It's somewhat fitting that working together in collaboration has been a key element during this holiday week. The photo above shows an assessment project for the Grade 4 science unit on Soil and Water. Students worked within groups (collaborated) to construct a dam with surrounding materials to utilize what they had learned about water flow, erosion, and much more. It was amazing to hear them use sophisticated terms and concepts as they described their projects. The "final test" of the dam was to pour water and see if it held and whether the surrounding landscape and materials protected the homes. Their assessments included oral and written presentations. Impressive!
I was fortunate to take part in some of the assessments when we decided to show the presentations on the SMART Board in the Library. Ms. Miceli had the idea of using a document camera to capture what was going on so everyone could easily view it. I was able to collaborate in setting up the camera and helping in other ways. Our school has an ELMO document camera/visual presenter so this was a good way to use it. When my library class schedule permits, I really enjoy these opportunities to co-teach with classroom teachers.
As an example of even more collaboration, I borrowed a smaller document camera from Mrs. Steever, librarian at Chariho Middle School, and we used this newer, less expensive camera. Not only did it show the action, but taking photos was easy. What a great little tool! Thanks to Mrs. Steever for bringing this new equipment, Impevo, to my attention and for letting us try it.
You may well be doing plenty of collaboration tomorrow when you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner - or at least I hope you don't have to do it all yourself. Happy Thanksgiving!
