the network for middle school math and science teachers

Collaboration

Information

MSP2 wants to create opportunities for teachers to collaborate locally or globally and form PLCs around science and mathematics. This group provides educators with a forum to create student collaboration projects around STEM concepts.

Members: 6
Latest Activity: Dec. 17, 2010

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Teacher-n-Teacher (NMSA2010 presentation), January 6, 2011, 8EST
Presenters: Davilla Riddle and Rebecca Lawson
Webinar Description: Innovative classrooms today create opportunities for students to collaborate locally, nationally, or globally and empower them to forge new, purposeful academic relationships. This presentation provides educators with a framework that supports student learning communities around STEM concepts. Learn how to involve students in relevant, project-based learning with authentic audiences, nurture critical thinking, and facilitate the development of interpersonal and global communication skills.

A follow-up webinar will occur for those interested in contributing and participating in the MSP2 collaboration project. This webinar will be scheduled very shortly after the January 6 date. We will invite those who wish to participate in the collaboration to attend the webinar to actually collaborate on the project. The group will help determine the topic of the collaboration, the activities to be completed, etc. Emphasis will be placed on selecting a topic and activities that will lend themselves to meeting academic standards across the middle level grades and perhaps more than one academic area (i.e. integrated activities that could be done by a middle level team).
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If you have other ideas or would like to participate, please contact us (Davilla Riddle or Rebecca Lawson) or join our group!

Discussion Forum

Past Collaboration Projects 1 Reply

Questions:1) Have you ever done online collaboration between your class/students and another class/students?2) If you have done collaborative projects before, please list the topic and a brief descr…

Started by Davilla Riddle. Last reply by Davilla Riddle Nov. 29, 2010.

Comment Wall

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Comment by Davilla Riddle on December 1, 2010 at 12:24am: Tracey,
Do you know of any other teachers that might want to participate with us? Please bring them along.

Comment by Rebecca Lawson on November 30, 2010 at 9:49pm: Thanks, Tracey. Perhaps if there is support for a project from MSP2, we can keep the collaboration going. Also, if we can get a few more people involved, maybe it will be more self-sustaining. With a few, if one drops the ball, it puts a real damper on the exchange.

Comment by Tracey Everson Muise on November 30, 2010 at 11:26am: Rebecca,

The project was mine. I had an idea that I wanted my students to look at global environmental issues from a local perspective, but I also wanted to broaden their horizons and see how others are affected by and view the issues. So I just put a querry out on some school listservs I participate in looking for someone to join in. The two teachers responded that they were interested.

Comment by Davilla Riddle on November 29, 2010 at 10:04pm: Thank you Tracey for your comment. It really sounds like your project was very neat! I like how the project was going to be for multiple grades and how each grade was responsible for creating an instructional video.

I had a collaboration attempt gone cold this year and it was due to lack of pre-planning, too. That is why I wanted to get the dialogue going, so that the project via MSP2 is solid before we begin. I hope you will stick with us and be willing to participate in the planning stages of the project.

Comment by Rebecca Lawson on November 29, 2010 at 10:03pm: Tracey, thank you for your insight! Can you share with us where you found the project? Was there support from the source, or were teachers pretty much on their own after they registered? How were you supposed to exchange information?

Comment by Tracey Everson Muise on November 29, 2010 at 8:01pm: This past year, I attempted a collaboration with a teacher in NYC and WA; I teach in rural/suburban GA. It was not particularly successful, but I did learn a lot and want to try again.
The goal was to have students do research on invasive species (6th grade for me), erosion (7th), and climate change (8th). Students researched the issue, particularly focusing on their local area, and created an instructional movie. Early in the process the teacher from WA dropped from the scene.

The NYC teacher and I put up a blog (that was never successfully used) and tried to plan a skype session. Due to poor timing that never happened either. Both of us were disappointed but felt we needed to cut our loses and move on.

I DEFINITELY learned that pre-planning is key. But since I had never attempted such a thing, I didn't know what kind of preplanning is necessary. The biggest stumbling block we ran in to was trying to fit around each other's schedule, both curriculum-wise in terms of when to work on the project, and daily time in terms of trying to get our students together for a skype session.

Comment by Rebecca Lawson on November 24, 2010 at 12:21pm: Have you ever participated in a collaboration before - either locally or globally? If so, please post some information about your experience. What was the topic of the collaboration? What was the impact of the collaboration on teaching and learning in your classroom? Would you like to participate in a collaborative project with the students of other members of MSP2? We look forward to hearing from you!