I Just Sued the School System!

Similar content to Ken Robinson's talk about killing creativity but very easy to watch and a strong message.

Modern Learning Considerations

An interesting graphic to help consider aspects of collaborative practice and the impact it can have on aspects of learning. Here is the link to the graphic.

21st Century Learning

I have been reading a lot recently about learning in the future and how this might look and be a little different to how we currently practice. This article reaffirms that New Zealand classes are well along the track to making changes towards learning for the 21st Century. It does however, bring up a few aspects that are worth considering that are focussed on teaching rather than classroom space.

What are the skills and attributes needed in tomorrow's workforce?

I love the provocation in this article. We talk a lot about what skills our children need. This article suggests the need to emotional intelligence rather than factual knowledge and skills will be increasingly important in the future. The collaborative and cooperative skills learned and demonstrated in primary classrooms are more closely related to the skills needed in the workplace than those learned and demonstrated in secondary and tertiary schools.

How can we redesign learning to encourage older students to build on these skills?
What is more important, what or how we learn?

An article that doesn't provide the answers but poses some great questions.

Making Collaborative Practice Work

This is a case study of Wildwood IB World Magnet School. Teachers there believe teacher collaboration fosters a supportive professional culture, lessens conflict between teachers and provides students with school-wide best practices.

The reading provides a video, overview, explains how it's done and gives links to further reading.

Innovative Learning Spaces Means Collaboration

Moving forward effectively with innovative and flexible learning spaces means that you have to work closely with colleagues. There is no hiding behind a closed door with 24 children and hoping that others don't pop in to see what you are doing.

While that is exciting for many it is daunting for others. This article suggests strategies and systems that can be used to contribute to effective collaboration. Many we are already using but these can always be developed to be made more useful.

Great tools to collaboration
Googledocs and sites - share planning, information, ideas and resources
MATEs - Mutually Agreed Team Expectations make how you are working explicit to all
Scheduled Meeting times
Strategic Pairing - designed to complement and bring out the best in each other.

This is a great article from Edutopia that uses these tools and leads to further readings if interested.

The Key to Effective Teams in Schools: Emotional Intelligence | Edutopia

The Key to Effective Teams in Schools: Emotional Intelligence | Edutopia



I have always had a lot of time for the theories of emotional intelligence and enjoyed reading and reflecting on this article. I love the practical examples and I am sure the emotional intelligence of a group of teachers working in a collaborative way will influence the success of the group. Definitely worth thinking about and following what else Elena Aguilar has to say on this topic.