Collaboration

We have three days of collaboration as a third grade team this week and then more in August (When we have a better sense of what the school year will look like...I don't want to think about it).  We met in my classroom and the AC in the school wasn't working because it never does and since we also have major budget cuts as a district....I'm glad we're only collaborating for three days.  It was 83 degrees in my classroom.

I gave them t-shirts, earlier Kate gave us each a Swig gift card and today Janelle gave us mugs filled with chocolates and the chocolate melted in the hot classroom.

I love my team.  We are in 100% lock step over the essentials.  We give the bulk of our creative energy and time to literacy and math.  We brainstormed and came up with what I think is a great strategy for really targeting next year's third grade literacy needs.  We know they are behind.  Everyone is behind.  But we have a plan that will involve a lot of cooperation and planning but I think will be great.  And we also freely acknowledge if it crashes and burns, we will come up with something new.

Because sometimes the things you think will be amazing...aren't.

What I love is how we differ too.  Our classrooms have their own cultures that reflect the teachers.  I insist on silent reading time and the others don't.  Jamie joined us for collaboration (which was awesome because she is awesome and has so many good ideas).

She said, "The research doesn't really support silent reading time as being that key for teaching reading."

I got a little riled up (and maybe it was the heat).

"I don't care what the research supports!"  (Those words actually came out of my mouth and I stand by them.)

I told them about Braeden being a reluctant reader and I MADE him read silently 30 minutes a day.  It was 100% non-negotiable.  He read Garfield comics over and over and over and then he finally gave up and read actual books.  And then he turned into a reader.

I only do 15 minutes a day in my classroom but it is staying.  Don't argue with me about it.  Especially when it is 83 degrees and my chocolate is melting.

I also do art and music appreciation and other teachers do things like character lessons and insist on making time for class meetings to build community.

We have these tiny snippets of time that are, I guess, discretionary and I love that we put our stamp on them.

Speaking of stamps, Janelle also gave us each a self inking stamp with our last names on them.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love where I work and who I work with?