keep learning

The Course in Teacher Academy is over, but learning never stops. So I decided to keep this blog as a reflecting place, collecting resources and sharing ideas. Blogging about what I learn, what I like in education, my attempts, my failures. Sharing seems to be the only way ahead.

Here is an example of what collaboration and sharing can achieve!
Some way or another, etwinning is behind every successful learning path I've chosen so far.

Finding collaboration partners outside the classroom 2.4

Reflecting on which people from your community you or your students could engage with. 

Reminder: My teaching subjects  are related to agriculture.
Think about if you have contacts to or knowledge of networks of local professionals? 
I do know local professionals, agronomists and farmers.
Which organisations or people engage with the school on a regular basis? 
Only educational authorities and pedagogic counselors. If we want to collaborate with professionals we need special permission from our educational authorities, justified by the pedagogic counselors. A lot of bureaucracy that demotivates us. 
Are there any businesses working with the school such as caterers, IT companies, or sports organisations? 
Businesses? No! The school seems isolated from the community. But we can organize educational visits. 
Who are your school's neighbours? 
Ordinary people.
Could they be approached? 
Yes, by us. To enter the school they need the special permission mentioned above. Students can get in contact with others only after school and with their parents permission, in the frames of some project.
What about school alumni? 
That's a bit easier.
And who could you or your students ask for support in identifying the right people? 
Collaborating with parents or with the parents' association can be fruitful.
It's much easier to communicate and exchange with businesses and professionals by social networks, online. It has happened to me to ask for support from a software company  from Australia and get it. Technology can facilitate collaboration.
Linking school with the real world is very important but we  need more flexibility. Our needed working hours end up in surpassing the day-light time. How many pbl approaches can we implement when we teach 5-6 different subjects, in the frames of a full time timetable and how much time do we have to invest, out of school to get prepared? Wondering... 

What is effective collaboration? 2.2

A short description of what real collaboration is

A very detailed document about collaboration here 

And my personal experience in collaboration of students in my classes... It was difficult for me to answer the "yes or no" questionnaire. Because all my answers were: "it depends..." or "sometimes"

Are your students required to work in pairs or groups in most lessons?
Not always. It depends on the lesson. Do your students have shared responsibility for tasks?
Not always. I know that they should. The more I learn about pbl the better I organize the teams. Do your students have to make substantive decisions when working together (decisions that will impact the result of their joint work)?
Usually yes. That's the core element of collaboration, isn't it?  Is the students' work interdependent of each other (in other words can they only succeed together)?
It should be. But happens when one students doesn't work? The rest want that their team succeeds, so they take over his work. Is it right? Should I leave the team fail because of one student? 


Today I've learned two new words in english: substantive= ουσιαστικός
interdependent= αλληλοεξαρτώμενος