Our Teamwork Principles

There are many ways issues involved to build a team and foster its ability to work as a whole. During all this time working as a team, we have discussed some issues and now, we are able to state some principles to consider in your professional teaching practice in terms of building a team. 

1. Communicate goals. The whole community must have their goals clear. When those goals are not clear, disagreements will emerged and everyone will be focused on different aims. By clearly laying out goals, everyone begins in the same place and understands which the objectives are.  

2. Accountability. Schools run best when everyone clearly understands the responsibilities they have. Therefore, each member of the school should have a clear definition of his or her own responsibilities, both individually and as it relates to his/her colleagues. By this way, we can avoid any confusion and allow educators to relate without struggling over responsibilities.

3. Professional training. To be a commited professional teacher you must make sure that you keep on your training. As a community you ought to encourage your partners to keep on training as well as you. So, the institution should provide ongoing training to all the members of the community.

4. Encourage relationships. Even though teachers work is too demanding, the schools must provide their community members occasional extracurricular activities to go out together and relax outside of the work environment. Taking into consideration this principle, we can build understanding and improve working relationships.

5. Empowerment. Decision-making is essential for educators working on a project without fearing consequences. They need to get their jobs done, and also to observe the process to make sure they're rising to the challenge. 
6. Provide feedback. Teachers should be clear not only in their initial or final expectations and assignments, but also in their opinion of the work. Frequent communication, where colleagues are clear on where they stand, will help them feel more secure and willing to work together.

7. Meetings. The best way to encourage reflection in teachers and to let them know they're not alone is to meet regularly with them. It's critical to keep a conversation group in order to go deeper into their teaching practice. This will also help them assess any team-building concerns that need to be addressed.

Building a team and working together is the only way to reach our common goals. So work on it!

Team work in our lesson plan

In this post, we want to share with you our lesson plan as a team. Mainly, this lesson was based on an important topic discussed in classes, which was Multiculturalism & Diversity.

Context: Saint George’s college. 11^th grade. Upper Intermediate.

Objectives: 

1.  Students will be able to express their opinions about integration/discrimination.

Time	Pre-activities Activation / Motivation	Time	While-activities Comprehension	Time	Post-activities Practice & Production
5 min.	a.   T talks about what they were seeing last class. b.   T asks if they have seen any movie or documentary related to different cultures. c.    Sts name some movies/documentaries. d.   T writes them on the board. e.   T does a brainstorming with these words (Tolerance, Social classes, discrimination, segregation, integration) Sts will share their ideas. f.     T asks if they saw “Machuca” and what they remember about it. g.   T tells them they will see a scene of the movie. Implementation: T-St	9 min.	a.   T holds a box with pieces of paper that contains the different characters. (Teacher, new students, old students and head master of the school) b.   Each st picks one paper to know his/her character. c.    Sts get together according to the character they have. d.   T explains the activity in which Sts have to recognize the way of thinking of the character they have. They have to take notes while seeing the scene. After seeing the scene, in their groups they share they notes and what they saw. e.   One member of each group tells the rest a summary of what they recognized. Implementation: T –St	6 min.	a.     T gives Sts time to answer: How would you react if you were one of these characters? b.     Sts discuss and write the different ideas they have. c.     Sts have to pick another member of the group to answer the question in front of the class. d.     If there is time left T will ask Sts to give their opinions about the other groups’ responses.
	Focus Qs What kind of discrimination have you seen? Have you ever experienced discrimination?
	Link with “While activities” To remember a little bit more about the movie we will see a scene.		Link with “Post activities” Can you imagine if you were one of them? (characters of the movie)
A S S E S S M E N T T will assess Sts by monitoring group work and their participation in the class discussion. K E Y   W O R D S Tolerance – Social classes – discrimination –segregation- integration.

Team teaching

Now, we want to share with you this video as an outstanding example of the team teaching approach in the classroom!
As committed teachers, we appreciate your comments if you agree or disagree with this teaching practice. Do you think that something similar can be apply in your own classroom?

Thanks to our useful website <www.edutopia.org>

Our real thought about Teams

Dear colleages! In this opportunity, we want to open our own discussion about Teams, considering our different internships at school and academic knowledge so far. The question to wonder this time is, how do teams contribute to our high teaching-learning performance in the classroom?


Teachers do play a key role in shaping teamwork. Most importantly, some of them are accepted as leaders in a team to deal positively with group issues. So, how does one become a teacher leader? From our required reading understanding group and individuals, "the core role of leaders is to help the group to achieve its common task, to maintain it as a unity and to ensure that each individual contributes his best". Undoubtedly, to be a teacher leader in teams become a major challenge to build language, skills, projects in the classroom and lead our colleages in rethinking practice, performance and powerfully collaborate together. Give teamwork a chance, it is worth the effort!

What is Teamwork?

First of all it is important to know what Teamwork really means. Then we will be able to say if it is important into the classroom or not. Teamwork is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary as "a joint action by a group of people, in which each person subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group." This does not mean that the individual is no longer important; however, it does mean that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments. The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.


So, do you really think teamwork is important for you as a teacher?

     Thanks to:                         
               "Teamwork in the Classroom". NDT Resource Center. 6 Sept. 2010. 
http://www.ndt-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Teamwork.htm