Collaboration in the Classroom

 

Being actively involved collaborating with colleagues can greatly help in the classroom. I've recently joined a Social Networking group on Yahoo for Spanish teachers called MaestroDeEspanol which has about 1700 members. Here, anyone who joins this public forum can exchange and share information and files that are very helpful in the classroom. It's also refreshing to see other ideas from people around the country. Since foreign language has the same topics (family, house and home, food, etc.) sometimes teaching can become a little stale. This forum has tons of ideas and files free for download, and it even has its own group website where you can hold small conversations and message other users. There is no limit to how much information you can use (since it's free,) but they do advise as an "unwritten" rule to share as much as you download. I really enjoy how there's a whole section for interactive whiteboards (like a SMART board) to be used, so technology is even integrated and considered when other teachers create files. This particular group also has a section for message history, so any user can go back to January of 2010 and look at any comments or questions that were asked.

In education today, it is very important to stay current and use fresh ideas to keep students engaged. By collaborating using social networks, we can stay relevant and "work smarter, not harder!"