Our school
participates in TAP, which is a teacher incentive program. One of the requirements of TAP is that
members of each grade level meet together weekly for training and
collaboration. Since I am the only 4K
teacher in the school, I meet with the 5K teachers. Two of the special education teachers are
also in our group. This gives me the
opportunity to speak with the “Smart Start” special education teacher about
students in my class. It also allows me
to keep abreast of what the kindergarten teachers are working on with their
classes. I also collaborate with
parents. However, some parents are
hesitant to recognize the difficulties their children are experiencing.
One thing that I
struggle with is constructive criticism.
I am not good at giving it or receiving it. I also need to work on my listening
skills. It is so easy to think about
what you are going to say next instead of really listening to the thoughts and
ideas of others.
One area that I
would like to improve in is collaboration with other 4K teachers. Since I am the only 4K teacher at either of
my schools, I rarely communicate with other 4K teachers. I need to make a point to contact other 4K
teachers in my district to find out how they handle students with special needs
and other classroom challenges. I also
need to do a better job of treating my assistant as a co-teacher and teaching
my students to treat her as a teacher as well.
I can definitely relate to this since I am a part of a TAP school too. I collaborate in the same way you do when we meet, which I think is a great way to collaborate. At least you and I don't have to work extra hard to fit in time to collaborate since this is built into our schedule!
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about working to really hear what others are suggestions. It's one thing to listen, but are we really hearing? You made a good point.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteHaving the talent to constructively criticize another's work or teaching is an art form. I have been exposed to people who do it beautifully and others who isolate everyone within their range of hearing. I handle constructive ctiticsm by grabbing on to the things I know will benefit my course of action, and tossing the negativity that may harm me out the window. Use it as a tool for learning, and do not ever let someone beat you into the ground. This is not what constructive criticsm is for -it is a route to success and not a platform for belitting employees or peers.
Nanelle
I think that it is so important for teachers to have time to collaborate. No two teachers are the same, and fresh and exciting ideas are so important in the elementary classroom. I even think that it is a great idea to collaborate across grade levels. I love to see how different a 5th grade classroom feels than my own. My school is not in the TAP program, but I would love to hear more about it. Is it successful or just one of those extra things we in education are made to do without a true benefit to our instruction?
ReplyDeleteThe TAP program sounds great! What are some of the incentives of the TAP program? I wish we had something like that at our school. It is important to make sure teachers collaborate each week. I work very closely with my grade level, but I would like to work with teachers in other grade levels. We get to meet with 3rd grade teachers around our district every month, too. This helps us share ideas with each other. Collaboration is very important to help teachers improve!
ReplyDelete