WORKSHOP #1:Evaluation (SWOT analysis) of team teaching in school year 2013/14 (60 min)
Group formation:Work in language-based groups of preferably 3 but no more than 4 members.
Goals and objectives:Reflect and give feedback (individual & group)on your team teaching for the school year 2013/14.
Steps:
(1)15 min: Individually evaluate (SWOT analysis) your team teaching experiences with your Slovene co-teachers in the school year 2013/14. Bear in mind both the process of lesson planning as well as the lessonimplementation/delivery.
(2)25 min:Share and discuss your individual analysis in group and jointly provide feedback in a written form.
(3)20 min:Share and discussgroup views and comments.
Group members:
Andrea Valenti (IT), Filipe de Almeida (AN), Demará Ivanič (AN)Evaluation (SWOT analysis) of team teaching in school year 2013/14
SWOT analysis is a classic and versatileevaluation (and planning) toolthat can be returned to at many different stages of a project to review work done and provide a warm-up discussion before forward planning. Using a framework of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats, it provides a simple way to assess how we are doing and how work can best be done in future. It helps us be realistic about what we can achieve, and where we should focus.
INTERNAL / EXTERNAL (school level)STRENGHTS, successes / OPPORTUNITIES, challenges
My team teaching strengthssuccesses in the s.y. 2013/14 were: / Professionally challenging team teaching opportunities(in the s.y. 2014/15) are:
- Working with the same teacher over a number of years enables the FT to be more adaptable to and with the SLO teacher (and vice versa) and able to foresee pitfalls or problematic areas.
- The FT knows/is better aware of his/her co-teachers strengths and weaknesses.
- The FT‘s taking the lead role in a team can in fact lead to success in the team teaching process on any given day.
- Beginning with a new colleague can lead to fresh ideas and better analyzation of one’s self as a teacher.
- New teaming opportunities with a non-language teacher proved to be a positive experience because the SLO teachers were willing to team teach and had clear goals in mind.
- Teaming up with another FT in the classroom motivate Ss and favorably add to the Ss learning experience as well as clearly demonstrate ITP roles within the classroom for Slovenian teachers.
- Being able to reflect upon, repeat, adapt, and tweak learning units based upon what worked, what did not work, what could be or should be improved, proved to be valuable in designing team-taught lessons/learning units.
- Defining content has improved after working with the same school over a longer period of time.
- Flexibility proved to be a two-way street on both the FT and Slovenian teachers‘ parts. Slovenian teachers were flexible enough to adapt to the FT‘s schedule and the partner school’s schedule, and the FT was flexible enough to juggle his/her schedule to fit the needs of the SLO teachers, Ss and school.
- Working with a new teams/at different schools will prove to be challenging as well as opportune in the sense that new experiences will occur.
- Working with a younger age group might be a bit fearful but is helping the FT to think about his or her style, materials, abilities, etc.
- Using SATs to team teach with other foreign teachers will be a welcoming and challenging experience.
- Approaching non-language teachers, planning for and executing CLIL learning units will prove to be challenging as well as quite welcomed opportunities.
My most significant team teachingachievement(s)in this period were:
- Modelling, which was planned in a non-traditional but more natural manner, proved to be the most significant team teaching achievement.
- SATs programs with other foreign teachers were excellent because each knows the elements of ITP, his or her role as well as learning outcome expectations and this adds to a heightened level of Ss interaction and learning within the classroom.
- Expanding the traditional language team-teaching experience to the non-language classroom (e.g. biology cow’s eye dissection).
INTERNAL / EXTERNAL (school level)
WEAKNESSES, false steps / constraints, limitations, THREATS
My team teaching weak points are/turned out to be: / My team teaching was hampered by:
- Adapting to other styles of teaching is difficult to do.
- Lack of or no planning sucks (is appalling). Why can’t this be structured into the schedules from the top down (from principals to teachers or from the ministry to principles to teachers?)
- When the second teacher is too mellow, perhaps the first teacher overtakes the other. Finding the right balance proved to be challenging.
- In several instances the FT failed to define the roles and the SLO teacher felt left out or overlooked. Again is goes back to proper planning.
- Lack of focus within the open curriculum to better define the content of a particular course or to better define learning outcomes proved to limit the curriculum/team-teaching experience overall.
- Having meetings at Zavod on the same day as SATs courses hampered progress.
I made some false steps (but also learned lessons):
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