Content

• Steps
• Advice

The combined teaching method enriches the learning environment of both students and teachers. By allowing teachers to approach the subject from a variety of perspectives, collaboration in lesson planning creates classroom interdisciplinaryity and enables teachers to draft instructional content from a variety of documents and different ideas. This will make the classroom develop comprehensively and improve the student's learning process.

Steps

Part 1 of 5: Choosing a time and place for the meeting

1. 

   Choose a meeting time that works for everyone. Although it can be difficult, find a time to meet people face-to-face. You should avoid removing a member from the group due to a conflict in your schedule. Caring for all members will help you form teamwork.
   • Face-to-face meetings help nurture your relationship in a way that Skype or talking over the phone can't. In addition, it will keep you away from any technology risks that could disrupt the discussion.
   • If people can't meet in person, the best alternative is to Skype meetings at a time that is right for everyone. If the circumstances do not allow you to meet via Skype or in person, you can discuss it over the phone (although this is not ideal).

2. 

   
   
   Find the right meeting place. Depending on your membership group, meeting in the school conference room can be quite good. If your team is quite close, meeting at a member's home or at a regular coffee shop or bar will be a good fit and create an open, comfortable environment for the meeting.
   • Book in advance, especially if you want to hold discussions at conference rooms or meeting rooms in public places like schools. Don't think that you can always use them every time you want.
   • Regardless of the location or type of the meeting, you should ensure that everyone involved can hear and see each other. Adjust the lighting, microphone, and seats for a smooth conversation and exchange.

3. 

   
   
   Use Google Docs. By using Google Docs, your notes and lesson plans are automatically archived and not lost due to technical errors. Everyone will be allowed to edit and access these documents anywhere through their Google account.
   • If someone on your team is unfamiliar with Google Docs, you can spend some time in a meeting or hold a private discussion to show how to use Google Docs. You can refer to our other article to learn about integrating technology into the discussion process.

4. 

   
   
   Combine the means of teaching through vision. Many people learn better visually, so if possible, use visual teaching aids in the meeting to reinforce the discussion. The visual elements don't have to be complicated or time-consuming. An image on a projector or a short Power Point presentation containing relevant data helps people focus more on the meeting. advertisement

Part 2 of 5: Help people understand the problem

1. 

   Ask participants to bring their notes / have their ideas ready when coming to the meeting. Collaboration will go more smoothly if each member knows clearly what they want to contribute to the discussion. Even the act of asking people to have a question ready helps facilitate the meeting. Understanding the group's ideas, questions, and concerns before the meeting starts will greatly aid the collaborative process.
   • Do not assume that everyone in the room knows each other's names well or is familiar with each other's work or areas of expertise. Although it may seem unnecessary, you should invite all members to introduce themselves as well as present a little bit of their own goals during the lesson plan.

2. 

   Clearly define the specific goals of the discussion. You should avoid blindly rushing into meetings. At the very least, you should prepare the outline of the meeting and what you hope to achieve. Even if your goal is vague, like “integrating technology into disciplines”, it will at least help form a general direction for the meeting. You should have your summary brochure ready to distribute to everyone on your team.

3. 

   Division of duties. Do not hesitate to divide the work. You should make sure that at least two people on the group take notes of the meeting in case one loses it. If you are concerned about the timing, ask someone to keep an eye on your watch. You need to make sure that all members are involved and contribute their own ideas, suggestions, and concerns. If a member of the group is quiet and is not involved, consult that person about his or her area of ​​expertise or interests.
   • Be careful not to be overbearing. Although it is necessary to have someone to lead the meeting, all members will feel uncomfortable if you act "superior" or too rigid. You should try to maintain a professional but open-minded environment.

4. 

   Anticipating contradictions. Sometimes, even the most professional teachers find it difficult to find a solution to a particular problem. Veteran professors won't be receptive to new teachers' suggestions on how to improve their classes. Difference in departmental budgets can create unpredictable tension. Many people are simply quite difficult. Effective conflict resolution to maintain positive and smooth meetings for meetings is important.
   • Try to assert the conflict in a way that is not offensive to everyone involved. You don't have to raise the issue in front of people because it could bring embarrassment to your co-worker or make the situation worse. You should conduct conflict resolution discreetly.
   • If the stress is high and you can't wait, you can offer a break and ask to have a private conversation with the dissidents. Even if you can't handle a conflict during a break, it will give the opposing parties time and space to reconsider the situation and calm down.
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Part 3 of 5: Provide ideas for subjects

1. 

   Discuss ways to motivate students to learn. The teaching method for a student's learning will depend on the subject. You can choose to group teachers by subject or faculty, or you can actively bring together teachers from a variety of disciplines to encourage a more unique approach to the lesson. The more teachers from different disciplines join, the broader your lesson plan will be.

2. 

   Explore practical ways to execute ideas. For example, the school might want to equip the classroom with more technology, but delving into each subject will help you with this. Changes will vary for English, music, and math classes, specific to each subject. You need to learn details and develop specific steps for each teacher.

3. 

   Decide how you can collaborate. It is important to decide who you will collaborate with. This will help you focus on the meeting and on planning the lesson plan ahead. Do you include the administrator and support staff or just coordinate with the teacher? Some schools even find it helpful to invite school administrators or guests to present their plans.
   • For example, do you want teachers from related subjects, such as history and politics, to pair up and talk about the lessons they will collaborate on? You may want to bring together every teacher from a variety of unrelated faculties such as music and physics to see what unique methods they will develop. This process is called "horizontal collaboration", which means that staff from the same position get together to think about ideas and develop lesson plans.
   • Conversely, would your team want to invite administrators such as the school's business manager to discuss how the new project built by collaboration in lesson plan drafting does not exceed budget? This process is called "vertical collaboration", and it refers to a vertical hierarchy within the group. According to this example, business managers (school administrators) will collaborate with teachers in finding a budget-friendly approach to incorporate all of their interdisciplinary courses.

4. 

   Consider potential obstacles. Large classrooms, budget cuts, and staffing will all impact the logistics of collaborative lesson planning. You should try to anticipate difficulties and proactively come up with possible solutions to potential problems that may arise. This way, your colleagues will easily apply the new teaching method to their classrooms. advertisement

Part 4 of 5: Plan for the combined lecture

1. 

   Goal Setting. You should think about the goal of your lecture in advance. You need to know what you want your students to acquire. What is the main topic or topic of the lesson? What key points do students need to know at the end of a lesson? Your goals should be clear about them.
   • Your goal should begin with the direct saying “students will”. For example, "Students will understand the events that led to the Battle of Bach Dang".
   • Your goals should be large enough to accommodate every point you want to present to students. You should see it as the umbrella covering the rest of the lesson.
   • In the US, for example, a syllabus between teachers of history and economics, may be related on topics such as the Great Depression or the history of American Social Security. From there, the rest of the lesson plan will develop on the cooperation of both on this topic and go into detail on specific events and characters.

2. 

   Instructional development can reflect goals. Once you've defined your goals, you should start building lesson plans. Proceed from the factors you have identified that are the main ideas students should master when the lesson is over. Think about the final goal of the unit and then outline any steps necessary for the student to reach that final goal. You can refer to our lesson planning topic to learn more about lesson development strategies that match your partnership plan.
   • Pay attention to the timing when preparing lesson plans. You should ensure that your lecture will fit within the allotted time.
   • Remember that each person's learning approach is different. Many students enjoy visual learning, while others learn best through lectures. You need to combine multiple teaching strategies to help as many students learn as possible.

3. 

   Attract students' attention. Instead of using rigid lectures, you should incorporate some learning activities into the lesson plan. This method will help students not get bored with the lesson and lose interest. Examples of active learning include teamwork, role-playing, discussion, thinking and sharing ideas in pairs, concept maps, and presentations.

4. 

   Evaluate the student's performance. To measure the success of your lesson plan, you need to use assessment strategies to determine your students' ability to remember. Taking the Old Knowledge Test or following a Classroom Assessment Technique (also known as CAT) will help you determine your student's understanding. You can choose an overall rating or an individual rating.
   • Old Knowledge Test helps teachers review each student's knowledge for the lesson. Taking this test before and after the lesson will be quite helpful in assessing students' understanding. Comparing knowledge tests before and after a lesson is a great measure of a student's memorization ability.
   • Classroom Assessment techniques assess a broader understanding of the entire class. Examples include asking students questions to see, for them, what stands out most during class discussion or, on the contrary, what is the "most ambiguous" and needs more refinement.
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Part 5 of 5: Effective monitoring

1. 

   Communicate with everyone within a week of meeting. You can email your team and ask them to provide feedback on the meeting. Depending on discussion and specific timeline, you will probably need to inquire about how their lesson plan was developed after that session. Monitoring things after the meeting is important because it demonstrates your commitment to the team plan. At the same time, it also shows support for anyone who is having difficulty implementing the meeting's idea.

2. 

   Remember that it will take some time. Depending on the complexity of your goals for your lesson plan, you will need to meet many times. This does not mean that the first collaboration has failed. Instead, it just shows that your team is collaborating on a diversity issue that takes more time than a single discussion.

3. 

   Determine the results of the collaboration process. Tracking the results of long-term collaboration will help you identify the components that are effective in lesson planning as well as those that need to be removed or improved. Once all team members work on their lesson plan, you should hold a follow-up meeting to discuss the results of using the collaborative lesson plan. This meeting may take place a few months after the first discussion to allow everyone time to work on their lecture. advertisement

Advice

• Take note of the approach that works and vice versa at the first meeting and use this information to develop a coordinated future lesson planning process.