Conversations

8.3 There is some common planning time embedded into some of our schedules, but it is not consistent for everyone. We do have meetings, but that time tends to be used more for administrative and professional development items than time for colleagues to collaborate with each other. I have been very fortunate in my department to have been located next to a member of my department, which made it easy for us to communicate with each other and share lessons. The only other times would be when general conversations are taken place between classes, at meetings, or at lunch. I think it is important that you have someone you can run ideas by that have the same knowledge base as yourself. For this course, I am constantly communicating with other members to clarify the assignment or advice on how to use the technology. As stated in the article, fear is a big hurdle in learning new technology, but your fear can be reduced if you had someone to talk to that would give you guidance with the technology. I think that it is extremely important that if teachers are to be successful in exploring and implementing 21 Century Technology Skills, than teachers need to be given support from administration, the budget, their schedule, and their peers. That statement also echo’s what the article said about the peer coaching model, budget constraints, fear and time.
 * How does your school/district currently support and or encourage collaboration between teachers?
 * How much do you seek to collaborate with teachers and how do you accomplish this?
 * To what extent do you think collaboration is of growing importance for teachers seeking to implement a 21st century classroom?