Not too many years ago, we traveled to neighboring systems for professional development on the collaborative classroom. In turn, we returned to the system and provided training for grades 7-12. The concepts of this style of teaching has not dwindled as predicted, much less disappear anytime soon.
The "tables have turned" and we are proud to say that we now have many collaborative classrooms that we would and have readily invited our neighbors to tour in order for "them to grow from us." The Albritton/Baines combo is such a classroom.
After visiting Mrs. Julie Albritton's and Mrs. Tracy Baines' classroom, a supervisor raved about the technology that was being utilized and the student engagement that was occurring ..."and you know Mr. Wilkes, the bell rang and not one student moved...they all continued working."
To get a first-hand glimpse of this, what will soon become a common occurrence across our curriculum, I too visited the class. Yes, I did see the technology (technology that I have to have), but I saw much more. I saw desks turned into pods, both group engagement and student work, one teacher lead and the other follow-up and later a reversal of roles (which teacher had the special education background and which did not, the most casual observer would not have known), and I witnessed student excitement...a wontedness to respond and respond with confidence and certainty. All attention turned to a student leading the class in a discussion of the Pythagorean Theorem, one in which he did not merely give the answer and demonstrate the algorithm, rather he gave explanation as to why the lengths were as the were and the purpose and necessity of triangle being a right triangle. To beat all, the student then used the theorem to determine the hypotenuse of the right triangle, to determine the area of a triangular prism. After further inspection, I noted that the class was composed of students of various exceptionalities.
Kudos to our dynamic duo! Cape Crusaders! Tonto and The Lone Ranger! Lewis and Clark! Laverne and Shirley...Ethel and Lucy...KNOWING THAT THERE ARE MANY MORE FANTASTIC TEAMS, JUST LIKE THIS IN OUR SYSTEM!!!
Oh, the technology...Mrs. Albritton was using her ipad and stylus remotely as a white board. The apps were LogMeIn (remote) and AirSketch (whiteboard). The stylus used was Bamboo.
