Collaboration, Assess It

We have studied the skill of collaboration. We have modeled it, mini-lessoned it, and planned lessons that required it. How do we know if the students are building their collaboration muscles?

With the help of EdLeader21 resources, we have designed proficiency scales for different grade levels with “I can” statements to help outline the learning progression of collaboration skills. The scale we use for third and fourth grade is below.

Grades 3-4 Collaborator Proficiency Scale

I can partner with different people	I am a member of a team.	I am a member of a team and can lead with teacher assistance.	I can lead or follow on a team and generate ideas to meet our goal.	I can move flexibly between leading and following in my group by listening to others’ ideas and providing feedback.
I can teach, coach, and lead by example	I can work independently alongside of a team.	I can work independently and complete tasks with my team. I can listen to contributions of others.	I can positively contribute and adjust to the needs of the team. I can appreciate different ideas and incorporate them into a task.	I can build trust with my team by positively contributing and adjusting to the needs of the team. I can encourage different ideas and incorporate them into a task.
I can accept feedback, implement decisions, and share the credit	I can listen to feedback from my teacher and/or classmates.	I can listen to feedback from both the teacher and my classmates and may consider revising my work	I can listen to classmates’  and teacher feedback and revise my work. I can offer helpful feedback in a respectful manner.	I can consistently show a willingness to change my ideas or opinions based on the information exchanged. I can ask for and accept feedback to improve my work. I can share the credit for group successes.

Creating the scales, of course, was a learning experience in and of itself. However, after the scales were created, we needed to figure out how to use them. Our team created and piloted a few tools to record and track progress. These took the forms of exit tickets, test questions, checklists, anecdotal records, and student-reflection questions.

Reflection questions may have included prompts like,

• “Which of the Mount Vernon mindsets do you feel you exhibited strongly today?”
• “Did any of the characters in today’s story (or history lesson) show strength in one of our mindsets?”
• “Set a personal goal for yourself regarding a mindset you want to use today. At the end of class, reflect on your progress.”

At Mount Vernon, we believe that you assess the things you value. We value collaboration, creative thinking, and communication skills. We value ethical decision making, solution seeking, and innovating. So we are committed to tracking our learners’ progress in these areas. We still have a lot of work to do, and a next step that I am excited about is building some performance tasks at scaffolded levels for Mount Vernon Mindset practice and progress.

Collaboration, Teach It

 

Like many big words teachers use in elementary school, collaboration can be an abstract concept for little ones. One of our goals of the year at Mount Vernon, however, has been to help every child in Lower School develop stronger collaboration skills. In order to do that, we have broken collaboration down into three main areas.

1. Diverse Partnerships
2. Coaching Others
3. Accepting Feedback

Diverse partnerships thrive when emphasis is placed on the classroom’s culture. The most important thing we do with our learners, is build a strong culture of community in our school. First of all, we start the day with prayer to focus on gratitude. Then we use mini-lessons and jingles to help little ones build collaboration skills. Our Kindergartner partners learn the Reader Workshop chant, “Elbow to elbow, knee to knee, book in the middle, so we both can see!” We sit in a circles and host class meetings; one of my favorite class meeting agendas is the compliment circle. It is priceless to hear first graders compliment someone for who they are or how they have treated someone else in the class. We encourage students to be out of their comfort zones by trying hard things, greeting new people, and celebrating differences that make them unique. To build an inclusive culture in second grade, each child created a new “Crayola” color this year to recognize and appreciate their own skin colors. We had some original color names like “tan sugar cookie,” “peachey latte,” and “double chocolate muffin chocolate chip.” A focus on culture and community takes intentional lesson planning and classroom time, but it is some of the most important work we do.

Coaching others is not easy. It is not easy for adults or children. Sometimes, we instruct children only to worry about themselves, and we suggest that being bossy is the “teacher’s job.” Other times we tell children they need to work it out on their own. I imagine it is hard to figure out when the wisdom of a seven year old is needed and when the child should defer to the teacher!

Some strategies we are using with our youngest learners are developing common language like, “Stop. That bugs me.” as well as, “I like…, I wish…, I wonder.”  In regards to social negotiations and building friendships, teachers are trying to stand back more and let students work through social situations and playtime. We schedule unstructured play time, observe and evaluate skill development to inform our next lesson. We introduce new objects for students to explore and games that will require some teamwork. The children can learn so much from each other, and redirecting a tattle tale to be a peer coach is an amazing accomplishment. Classwork is also designed with peer coaching opportunities. We use empathy interviews to improve our prototypes, and we have learned to show evidence of others’ suggestions into our iterated products. We often ask students what they changed in their story or design based on the feedback of a classmate. We help students see that often times our first idea is not our best idea, and different perspectives make our ideas better.

Finally, at Mount Vernon we believe that feedback is a gift. We focus on accepting feedback by really listening to the one giving it. Considering another’s ideas and then trying their ideas can be hard when you like your own idea. One of our brainstorming norms is going for volume. Good collaborations have lots of ideas, varied ideas, wild ideas. Strong collaborators make sure everyone has a part and gets credit for what they did, so we create credit slides and compliment our teammates. And, of course, as with any gift, when we receive feedback, we always say, “Thank you.”

Teaching collaboration takes intentional planning, both of the tasks required of the learners and of the mini-lessons or focus areas for infusion of the skills.

The Road to Collaboration

It’s 2018. Time to dust off the cobwebs and pull out the ole blog again.

In the last 10 years I have seen numerous articles on collaboration. I have read about how CEO’s need to see this skill more fully developed in their new hires. I have heard how collaboration is the new creativity, and I have read about how the value of diverse networks is needed to strengthen a team. I get it.

I am hesitant to believe, however, that I can add anything new of value to this conversation. As I review the literature, though, I find that little has been written to show us how to teach collaboration and how to measure it.

At Mount Vernon this year, all students are receiving evaluative feedback on the six dispositions of our Mount Vernon Mind, including collaboration. Specifically, the School has broken collaboration down into three focus ares:

• Builds strong partnerships within a diverse team
• Teaches, coaches, and leads other by example
• Accepts feedback, implements decisions, and shares the credit

We are using a four-point scale to represent a student’s individual collaboration skill development:

• LE: Lacks Evidence
• AE: Approaching Expectations
• ME: Meets Expectations
• EE: Exceeds Expectations

I am excited about the journey that we are on, yes/and each step I take brings more questions. How often are we intentionally infusing mindsets into our lessons? How do we teach a child to coach a peer? What evidence shows strong partnerships exist? Additionally I wonder about how to measure collaboration skills. What do we expect 2 year old collaborations to look like, and how does this advance with age? What tools best capture evidence of collaboration? Who sets the standard? How does one’s collaboration style and skill level change based on variables like team, the topic at hand, or time of day?

The next two posts will share some of the strategies we have used to promote and measure progress on the skill and disposition of collaboration in the Lower School. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas as well.