Reading and Writing Workshop Training: Collaboration

For the past three years I have taught in a small, rural charter school, being the only teacher of certain subjects at my grade level. I loved the close-knit environment that reminded me of the community where I grew up; yet, at times I also missed having other teachers at my same grade level teaching the same content that I was used to in the larger school districts where I had previously worked. In addition, workshop teaching is fairly rare in my community. Instead, I was thankful to have the blogosphere, as well as conversational style books written by teachers for teachers as I navigated my way with workshop teaching. 

Nonetheless, there is always something special about being able to collaborate with other teachers face-to-face. I was thrilled when it worked out that another teacher from a nearby K-8 rural charter school was able to attend the reading and writing workshop training. It provided the teacher who will be teaching in my position next year with an opportunity to collaborate with another local teacher who also integrates workshop teaching into her classroom. While both teachers have unique contexts, one who will juggle two languages in a dual immersion setting and another who will be teaching all subjects in a 6th-8th grade blend, they will be able to learn so much from each other. 

I saw other collaborations with teachers within my school, such as primary teachers watching more of the Calkins' clips and talking about how their literacy instruction would work, determining what already aligned with workshop, as well as aspects they would like to change or fine-tune. They also created anecdotal records forms together and talked about organization. 

All participants know that they can check in with me for further clarification or support, but they also know that they have a valuable resource in each other. They will be able to have conversations about what is working well and areas where they would still like to grow. Whether it is on-line, through professional development books, face-to-face (or a combination of all three), I am learning that fostering collaboration and relationships for long-term mutual support are so beneficial.