Highlighting Classroom Collaborations

In August 2006, the Magnolia Independent School Districts in Texas sent out the following collaboration request through the Collaboration Center on www.cilc.org:

My name is Amy Robinson, and I teach 3rd grade in Magnolia, Texas, at Lyon Elementary. I am looking for another 3rd grade teacher/class outside of Texas who would be interested in teaming together to study each other’s community, using e-mail or blogs in addition to several videoconferences. I would like this collaboration to begin in October and continue through April. If you are interested, please contact Charlie Brown, our Distance Learning Facilitator, and he will get the ball rolling.

Over ten different districts/schools/teachers inquired from just as many states. Although the main focus was to be Community Studies, a sharing about each other’s communities, these collaborations quickly morphed into other areas.

It is our pleasure to highlight two different classroom collaborations that are currently in progress via videoconferencing, email, and wikis.

The Chapter Book Project
The Overview
Who: 4th grade classes
Williams Elementary in Magnolia, Texas and Heritage South Elementary in Avon, Ohio
What: The two classes are collaborating on writing a chapter book consisting of 4 chapters plus a conclusion.
How: The plan is that each school will write 2 chapters using a wiki. The classrooms will then meet via videoconferencing to discuss the conclusion.
When: August 2006 through present

The Details as shared by Classroom Teacher Eveie Lasater of Magnolia ISD
Last spring Jamie Gustin came to me and presented the idea of writing a chapter book with a class he had found in Ohio. The Ohio teacher, Bridget Ereditario, and I spoke via e-mail and after much effort decided to wait until this year to try this project. Bridget and I again spoke via e-mail at the beginning of this year, and then set up a video conference to meet each other and the other adults involved in making this project successful. After the meeting, I came up with four different prompts from which our two classes could choose and then we set up our first face to face IVC conference. All the students were very excited to meet each other and spent much of the time discussing the differences in weather and school schedules. After presenting the top vote from each class, the students were excited to find out that they had chosen the same topic and how alike they really were.

During the conference, we decided that my classes would take on the first chapter of the book. I immediately faced the challenge of being able to let both of my classes participate in the drafting of the story since I did not have them at the same time. I decided to let the two classes help me decide what to do. We made a list of ideas and characters to be in the story. Each class was divided into groups to develop the characters and parts to the story. After the drafting of characters and ideas were completed, my other class voted on which ideas they liked the best. Once that was done, we outlined the events of the story and then drafted. My students were most excited to see that the characters could be anything they wanted, and even made up names to go with them.

The Impact on the Students
Every child in the room was actively involved throughout the entire process regardless of ability. They learned to cooperate with one another as well as how to compromise.

Student Learning
The project has been very beneficial because not only has it covered every TEKS to be taught in 4th grade, but has connected the TEKS with real life and has given them the confidence of being real published writers. They have retained the concepts of all the skills taught, and I am able to refer back to those lessons as I teach new concepts and expand on those that were taught.

The Impact on the Teachers
As a teacher, I was amazed at the time and detail the children put into writing this story, and how hard they worked to find better word choices. I was able to teach many different areas using this project including the use of reference materials. I would definitely do this project again because of the confidence and interest in writing this project invokes in the students.

Teacher Learning
Some changes I would make would be to start this project closer to the beginning of the school year, have set timelines for completion of each part, and try to have the project completed by Thanksgiving or Christmas at the latest so that students will feel like accomplished writers long before our state TAKS test.

View the story in progress by visiting their wikispace. http://avonmagnolia.wikispaces.com/.

Community Studies
The overview
Who: 3rd grade classes
Lyon Elementary in Magnolia, Texas and Eastwoods Elementary in Oyster Bay Long Island, New York
What: Two classes are collaborating on community studies in which they each present data about their communities.
How: Classrooms connected through videoconferencing and teacher/student e-mail.
Presentations will be shared using Power Point along with other visual aides: pictures, websites, drawings, and oral recitation.
When: From October 2006 through present.

The Details as shared by the two classroom teachers
Our two classrooms connected via videoconferencing twice during the school year.
The first session was planned as an ice breaker. Each class prepared ten questions to ask the other. It took some of the mystique out of videoconferencing which enabled us and our students to focus on content the next time we met. Currently, we have agreed on the content for the second session and are in the process of setting a date for it. We, and our students, continue to communicate via e-mail on a weekly basis. During the last session, our students will share their power point presentations about their communities.

The Impact on Students
The students thought it was "cool" to talk to another class in another part of the country live and compare and contrast characteristics of their schools and surrounding communities.
They also enjoyed understanding how a videoconference happens just like in business.

Student Learning
On Long Island, students participate in a state project where they research information from other states. This was a wonderful starting point. They learned to compose appropriate questions for their audience, speak to them, and respond to their questions in complete, well-thought out sentences. Each class paid very close attention to the replies from the other class to their questions. Both groups of students learned how another community was the same and yet different from their own. They still talk about the conferences they had and are always asking when they can have the next one. As they are working on their power points about their community, they are really trying to come up with things that will be different about them and their community.

The Impact on the Teachers
The teachers enjoyed suggesting questions to each other that would have practical applications for both schools. As this was a new experience for one of the teachers, she was a bit nervous at first. Later, however, she said, "It went so smoothly! I feel better prepared for how to do it in future years."

Teacher Learning
I would let the students have a practice time prior to the first connection to let them understand the time delay.

When asked if they would do this again, both teachers responded positively.
"Sure, it was a way to create a relationship between students in different states that relate to the curriculum that is being taught in the classroom." (Long Island, NY)
"I was delighted to see my students so engaged in learning about another community and to see the continued excitement." (Magnolia,Texas)

Next Steps:
From the desk of DL Facilitator Charlie Brown, Texas From this point on, we will continue these collaborations at the teachers’ request and, in addition to the email and wikis, we will include some of the newest tools available to our district: Moodle and Live Classroom ©. Our goal is to develop a sister-school relationship with each of our seven elementary schools so that we can continue to collaborate throughout the year and for years to come. In the ever-changing world of today’s society, our students need to be well versed in communicating from a distance, collaborating with others to reach a common goal, and utilizing the available tools that technology has provided for us. With the help of CILC, we plan on doing just that.

From CILC
CILC thanks these teachers for their willingness to share their experiences. In an effort to continue supporting classroom teachers, CILC has recently established a collaborative learning space on www.cilc.org called Communities of Interest. The tools within this environment allow discussion of ideas and concerns, posting of documents to share, and the ability for collaborative partners to talk to each other and work on documents simultaneously. Email Dawn Colavita.