Educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems.
-ISTE Standards for Educators
Collaborating with others is arguably one of the most important parts of becoming an educator. Gaining and sharing knowledge on how things work, what tools to use, where to find particular resources, and so on is a crucial part of teaching. Educators need to learn with each other and share their knowledge whenever possible to help students' practice and academic achievement. Whitby in The Connected Educator: All About Connectedness stated that, "Connection moved into collaboration. Being connected enabled me to collaborate with three amazing educators on Edcamptoronto. I was able to spread the 'connected educator' mindset to my Educational Support students through linking them with pre-service teachers in the States. They enjoyed conversations with expert guest speakers through video chats." Getting connected and collaborating with others opens a new world of possibilities and allowed educators to become better than they ever thought was possible.
I was prepared to collaborate with my coworkers at my school and ask for advice as often as possible. However, I did not quite think much further than this-- I did not think to collaborate with educators who were across the country or even across the world. I realized that I did not have to stay confined to my small community to be able to collaborate and share with others.
I was able to collaborate with Gwen Roth through a video conference to gain a further understanding of recycling, composting, and how all of this effects the environment around us. Through this meeting, Gwen gave helpful advice on how to further strengthen our lesson plan and make it so that it would be easily understood by our students. I can easily see myself going onto some of my Networks to collaborate with other educators and gaining more insight on how to improve myself.
Whitby, Tom. “The Connected Educator: All About Connectedness.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, www.edutopia.org/blog/connected-educator-all-about-connectedness-tom-whitby.
I was able to collaborate with Gwen Roth through a video conference to gain a further understanding of recycling, composting, and how all of this effects the environment around us. Through this meeting, Gwen gave helpful advice on how to further strengthen our lesson plan and make it so that it would be easily understood by our students. I can easily see myself going onto some of my Networks to collaborate with other educators and gaining more insight on how to improve myself.
Whitby, Tom. “The Connected Educator: All About Connectedness.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, www.edutopia.org/blog/connected-educator-all-about-connectedness-tom-whitby.