Beyond the classroom walls

One year into my journey to be more collaborative and looking ahead to a new year and a new team.

It is vital to stop and think about the how and why of this journey as well as reflecting on what has worked and how.

I use the images below because I feel like at the beginning of the year I was a teacher that needed every pencil in the right pot, my planning needed to be the way I wanted it to be, each and every system I wanted control over and to be able to put my finger on it. By the end of the year my pencil pot which would represent me as a teacher would be organised but messy, blending together a variety of tools from other teachers constantly being rearranged and moved around. One year on having let go I can see my learners have had access to a much more engaging and empowering learning environment.

Where did this road start. Was the road clear, straight and easy to drive. Of course not there were bumps, obstacles, stop signs and many roundabouts. But then surely this is part of the challenge! It started with writing being together because in a nutshell it meant the children were able to access a stronger literacy programme. Why? Because we as teachers could learn from each other, plan together, reflect, discuss children and work out the where to from here. Does that mean if we had done it in our classrooms it would not have worked as well. I believe that totally! Children learn better when they have experiences that are planned by multiple people. We can see this clearly by the levels in what children know and have learnt and the way they think is truly something else. Of course we cannot put the same child back through in a different model but we feel as teachers what we did was highly beneficial.

Through teaching language collaboratively we realised that our planning prevented others from being involved. How could we be collaborative when we use different planning documents? This led us to align our planning and share one document using a google spreadsheet that was used by all four of us. What this meant was even though we may not be teaching together we could see what each other was teaching and this led to natural conversations about what we were doing and why. Did it really matter if the planning document wasn’t exactly as we would want it to be. Of course not. Who do we plan for? And what is the real purpose of planning? What became evident was the more we collaborated the more we had to ask ourselves the so what of what we are doing and the how? At times it felt like we were unpicking every aspect of our teaching and learning but then this is how we learn.

Once we had the writing programme set up and working we started to look at the next part of our day that we could do together. Mathematics was to start with taught as two classes. We started to merge them together running one mat time followed by many different learning experiences. What we realised from this was we needed a way of recording the children’s learning so that we all knew what they were doing and what support/extention needed to be given. We created an anecdotal system that we could all use for all children. Again the I becomes a we! And the benefits of course is multiple perspectives on our learners which in turn means they are provided with a more empowering learning environment.

The year continues in this way. We continue to become one learning space, one class, four teachers. Yes there is a wall that divides us but does it really matter. Not for us, we made it work beyond that because really it is about the learning and the culture we provide. By the end of the year every component of our day was together, morning meetings became a choice, that good old registration that we have to do became something we could do on our movable devices so children could really go where they wanted to go they were not confined by our school systems.

I could really spend days writing about our year, not my year but our year. But I am already thinking about next year. That is what makes me tick and get excited and what was truly incredible was to hear the KG learners talking like that when they started to look forward towards Grade one.

So how do we know that what we did worked. Because in a nutshell we listened to 35 learners that all told us the same thing. When we go to the next grade we want it to be collaborative because we know it helps us to learn! Some decided to write letters to their new teachers sharing their thinking and perspectives. This makes me feel that what we did was make a difference, we empowered our learners to be thinkers to be inspired! You know what that as a teacher makes this year one of the best I have ever had!

When the walls have gone

As I sit here and reflect on the year just been I look forward to the following year. I am moving with the wonderful KG learners to Grade One and continuing the collaboration. But we are taking it to the next level if you want to call it that and taking a classroom wall down. So we will have one small space and one big space. How do I feel about this? Yes there are those questions like where will I put my favourite pens, my handbag, my resources, how will the space be organised, will it work? All those questions yes they do come to mind but the reality is it is not actually about my handbag (I really love handbags as well!). This is about the learners in Grade one and giving them the best possible learning environment they can have. It is about continuing their learning and embracing the culture already created in KG. It is about showing them that they matter and that when we can see they learn better together why would we not continue this journey for them.

Yes I know it is going to be hard sometimes and that I will have to let go of some of my ways of living in my classroom. But what I get is the wonderful chance with the learners and teachers to create a space like no other we have had at this school. A chance to move our KG learners forward and to continue to inspire them to think outside of the box.

So all I need to remember is why we are doing this and that sometimes in life we have to learn to be open minded and reflect on what we truly see happening, generally speaking that leads us in amazing ways. I know when I walk back into our learning space in a few weeks time I need to remember everyday this is not about me it is about us! Looking forward to an exciting year ahead as we spend time seeing where this road goes to. I am sure there are going to be some crazy fast roads, speed bumps and people blocking our traffic but I also know we hold on and enjoy the ride it is going to be something truly inspirational!