When the school year started my teammate and I taught our students separately in adjacent rooms. However, we dreamed of knocking down that wall between us and teaching our kids together because we dreamed of what we could accomplish together in one place. Well . . .  we weren’t allowed to get out our sledge hammers and knock out cinder blocks, but we sure knocked down that wall, figuratively. We put our kids together and shared th
e teaching responsibilities for all of our lessons. My partner helped to teach Math and Science, and I helped to teach ELA and Social Studies. It was a grand adventure and we loved the experience of working together. During this time together we learned a lot about what it takes to teach collaboratively and our students made some pretty great gains throughout the process!

Now, the next year, my partner moved on to another position in the district leading our teachers in the use of technology in education. He has done a FANTASTIC job leading us forward in this new age of education and I am so proud of him.

With the beginning of the next school year I found a new partner in this adventure. It has been a fantastic year together as we worked through some major challenges brought on by overcrowding. The freedom and enriching experiences that come with collaborative co-teaching is something that an educator will not find in any other teaching situation. I LOVE my collaborative team!