Giving Up Parts to Make Something Better

 Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up. —Oliver Wendell Holmes

I liked this quote that Josie shared.  It is the idea that collaboration changes and that this change is something better.  Josie challenged us to think about our best collaborative experience and some of the obstacles from those experiences.  I think that giving up a part of my own ideas is the greatest obstacle.  Let me explain.

I am taking an online course this summer through the Ohio State University (OSU) called Fundamentals of Teaching Adults Online with Dr. David Stein, Ph.D.  Part of this course is actually participating in an online group project, so we get to learn about and experience collaboration in an online environment.  Many scholars have recently written about and studied the challenges of online teaching.  Our group decided to use CarmenConnect  (OSU’s version of Adobe Connect), a technology platform that allows participants to meet in an online space. 

As a group we experienced difficulties from finding a common time and making sure the technology tools were working properly.  My personal challenge was deciding when to talk and when to be quiet.

Things Go Wrong

Things started going wrong at our very first meeting.  After many emails back and forth, we decided on a date and I sent out links to information about CarmenConnect meetings, equipment requirements, and to the actual meeting.  It became quite apparent during the CarmenConnect meeting that mics were not working properly. Fortunately a text-based chat space is part of the platform and members were able to use this as a back up.  I noticed that one of the members would cut off another member in mid-sentence. I really wasn’t sure what to do or say. Another participant typed in the chat box that she thought her mic wasn’t working properly.  Our chat box helped again and technology highlighted that the difficulties with collaboration can often be due to communication problems.

More Than Just Me

Our goal was to create a memo to our imagined colleagues who were skeptical about online courses.  The final paper was a complete surprise!  It was different and more than I would have said alone.  This is a part of our project that describes additional online experiences to a skeptical colleague who thinks online work involves posting answers to professors’ questions. You be the judge about becoming better.

Mary Kate – original:

I have read articles and study notes, participated in interactive and collaborative assignments, viewed videos, shared both technical and content related resources.  I have not only learned from the instructors, but also the varied experiences of the students.

Mary Kate – combination of other’s responses:

My experience with this semester’s online course has been more than just posted material and instructor’s questions.  I have been involved in individual and group projects as well as complex online discussions through discussion boards, synchronous meetings, and email.  The interesting backgrounds of the other learners created a dynamic learning environment where we all learned from each other’s perspectives and experiences.  I learned about new technologies that I had not used with before our course started (i.e. Voki, Doodle Poll, etc.). I have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to communicate with both my instructors and the other learners.  Texting and messaging has been a powerful method for giving everyone a voice.

Final submitted version – completed by another group member after our online CarmenConnect meeting:

Our experiences have been that online teaching and learning is much more than just posted material and instructor’s questions to an online portal. Each of us has been involved in individual and group projects as well as complex online discussions through discussion boards, synchronous meetings, and email interactions. The interesting backgrounds of the other learners create a dynamic learning environment where we all learn from each other’s perspectives and experiences. Several of us have had particularly positive learning experiences resulting from new technologies. Especially as educators, learning about what technological tools are available to integrate in our classes is tremendously valuable. The course that we are enrolled in now, revealed a few new ones, as an example, Prezi, Voki, Doodle Poll, etc. We have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to communicate with both instructors and the other learners. Texting and messaging, in addition to the Carmen interface and its discussion boards and messaging capabilities, has been a powerful method for giving everyone a voice. Group meetings have been held through CarmenConnect that allows for real-time face-to-face meetings as well as a chat function. Overall, we have been very satisfied, and in fact, pleased with our experiences online.

Let’s imagine how can we do this in children’s classrooms.  I will keep thinking about this as students start school this fall.

Being Quiet, Being Open

It’s almost the end of summer vacation and I’m working with a group of teachers to plan our beginning of school retreat.  Once again I found it difficult to be quiet and listen.  When do I speak and what will help the entire group, not just me?  I like reflection, so I volunteered for that part.  It’s small, but I think it will be important for our yearlong work with teachers.  I started listening when I heard about the Corkculus App. 

I’m not sure what it is, but it is being used to bring the ideas of small groups together as a whole group. Yet another collaboration tool! I can’t wait to see how it works and I know that I will be listening.  We have quite a collaborative agenda planned!  It’s definitely better than I could do alone. 

It’s funny that this quote comes from the comedian, Amy Poehler, but it’s how I’m being challenged to view collaboration.

As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people's ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.  ---Amy Poehler

I actually have two questions this week.  What collaboration tools do you use?  When do you listen and when do you speak?

Responding to Collaboration Challenges

So happy to start this dialog blog with Mary Kate - a good format for the topic of collaboration.  Our teaching allows us so many opportunities for collaboration and different forms of co-teaching.  And we are so fortunate to have the technology that has cleared the boundaries for collaborating, yet there are always obstacles. 

In her first post Mary Kate posed the question “what are my challenges?”  This is such a powerful question because if I begin to voice the challenges I begin to recognize them head-on rather than ignoring them. 

I immediately started to make a list when I thought about this question:

·      Time management

·      Desire to do it all  (different from wanting it all) –

·      Learning to face new responsibilities

·      Insecurity

I realized after creating this initial list that each of the items are intertwined and each can be obstacles for me personally but I tried to think about them one at a time. 

Time Management …

One of the first comments left on Mary Kate’s post was simply “TIME!”  And we all know that it isn’t just about time but finding mutual time to work and think together.  Maybe that is why I like twitter so much – you can usually multitask when you are on twitter!  But face-to-face collaborations deserve full attention and I admit I am easily distracted!  So this is clearly an area that I have to get better at.  I need an attitude of one thing at a time and to work on the discipline of scheduling my time. 

Wanting to do it all…

Don’t we all want to do it all?  Probably not!  I am smarter than this and I know deep down that trying to do it all can often mean not doing anything with depth.  But, even though I know better, I still have the desire to read every book that is recommended on lists and tweets!  If it is a good story or more importantly a book that will be meaningful to a child, I want to read it!  I also want to write more. Also, I want to spend quality time with friends, family and colleagues.   So maybe my true challenge is to slow down and take the time needed to do a few things more thoroughly.  Translating this to my work at school I have to realize that each collaboration or project will require different depth and take different amounts of time and that is okay. 

I loved when Mary Kate wrote:

“I have to look at all the possible activities and decide which ones I have to do, which ones I want to do, and which ones I can’t do.  The want-to-do-activities seem to be the ones that slide. “

I think that it is really important to consider each day and decide that we need both, not just the have to do’s but the activities that we want to do as they are equally as important.

Learning to face new responsibilities…

Like many, I am in a new season in my life where I have the honor to help care for my parent.  I am learning to manage my time in this part of my life and still find the space for the things I want to do.  The biggest challenge is to not have the guilt when I am choosing to do other things.  Balance!

Insecurity…

I think that insecurity sometimes stops us from collaborating without us even realizing it.   When we work together we assume that we are each bringing something to the one another and in the end the work will be much richer.  But if we doubt that we have anything new or original to say or to offer then we aren’t as willing. 

I am personally working on this area in my writing.  I keep the encouraging words of others playing in my mind as I push myself out of this self-doubt as a writer.  I am thankful for this nudge from Mary Kate to get back to blogging and writing! 

Perhaps this self-awareness will serve me well as I work with other teachers by being more aware and understanding if someone is feeling the same way about some area of his/her teaching. 

This quote and my feelings about working together sum up why working on obstacles is so important to me:

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up. —Oliver Wendell Holmes

There is magic in sharing, talking and collaborating with others.  You can feel the energy; you can feel the flow of ideas born or old ideas reformed.  There is a momentum of positive thinking.  Maybe it is just because I truly love being around others, I am not sure, but I know the magic of a team of people working together.  What are some of your obstacles in making this happen?  What are some of your best collaborative experiences?

Here is a great new middle grade book that illustrates teamwork in a community!

Collaboration's the Thing

Collaboration.  That’s what this blog is about.  And collaboration for a specific purpose.  It’s all related to teaching and learning and we’re trying to figure out how to make this relationship benefit both teaching and learning.  We are two elementary teachers supporting children’s literacy in individual and small intervention groups as well as within other teachers’ classrooms.  We think it’s the best of both worlds.  But there’s a lot to figure out.

So, we will be dialoguing with each other in this open forum, so others can also learn from our attempts.  Fasten your seat belts for a fun ride and share your comments along the way.  Let’s start collaborating!

Working Together Can Be a Challenge

            The biggest challenge for me is finding time together.  I have time and Josie has time, but they don’t always match.  During this summer, we are volunteering together at a free summer lunch program for our district, but that time is used for organizing and responding to our numerous wonderful adult and teen volunteers.  I am hoping that a blog (electronic time and space) will help us find a teaching and learning collaboration time. 

            Let’s talk about just getting our blog set up.  I have begun to dread the emails that come holding a potpourri of possible dates to sort through and compare to my calendar.  My calendar seems to be one of the main stumbling blocks.  It’s never quick and easy.  I have to look at all the possible activities and decide which ones I have to do, which ones I want to do, and which ones I can’t do.  The want-to-do-activities seem to be the ones that slide.  I know it seems silly, and I feel a little embarrassed to admit this, but lately my calendar has been giving me great anxiety.  Do you ever feel that way?  Yes, this is my attempt at not feeling alone in this dilemma.

            So the alternative is to try to make one time accomplish two or more things.  This was exactly what happened today.  Today is my once a week volunteer time with the free summer lunch program.  We have an hour of activities followed by a free summer lunch.  After receiving an email from Josie about her can’t-do-times, I hoped to work towards finding a we-both-can time today.  We both brought our computers and Josie pulled up her blog account and invited me to make the blog with her.  So in between greeting volunteers, helping crafts get set up, checking on children, watering plants with the kids in the land lab outside, recording teen volunteer hours, cleaning tables, and putting on bandaids--- we made a blog!

            I have learned the importance of being present and enjoying each activity I attend.  It’s important for the people I am with, and it’s important for me.  And I can’t tell you why, but somehow Josie and I were able to be available for many people, including ourselves.  Something that was becoming frustrating to me, became a triumph today.  I want to keep finding these triumphs in the midst of challenges.  I’m not sure the time issue has been solved, but we made progress.  Thanks, Josie for making it work today.  What are your challenges?