The Power of Quick Collaboration in Education: A Game Changer for Teachers

Purpose & objective

The objective of this session is to empower educators with the knowledge, practical skills, and the confidence needed to design and implement collaborative lessons that seamlessly integrate cross-curricular standards.

Through this training, teachers will
*learn how to foster interdisciplinary connections
*enhance student engagement
*promote holistic learning experiences.

Additionally, we aim to provide educators with
*strategies and tools to approach their colleagues for collaboration with confidence
*creating a culture of teamwork and shared innovation in the educational community.

Ultimately, this session will equip teachers to create
*well-rounded, collaborative lessons that align with educational standards
*prepare students for real-world challenges
*build strong partnerships within their school or district.

Outline

Outline:
60 minute interactive session

5 Min - Introduction of presenters
Kaitlyn Quick, K-5 STEM Teacher (NYS CS/DF standards, ISTE standards)
 Laurie Alden, K-5 School Librarian (AASL standards, ISTE standards)

10 Min - Why?
Through our successes of cross-curricular collaboration based on peer reviewed research, we have seen engaged learners with a higher level of understanding in personalized learning experiences. We want to share our excitement, experiences, and processes with other educators to empower them with the necessary skills and tools to create collaborative culture in their educational communities.

5 Min - What are you leaving with?
The number one thing we want other educators to leave our presentation with is the excitement and confidence to return to their educational communities and jump right in with cross-curricular collaborative conversations. Educators can expect to have a better understanding of the complimentary, intersecting nature of various standard sets, such as the AASL (American Association of School Library standards), ISTE standards (International Society for Technology in Education), grade level standards, and computer science standards. Participants will also leave with tested turnkey lessons for immediate implementation with their colleagues as well as blank, interactive documents that allow for collaboration among standards, edtech integration, and pedagogies. Both of these can be added to an educator’s toolkit to help them create cross-curricular collaborative lessons that lead to student empowerment, increased engagement, and inclusion.

10 Min - Turnkey Lessons - Examples of final product, filled out collaborative document from those units
During this time, educators will view two finalized cross-curricular collaborative projects and pick one to explore deeper. Splitting the group in two, we presenters will then break down the steps taken to create the personalized learning experiences that resulted in these end products. This will include everything from the initial elevator pitch, finding crossroads in the standards on the collaborative document, integrated educational technology, and timeline examples. Teachers will leave with these resources they’ve explored to immediately implement in their educational communities.

25 Min - Blank collaborative doc introduction. How to introduce it to others? Using AI to create your elevator pitch
 Now that educators have taken a deeper exploration of a finalized product, they will begin to build their strategies and resources toolkit. The first thing participants will create is their elevator pitch to approach colleagues about cross-curricular collaboration opportunities. We will guide educators through a variety of AI systems that can be used to help them create a pitch that will leave them feeling confident in approaching their colleagues. Participants will be given time to complete this with our assistance during device-based creation. Participants who are confident and willing to share their elevator pitch with others will be lucky winners of special prizes.
From there, participants will be supported as they dive into resources including blank collaborative documents, standards for crossovers, and edtech integration ideas to begin creating their own cross-curricular collaborative lesson ideas. Both presenters will be available during this time to conference with educators as needed.

5 Min - Wrap it up
In the last five minutes, we want to thank everyone for coming and give them our contact information. We’re more than willing to be available to participants outside of this session to bounce ideas off of, answer questions, and more. We’ll also provide a QR code for educators to take a brief survey to provide us with feedback from the session.

Supporting research

1) The Power of Cross-Curricular Integration in Education - Division of the Museum of Science in Boston: https://blog.eie.org/cross-curriculum-2023

2) Cross-Curricular Teaching: Helping Students Make Connections - You need to read this. So interesting and really fun pen pal ideas connected to stem.: https://sphero.com/blogs/news/cross-curricular-teaching