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| My Interdisciplinary Connection Map |
So what is this interdisciplinary approach that we use all about and what does it mean for me? In our Mindlab notes this week they give a definition of interdisciplinary collaboration from Andrews (1990) as "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organisational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger & Schneider, 1998).
In our profession, building connections is a very powerful tool of the trade. I believe that we use this approach all the time without even thinking about it. When I sat and really thought about all the connections I have in my professional capacity I was actually quite staggered (and no doubt I have missed a few too). I reach out to so many people for support and in return share my personal knowledge and skills with them on a daily basis.
The Thomas McDonagh Group. ( 2011, May 13) in their video discuss how it is our job to broaden both our own and our students horizons and that we need to reach out to others and bring them into our space so that new connections can be made. They mention the importance of having a shared language to communicate in when making these connections to help build pathways for our students to help their future growth.
In my plan, three areas of future focus were highlighted for me:
In my collaborative classroom practice I will be working closely with my teaching partner in our junior classroom. We work together to develop our joint Teaching as Inquiry Plan and develop shared strategies and goals to support our learners. We also seek support from outside agencies, like the RTLB, and we involve our Teacher Aides in our planning as well.
We plan collaboratively and are always looking for ways to make learning more authentic for our students. One of the biggest barriers we have is time to do all of this. Working collaboratively has many advantages but does take time to meet and plan with another person. It is also essential that we are all on the same page and striving for a common goal.
It has the advantage that because we a working so closely we are able to have 'in the moment' conversations about students and teaching and learning that maybe is or isn't working so well. We find that we are always sharing our knowledge and skills with each other and using each others strengths to support our learners. Together we have to problem solve and find new and creative ways to improve learning for our students.
I will also be connecting closely with my year 2 and 3 students. Currently I am working on developing both their inquiry and technology skills. This is something I began last year and am in the process of trying to enhance to really bring the 21st century skills into their learning. For me this means giving my students more power to make choices around their learning yet still having high expectations of their outcomes. It is exciting to watch their creativity develop and problem solving skills as they learn to "App Smash" and present their work in new ways.
It also means that I have to share their learning goals around this with their parents as well. Parent engagement can sometimes be limited so I have to search for new ways to really get them involved with our class blog which is where we share most of our learning outside the classroom. This is a work in progress!
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References
Berg-Weger, M., &. Schneider, F. D. (1998). Interdisciplinary collaboration in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 34, 97-107.
Mindlab, Week 31 class notes. https://app.themindlab.com/course/release/714-week-31-practice-crossing-boundaries-and-creating-connections
ThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011, May 13). Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDdNzftkIpA
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