"There's real comfort in a team... if you want to do something with someone else on the team, share a project, it's an opportunity to be efficient. We can draw on each other's strengths, and assign tasks out too, when something looks really big... too big for one person to consider... it helps if we all take little pieces of it. It's a little easier to take on large projects."
--Rich Dean, 4th/5th grade teacher at Harris School

Sharing the Load
Jane Krauss teams with the three other teachers who teach fourth/fifth grade blend classes at Harris. They schedule weekly planning meetings of about half an hour, and use e-mail technology throughout the week to share materials and ideas. Though teaming wasn't always in place here, once committed to working as a team they established routines and practices that became progressively more effective and successful.

"So it is at the point now, we do a lot of the same things in our rooms. We share almost everything, especially through the computer, since we have e-mail." --Vickie Buck

Two of the teachers, Jane and Bethani Mayberry, taught in special education for many years. The others, Rich Dean and Vicki Buck, taught in middle schools. They credit their effectiveness to their varied backgrounds, adding that their different styles and strengths contribute to the team's success. They especially value the constructive criticism they request of each other as they build materials together.

"Our principal at the school is real supportive of the kinds of things we like to do. She occasionally brings up things we need to think about, such as when we began to really address the state benchmarks, but in reality, it's mostly coming from us. She realizes we need to be the leaders since we are the ones in the classroom. And that's a very freeing sort of feeling." --Rich Dean

Their school principal encourages the team, and actively supports the types of learning experiences the team provides their students. She provides needed materials and guidance, and expresses a great deal of confidence in the team's decisions.

Project Learning

"It gets kids into project work, but with a lot of structure in place that allows them to be successful." --Jane Krauss

 

"Having the project well laid out and then clearly explained at the beginning allows for less confusion later on. I take the time for regular conferences and discussion as the project progresses. My intent in these interactions is to help students develop their own ideas and decisions. I try to ask clarifying questions whenever possible, instead of giving in to the easy temptation of simply explaining or demonstrating what a child should do." --Jane Krauss

"What I realize is you can teach the skills as you're doing the project. The kids learn, plus they're getting the whole picture that the project provides, which oftentimes makes it more exciting. I think it makes it more meaningful to put it into a context. And there's a product at the end, too."
--Bethani Mayberry

One of the big challenges they have faced together is helping their students meet the state content standards. Jane's team took classes on project learning, and learned how to tie the state content standards to their project planning. Building scoring guides to evaluate projects was a challenge they faced together. They discovered that of the many things that go on in a project, it is easy to identify and focus on the skills and areas that will meet the content standards, and then use the standards as a guide for further development of the project.

• Jane's Reflections on Project Learning

  "It's kind of a back and forth process of planning, looking for what meets the state standards, then later going back and saying, if I make sure to include this content element, it will be stronger. What can I assess - what do I need to modify... More learning can occur and can also be evaluated well." --Rich Dean

They agree that project learning provides the breadth of activities, and depth of experience, reflected in the content standards.

"We have been trying to provide activities and projects ... experiences so kids not only see a range of the sorts of things they are being asked to perform, but then have a chance to practice it ... and finally be ready, on some kind of assignment, for it to be scored." --Rich Dean

Jane used the state content standards and fifth-grade benchmarks to guide her learning goals for the Travel USA project.

• Fifth-grade Benchmarks and Project Learning Goals

The district has supports technology use by providing Internet access and networked computers in many classrooms. All students and teachers at Harris school have access to the Internet through at least one networked classroom computer. Additionally, Harris has a small computer lab with nine networked computers. A software product called Network Nanny is used to manage (and constrain) Internet access, and students access age-appropriate sites for searching such as Yahooligans.

The district servers also provide research programs, including Worldbook Encyclopedia and an atlas. Classrooms access the school library collection using remote browsers.

Computer use is broad at Harris. Most teachers have integrated technology into their curriculum. There is little use of drill and practice or game programs. Software purchased in the last two years has been production software, where simulation software has been used to support specific curricula, such as Oregon Trail II for western migration studies and MayaQuest to support the study of Central America (now AsiaQuest).

"I don't think we'd be as far along with technology if it weren't for Rich. He's our official technology leader... we get a lot of skills and motivation from him. He helps us realize how far we can take ourselves, so he's real inspiring." --Bethani Mayberry

Harris school has a staff of resourceful technology users who help each other meet the technical support challenges. Problem solving responsibility often falls to those with the expertise, but teachers share willingly.

"There's a lot of support in the building. We have kind of a grass roots group here who are interested in technology, some have gotten good at different things. I can use the production software pretty well myself, so I help people with that. We have one guy who helps with networking and hardware, so he's helpful when things go awry in those areas. Sometimes we call the district office, but it can take a long time to get tech support here, so we solve a lot of the problems ourselves." --Jane Krauss