Science Teacher Superpower
Recently, I was a guest on the Science is Cool Unplugged podcast with Dave Bakker from PocketLab. Dave's a great guy to chat with, and we covered a ton of topics, but one that really got me thinking was collaboration between teachers.
Why Collaborate?
Collaboration is a teacher superpower. I've said many times, everything I have done as a teacher or curriculum author has been improved by collaboration. When I was still learning to hit my stride as a teacher, my co-teacher brought so many strengths to the table. When I first started writing curriculum, my mother shared her decades of science teaching and instructional design experience with me. Whenever I collaborate with others, creativity and quality go through the roof - and so does my excitement about the outcome. Better materials and natural enthusiasm make for the BEST teaching days.
How can you get started collaborating with fellow elementary science teachers? Here are some ideas:
Classroom Observations: If you keep hearing about how a certain teacher is hitting it out of the park, arrange a visit! Observe their teaching methods and gain fresh perspectives. Or you can go round-robin within your department and pick up a ton of tips from each other. It's always great to watch other teachers work their magic in the classroom.
Virtual/In-Person Workshops: You can get a ton of great info when you participate in workshops, but you can also take the opportunity to network with like-minded teachers! Pick sessions that really connect with your situation and exchange info with other participants who are also excited to learn together.
Collaborative Lesson Planning: Teaching can be strangely isolating. You might be surrounded by students all day, but how often do you get to have a meaningful conversation about your profession? Not only will you save time if you team up to plan lessons, you'll be inspired and motivated, too. If scheduling is an issue, you can use shared online docs with comments so you can work asynchronously.
Book Clubs: There are some really challenging and informative books for educators out there. Bookworms in your building might be excited to read and discuss them! Can't find anyone interested within your own school? Virtual book clubs work just as well, especially now that we're all Zoom experts. 😉
Join Forces on Social Media: If you find yourself lacking a local team to collaborate with, go virtual! I started a Facebook group of my own back in 2016 because I craved more input than my little science department could provide. Now there are over 20,000 awesome teachers in the group! I've met some of them in person, and the connection is real. Whatever platform you prefer, there's bound to be a group of teachers there. Find the people focused on growth and solutions and make them your teacher buddies.
Adding more prep work to create differentiated lessons is tough, no doubt, but I've found it also saves time on the other end of the lesson. I hope these ideas will save you some reteaching and keep all your students engaged from start to finish!
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