This week I’m heading to the AASL Conference to talk about collaboration! I will be there Thursday through Sunday, so check your conference app and see where I will be!
I’ve been talking about and taking part in collaborative projects for my entire career. For me, it’s a natural thing to do. I understand better when I can see connections between things, English and Social Studies, Science and Math, research and anything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t done in education during my formative years.
If collaboration is learned and practiced at a young age, in the primary grades, it can become a natural event. In one of my elementary schools, which was on a flexible schedule, I looked up to see 5th graders pouring into the room. They immediately went to computers and started searches. It was an entire class. As I was making my way to them to find out what was up, their teacher appeared. She said she had just told the students about a new project they were going to start, then turned around to get something behind her and when she turned back, her entire class was gone! After a quick panic, on a hunch, she came to the library, where she found her class already hard at work. She apologized, but I was thrilled. These kids realized that whenever they do a project, the library is a major piece! The result of many successful collaborations.
