Upside Down

"Sunrise on the Boardwalk" photo courtesy of Arturo Donate @ Flickr

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Remember the Madeline Hunter method?

Something suddenly occurred to me the other day while collaborating with my teammates.

One of us is terrific at using a whiteboard so much so that we use it as a verb - let's go whiteboard!

While we were using the whiteboard it occurred to me that this could have the potential to change the way teachers collaborate and write lesson plans.

Over the past year, our team has come to respect and build upon each other's strengths. Synergy. Our outcome is better than if each of us tried to accomplish the task alone. It's like we are a band. Each part creates a really great song that leaves a lasting impression.

This is evident on our whiteboards and our process. We have a vision; we plan strategically and then we implement and reflect.

Couldn't teachers do the same process with each other? I mean - what if each team whether by grade level or content level, got to know each other's strengths and then tapped into those strengths, map it out on the whiteboard with learning targets in mind, but strategically plan how they want their students to discover them, implement and then reflect. It's not like each teacher would have to implement the same way, but that they contribution to the whiteboard conversation is valuable bringing the entire group and ultimately, process, to a higher ground for student learning.

I wonder...

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