Team Teaching

1. Team Teaching •NameAliki (Alice)BougioukouCosteas-Geitonas School• Which of the four face-to-face institute or Elluminate session topics did you select to report on and why? I decided to report on the “Team Teaching” and most particularly with the video protocol process since I had this experience during our session in December and I found it really useful and enlightening for my teaching• With whom did you pilot this new practice and at what grade level did you undertake your pilot? I piloted this program with my 6th graders since the project we were working on was challenging and therefore ideal. 1

2. Connections with Colleagues • Describe in a few brief phrases what connections you made with colleagues in experimenting with this new practice. • In our unit of Inquiry “There is a place for everyone”, each of my students had to orally present a country of their own choice in front of their peers, so I implemented the video-protocol process adjusted to the needs of my class. We set the question “ Did the speaker meet the criteria we have set i.e. fluency, eye contact, clear and loud voice, interesting content, effective use of props when presenting?” which was the same for every speaker/ presentation. Then every student went through the whole procedure (warm- cool comments made by his/her peers- reflection). • All my colleagues who participated in this unit implemented this practice with their classes and later we exchanged comments and experiences. The results of this implementation were similar among all students. 2

3. Successes • Name two or three 'successes' you experienced with this pilot. What changes did you notice? • I was pleasantly surprised by the response and maturity of my students. They were able to help their peers with their “warm” comments by boosting their self-esteem and confidence, whereas at the same time they managed to help each other overcome difficulties and improve their overall performance with their “cooler” comments. • The majority of the students were open-minded enough to accept these comments and use them to their advantage and the progress on this task was remarkable. 3

4. Challenges • Name two or three challenges you experienced with the pilot. What got in the way of your success? • A small group of students was not mature enough to accept “cool” comments from their peers, since they believed they were not objective but rather ill-intended. • However they were prepared to listen to my “cool” comments because of my role as an authoritative figure in the class. After some one-to-one conferences, they were convinced that all comments aimed to their personal improvement and progress. 4

5. NextSteps • Name two or three next steps with this material. What will you try next? How will you build on your experiences with the institute? • Being very pleased by the implementation of this practice in this particular class, I will continue to implement it to all my classes where possible. • Furthermore, I will encourage my colleagues to use it for their personal development as teachers. Although there are some obstacles we need to overcome such as lack of time in our schedule and the “mistrust” on behalf of some teachers objecting to class observations, I am sure that this practice will help each student and, especially, each teacher evolve and improve their performance. The Force Field Analysis sheet will be a very useful tool. 5