Stage 3 Collaboration

When John MacDonald and I sat down to discuss our integrated classwork we began by sharing our personal opinions, thoughts and visions. We sketched out different outlines and diagrams as we discussed to visually chart our brainstorming and how our ideas for the unit could dovetail. As previously mentioned in the other collaboration post we are both very open in our communication, transparent in our interaction and mutually respect each others teaching styles and passions. Working from such a foundation allows us to take risks together.

The Stage 3 template was more detailed than my colleague would generally expect when planning out instruction. He is more inclined to use a "lead sheet" approach to unit plans. After identifying the big ideas and interim tasks, he gives the students short bits of direct instruction between divergent exercises, projects and quizzes and then work on a final performance task.

John is an incredible collaborator. He spends many hours coordinating with outside experts and planning authentic experiences for his students in and outside of the laboratory. It is quite amazing to watch how he can inspire and engage students with the environment he creates.

The stage 3 template inherently included some aspects of John's technology standards because of the technological design standards from the Science MLRs. He recognized how many of the WHERETO facet experiences were similar to what he has used in his previous technology classes and that the sequence was reasonable. We did discuss leveraging the expertise of the art teachers who work in close proximity for the sketching portions of the facets. This additional potential collaboration could prove fruitful.

I know John and I will continue to discuss and implement the unit and I anticipate some more collaboration with Julia Bemis, a student teacher, and the art department next year.