During the training, teachers learned several structured activities to move from “partner work” or “group work” to a collaborative learning environment. After the teachers completed the “Learning Walk” I was able to take pictures of the posters completed by the groups, and then email them to participants.

 

 

As teachers, we’ve all seen it. We plan a lesson, and think an activity will work amazingly in groups or teams. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned.  One student wants to do all of the work, another student is willing to help, and yet others do nothing and try to slide under the radar.  How can this be avoided? In my position as a Math Coach, I am provided a unique opportunity to help!  When teachers focus on collaboration instead of groups, each student is invested and engaged. This applies to adult learners too!  Several teachers from my district recently participated in a professional development workshop to explore collaborative learning with Kagan Strategies. We also decided to include Wipebook reusable Flipcharts to model this tool and see how we can possibly include it in future PD sessions and the classroom.

Collaborative Groups

As most educators know, a good PD is only as valuable as the ideas you choose to implement in your classroom.  During the training, teachers learned several structured activities to move from “partner work” or “group work” to a collaborative learning environment. Toward the end of the day, groups of teachers were tasked with brainstorming the collaborative learning structures learned throughout the day and then compiling the ones they are likely to use immediately with use of a Wipebook page.  

Group Question:

• What are some of the structures you learned today that you are likely to use in your classroom?

Next Steps in a Real Classroom

After completing the initial brainstorming and list in each individual group, teachers had the  opportunity to do a “Learning Walk” and read the ideas of the other teachers/groups by visiting each Wipebook Flipchart page and reading the ideas the other groups would like to implement.  The goal of the learning walk was to review structures and ideas other teams had come up with to see if there were any “aha” type moments a teacher might want to implement themselves. After that time was complete, teachers returned to their groups and added any useful ideas they found while on their learning journey.

 

Sharing the Wealth

One amazing feature to use with Wipebook Flipcharts is the ability to take pictures of the posters and share them digitally.  Wipebook has a free app for use on mobile devices that lets the user take pictures of the posters and keep them organized in folders or share them.

After the teachers completed the “Learning Walk”  and added information to the posters, I was able to take pictures of the posters completed by the groups, and then email them to participants. The quality of the picture was great (even i, and is now a useful reminder of the strategies learned in the training- instead of leaving the charts behind at the end of the day which is a great eco-friendly alternative)

Melody Gebhardt, Instructional Math Coach, Maple Elementary School, Maple School Board

 

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