Collaborative Relationships

Daily Collaboration at Spofford Pond School

I can walk into any classroom at Spofford Pond School, at any time, and see students working together.  I also often see students working with teachers.  These collaborations are always in real time, either in the physical world or the digital one.  The G-Suite allows many opportunities for digital collaboration.  Sometimes these collaborations are synchronous.  For instance, when students are working on Google Slides presentation together.  Other times they are asynchronous.  For example, a student can turn in a Google Doc project, a teacher can offer comments and suggestions with in the document for editing, the student can revise it and turn it back in.  It is fantastic to see collaboration happening in every classroom! This week however I witnessed yet another kind of collaboration:  teachers working with teachers.  I know this happens all the time as teachers team teach with other colleagues and professionals in the building.  But this week I saw teachers across grade levels sharing knowledge in a Google Community, through Twitter, in the Google Classroom and in real time using the G-Suite.  I know collaboration is not new to Spofford and I am sure the things I saw this week have happened here many times before. However, coming off of a week that began with a Professional Development day that emphasized the importance of relationships, it was so great to walk the halls and witness the wonderful relationships of Spofford staff in practice. I am glad to work with these professional teachers who come to school everyday and give their best.    To me, they are all "TOP THIRD"!