Collaboration

Thursday was Google Sites day for all of Mrs. Migliore's classes, and we had a technology specialist come in for a workshop. Mr. Evans, taught social studies at Strayer Middle School, and now he helps classes stay connected by training students and teachers how to better use technology. Today he was showing the students how to create sites from their student google accounts. These websites will become e-portfolios and simultaneously teach the students how to manage their own website.

Google Sites is a simple site builder that has a fairly clear interface. Although I had fewer problems creating my  hula-hoop business site with weebly, I tried my hand at creating my own Google site. While I followed along with Mr. Evan’s demo, I also pushed to do more with my site to personalize it. I used the trial and error learning method to further explore the site.

After the first period I felt comfortable enough to help students at their seats. I walked around while Mr. Evans continued his demo to keep the students on task, and brought some students who were behind up to speed. This was team teaching at its prime. Throughout the day Mr. Evans and I spread ourselves around the room. It was common for more than one student to have a question at a time and having three teachers to cover the room was highly effective. It was not until I drove home that it hit me. Today had been so successful because of collaboration.

When you collaborate, you share knowledge between two or more people. This is so effective because each person has a different background and skill set that is unique. When I played rugby with the Kutztown University Women's Rugby Club I understood how powerful teamwork can be, and how success can be achieved when we all work together. A rugby team has fifteen players, and each player has an individual job to accomplish in order for the team to succeed. A winning team may not even recognize these separate moving parts of the machine, however these parts are what drive the whole. Support is an essential on the rugby pitch, the most common phrase you hear from the girls is “I'm with you, I’m with you”, because we never run without support. I think after teaching on this Thursday I felt particularly accomplished because I had the support of the other teachers. Team teaching benefits the students because it offers the students more than one way to understand the content or concept.

Mr. Evan’s strengths were typically technology based and he was able to explain the Google sites interface to the students. While my inner artist wanted to personalize my website and make it original. Because of my understanding of the site I was able to help the students personalize their sites backgrounds with their own images. At one point Mr. Evans called me over to help a student, while this was his workshop, I was still involved and helpful. This left me feeling like I was an important part of the team, rather than remaining an idle student during his workshop.