As I look back over my experiences with this collaborative process, I am reminded of the mixed feelings I had throughout the project. My first feelings were definitely of apprehension and confusion. The task at hand seemed too large to manage, and I felt unsure of the general requirements. As the collaboration progressed, I felt lucky to have a partner who was easy to work with and responsive. We shared our concerns and worked together to find the answers we needed. After our initial ideas were finalized and we started working, I became more interested in financial literacy than I ever thought possible. I brought home armloads of books from the library and spent days weeding through online resources. Now that the project is complete, I feel proud of our work and look forward to collaborating with teachers in the future.
From this collaboration, I learned about the overwhelming number of resources available for collaboration and financial literacy for all ages. These resources helped make the task at hand seem less daunting; there were ideas and tools already developed that we could build upon and customize for the needs of our students. I also learned about effective communication methods when in-person meetings were not possible. This knowledge will help in the future when teachers are too busy to spend a lot of time meeting with me. We could have a preliminary meeting and use online tools, such as email and a wiki, to communicate ideas when we are not together. I also learned about the value of setting mini-goals and mini-deadlines. By breaking the large project into smaller segments, the work became more manageable. Having a clear idea of who was doing what and when helped to keep the project progressing and on track. All of these skills and experiences will be beneficial to me as a school media specialist.
Now that I have had this collaborative experience, I am interested in learning even more about successful collaborations. I would like to learn more about how a teacher and media specialist collaboration would work in a real school situation. I wonder about the time restrictions and the level of involvement of both parties. I am also interested in knowing how the financial literacy unit we created, and the units created by our classmates, would work in practice. I wish there were a way to assess the effectiveness of and be able to modify the unit plans to make them even better.
The value of having a good partner was made very clear in this project. I am thankful that Kimberly and I were able to find a way to communicate that worked well for our situation. Since our schedules seemed to be opposite, using email for asynchronous communication worked the best for us. The wiki also allowed us both to work on the unit plan and make sure that our styles and ideas were meshing together. When working with a classroom teacher, I will now know the importance of finding a way to work together that suits our needs.
The peer evaluations have given us the opportunity to look back at our work and see areas for improvement. Our classmates are looking at the unit with fresh eyes and new perspectives, and that is very beneficial for us. I hope that Kimberly will be able to use the financial literacy unit that we created, and I am sure she would use some of the great suggestions our classmates have made. Overall, I think that this collaboration was a positive experience, and I look forward to collaborations in my future career.
From this collaboration, I learned about the overwhelming number of resources available for collaboration and financial literacy for all ages. These resources helped make the task at hand seem less daunting; there were ideas and tools already developed that we could build upon and customize for the needs of our students. I also learned about effective communication methods when in-person meetings were not possible. This knowledge will help in the future when teachers are too busy to spend a lot of time meeting with me. We could have a preliminary meeting and use online tools, such as email and a wiki, to communicate ideas when we are not together. I also learned about the value of setting mini-goals and mini-deadlines. By breaking the large project into smaller segments, the work became more manageable. Having a clear idea of who was doing what and when helped to keep the project progressing and on track. All of these skills and experiences will be beneficial to me as a school media specialist.
Now that I have had this collaborative experience, I am interested in learning even more about successful collaborations. I would like to learn more about how a teacher and media specialist collaboration would work in a real school situation. I wonder about the time restrictions and the level of involvement of both parties. I am also interested in knowing how the financial literacy unit we created, and the units created by our classmates, would work in practice. I wish there were a way to assess the effectiveness of and be able to modify the unit plans to make them even better.
The value of having a good partner was made very clear in this project. I am thankful that Kimberly and I were able to find a way to communicate that worked well for our situation. Since our schedules seemed to be opposite, using email for asynchronous communication worked the best for us. The wiki also allowed us both to work on the unit plan and make sure that our styles and ideas were meshing together. When working with a classroom teacher, I will now know the importance of finding a way to work together that suits our needs.
The peer evaluations have given us the opportunity to look back at our work and see areas for improvement. Our classmates are looking at the unit with fresh eyes and new perspectives, and that is very beneficial for us. I hope that Kimberly will be able to use the financial literacy unit that we created, and I am sure she would use some of the great suggestions our classmates have made. Overall, I think that this collaboration was a positive experience, and I look forward to collaborations in my future career.
Susan,
ReplyDeleteThis is a thorough reflection on the unit plan process. I wish you the best in all your future endeavors.
Prof. K.