Collaborative Teaching in Our Pilot Schools

When co-teachers are in sync, classes move more smoothly from entry routine to exit ticket. And when teachers have tools to communicate more efficiently, they can build curriculum that helps students thrive. When students get off-track, teachers come together to support, leveraging the skills of all adults. But when collaboration falters, it stunts student growth. Lack of structured co-planning can prevent teachers from sharing student data or anecdotes, and curriculum planning or interventions fail.

Fostering collaborative adult relationships is both an art and a science. Some of the work is investing time to get to know each other as whole people, leading with inquiry and empathy, and supporting each other’s learning. In today’s classrooms, there are often several adults supporting students in various capacities. Each adult has a role to play in the development of crucial student skills, and if they can’t work together, student achievement suffers. But there is also a crucial, technical aspect to collaboration in the 21st century. When you are responsible for writing curriculum, presenting to students, and assessing their progress as a team, the tools you use to communicate are a core part of your work.

At Kiddom, we’re excited about our newest collaboration features to help teachers save time and plan more efficiently, giving them time to get to know their colleagues and work more productively together.

Collaboration Made Easy

• Adding a collaborator is as simple as entering their email address — once they accept, you can begin working together.
• Share your classes with multiple adults — there is no limit to the number of collaborators each class can have. And there are levels of sharing and editing access to ensure that everyone can play a role.

Each of the schools within Kiddom’s pilot community are using collaboration features a little differently, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Here’s how some of our pilot communities are collaborating to make strides this year.

Case Study #1: Support the Whole Child Together

In one small, private special education pilot Kiddom school, there are as many therapists and paraprofessionals providing services to students as there are classroom teachers. In order for student treatment to be effective, adults must be consistent in their expectations for students, and need constant access to student data to keep families informed of progress. For this reason, each teacher has added every speech therapist, occupational therapist, or counselor as a “view only” collaborator to see student grades and assignments. With this information, students can develop and track progress towards time management goals in counseling sessions, work with teaching assistants to make up missing work, or practice strategies learned in speech therapy using actual class assignments.

Case Study #2: Innovating Together

In another Kiddom pilot community, students will use a flex blended learning model to work on projects at their own pace, following personalized pathways based on their mastery levels in individual academic skills. Rather than move room to room for isolated disciplines every period, multi-subject teachers will act as facilitators and coaches in the room, guiding students through flexible, interdisciplinary projects. In this scenario, one head teacher acts as “owner” of the Kiddom account, created one class with all of the students and their personalized goals. Then, the rest of the team teachers are added as co-teachers with editing privileges in order to assign them projects and give students feedback.

Case Study #3: Sharing Outside of School

Many of the educators using Kiddom to collaborate are homeschool families working together to ensure that their students have access to quality materials. Homeschool families may not be able to see each other daily like traditional school communities, but with Kiddom, they can use Planner and our Library to plan units, and swap them with families who have created other content. Why reinvent the wheel when you can share in the workload?

The Kiddom team is committed to helping your school community grow. We want to hear and learn how your teacher teams are using our collaboration features. Tweet at us using #SharingIsCaring with collaboration tips!

Editor’s note: If your school or district is ready to join the Kiddom pilot community, click here to learn more. For resources on how to get started, check out our help desk or schedule a personalized, one-on-one demo.