Inter-school Collaboration in Year 5&6

Inter-school Collaboration In Year 5 & 6

Colin Hill (Linwood Ave), Tim Kunowski (Bromley) and Kate Bodger (Bamford)all teach year 5/6 in the Linwood Cluster.

We all knew each other previously, but connected through our E-learning LeadersCluster meetings. Through these meetings we were able to share our ideas about teaching and learning.We all started following each other through Twitter and kept up with each other's class blogs. We found that our children had very similar backgrounds and are often associated with each other outside of school through sporting and cultural activities.Collaborating online through blogging and Twitter was a great way to work collaboratively with each other. We would all share new ideas, sites and apps that had been successful for our learners. The success of our own collaboration made us want to explore opportunities for our children to connect with each other. We liked the Kids Chat NZ Twitter model but wanted to keep it specific to our  community. Instead of using Twitter we decided to use a back channel - the website"Today's meet" as we found it was more secure for when we were just getting started. We created a hashtag  #linwoodkidschat so we could have a live feed on Twitter of  photos of the children to make it more interactive. We were able to set topics that  were relevant to our community. 

The first chat was sharing about our classroom and what we like about our schools.We used it as a chance for the children to get to know each other. The second wasthe highlights of the term where we reflected on the learning that had occurred andshared some of the children's work. We wanted to promote student voice and havean audience for the children to share their learning.Children got to know each other as well as the teachers of each classroom. In oneinstance outside of the classroom some of the children recognised Colin saying“there’s Mr Hill, there’s Mr Hill!! The Linwood Ave teacher!” It was great that they feltcomfortable approaching Colin as they felt like they knew him already. 

Working together wasn’t without its challenges; Colin co-teaches in a class with 50children and found it difficult getting everyone to share their opinion without flooding the chat with too many comments. Trying to get three classes together to havediscussions in a live chat is a logistical challenge (nightmare). Kate’s class finishedearly and we all had different lunch times to work around. We also had to work with 3different class programmes in 3 different schools making arranging times to meet online difficult.

Working within any collaborative classroom there are always different approaches to delivering content. This was no different for our chat, as we were all approaching it indifferent ways with varied levels of interpretation and what we wanted to get out of it.We had to revisit the purpose of why we were doing this. It was important that if we were setting aside time out of our weekly programmes we needed to see the benefits for our learners. Our main goals were for student connection, giving the students avoice, a forum for evaluation and feedback, sharing and celebrating success andengaging in conversations about our learning. So when we revisited the purpose wefound it was important that we could make this work sustainably, providing moreflexibility for all involved. We are now in the process of refining how we willcollaborate and move forward. 

For this term we have created a blog for sharing our learning and providing thechildren with an audience who can provide constructive feedback from across ourwider community. We are also going to provide tasks and other challenges throughthe blog to encourage meaningful participation across our schools. This will mean thechildren will be working on similar projects using the same language and getting arange of formative feedback on their work.As all of our learners have their own Google accounts, a blog seemed to makesense. Learners can access it anytime, anywhere. We also have more optionsregarding the adding of different media types (as opposed to Twitter and Today’sMeet). We can see an opportunity for our children to be independently responding to,and interacting with, their community in many ways. We are still exploring this format,but are all genuinely interested in the possibilities that may present themselvesmoving forward.

Lunchtime Makerspace at the Fendalton School Library

Makerspaces aren't new but they are gaining momentum and unless we want to be left behind we need to get on board. There are many valid reasons for setting up makerspaces in schools and libraries, not least of all the creative thinking and collaboration that happens under different challenges. STEM or STEAM activities happen in schools anyway but linking them as part of makerspace activities allows so much more freedom. It doesn't always have to be a lesson taught in a class. It can happen anywhere and for us, we have opened up the library as a makerspace during some lunchtimes. There isn't room here to talk in depth about Makerspaces, nor is this the place but I want to share what we have been doing and how it works for us.

I am not talking 3D printers here, quite simply, because at this stage we do not have any printers but it is something we will look to fund at some stage.  Nor am I talking about Coding clubs as they happen in many schools already.  I am talking small scale makerspaces in a school library, manageable during a lunchtime break. I am also far from an expert but what I am, is passionate and keen to give it a go.

We call our time Maker Monday's and because of time and space constraints I do limit the number of children participating. I offer each activity to a year level and eventually I will combine groups, particularly when I want older students to team up with and support younger students.

Our first event was open to year six children who created hedgehogs out of weeded library books. I was quite taken aback by the number of boys who turned up ready to fold and create. No cost and heaps of fun. Another event we had was open to year fives. It was a pipe cleaner challenge and they were asked to build the tallest structure they could, using just 14 pipe cleaners. Students were not allowed to use tape or any additional items and were not given any instructions or help. They were in teams of their choice and their willingness to work together was fantastic to see. At one point I asked them to hold a hand behind their back and at another stage they were told not talk to each other. This was based on an idea I saw in Pinterest which is a wonderful tool to use for ideas and planning.

As you can see from the photos children worked well together with some creative thinking, including one student who asked if he held both hands behind his back could his teammate have both his hands free?

No doubt we will find some things will work and others perhaps won’t but we aim to continue trying new ideas and challenges. I hope what this highlights is that makerspaces can be run on a limited budget so there really isn’t any reason not to give it a try.

We want our activities to generate creative thinking and collaboration among students and allow them to give things a go, take risks, and have a little fun along the way. Surely this can only be a good thing. Can it be done bigger and better in a classroom? Absolutely! I am limited by time and cost constraints  but my point is that these students came willingly to try new things and I have been inundated with others wanting a turn. Big or small. Cheap or not so cheap, makerspaces offer children a chance to thrive.

http://library.fendalton.school.nz/?p=2102 - Movie clip of pipe cleaner challenge.

Desna Wallace

Fendalton School

https://booktrailers4kidsandya.wordpress.com/

@edna331