Drew Zailik's Educational Portfolio
Effective Collaborator
An effective collaborator effectively engages in interactive processes of learning that involve reciprocity.
Becoming one with the wave and your fellow surfer…
Surfing, while generally known as a solely individual sport, requires much collaboration. Spiritually, a good surfer always, always, ALWAYS respects and communes with the ocean. A good surfer knows to treat Mother Ocean with love and respect, and to trust her warning signs as signs of danger. If a surfer doesn’t catch a wave, he knows to never get angry at the ocean. Additionally, good surfers always must embrace fellow surfers. If the line-up on a good day has what we call, “bad vibrations,” the harmonic flow of riding waves will be disrupted. Surfers need to respect one another and offer both friendly encouragement and friendly advice. Most importantly, each surfer has his or her own individuality, and must learn to both embrace and respect the individuality of all surfers.
Teaching is identical to this philosophy behind collaborative surfing. As a teacher, working together is of the utmost importance. There needs to be a positive, collaborative effort among all teachers, both new and experienced. Teachers need to learn from fellow teachers and learn from their students, much in the same way a good surfer learns from both the waves he has ridden and the other surfers in the water.
I would not have survived the student teaching process without collaboration. I found it both necessary and enjoyable to collaborate with my Cooperating Teacher, my peers, and even my students.
I was able to both share and receive exciting new ideas from my fellow student teachers. A number of my lesson plans feature ideas enthusiastically borrowed from my peers.
My Cooperating Teacher also gave me very helpful advice. She would encourage me to try new things, but would also remind me of the class’ individual personalities and what has or has not worked for her in the past.
Most importantly, I was able to collaborate with my students. I treated them with respect, and in turn, they offered me on-the-spot feedback about particular lesson plans. They really influenced a lot of my planning and lesson design.
Here is a student centered feedback sheet I designed.I also made sure my work was always in line with the Virginia Standards of Learning. Click to view:
© Drew D. Zailik 2007