference. >> >> I support school-wide enrichment through our school-wide >> intervention time. I rotate grade levels every four week and >> get to meet with the grade level for planning at least once >> during the four weeks. Meeting with them to plan >> intervention has made the most impact on collaboration >> because I am more in touch with their needs for their >> students. Would your principal provide some release time for >> you to meet with grade levels? >> >> In addition, I have done cluster training with classroom >> teachers who have a gifted cluster. Clustering the students >> makes it easier to insure that their needs are met and >> improves collaboration. For the cluster training, I worked >> with primary teachers for one-half day and intermediate for >> the other half. We spent the time on practical >> differentiation techniques that they could use (menus, >> contracts, cubing, anchor activities, tiering, etc.) I made >> a wiki and put the forms online on our intranet so that the >> teachers could put their own content into the forms. >> >> Some resources that I have shared with teachers are Sunshine >> Math Superstars (from Florida Panhelenic Council) which has >> great open-ended problem solving. I also like the "Math >> Rules" materials. For Comm Arts, we use Balanced Literacy >> and the teachers already have a great program and a lot of >> good resources (Fountas and Pinnell). We use Study Island, >> as well. >> >> I hope you can find a kernal of something to help you here. >> If not, I'll keep thinking. You can email if you'd like.

Apr 28, 2011

report post