Collaboration with Colleagues

In the first lock down I had no experience with on-line teaching and collaboration. I didn’t know the principles of digital environments. I was really worried about how to cooperate with colleagues since there were no face to face meetings and spontaneous exchanges of experiences over breaks in the staff room.

First I contacted other English teachers in school and together we formed a team.We planned lessons via Zoom and each of us took responsibility for the materials of one class only. In such a way we had more time to prepare in depth learning strategies for all classes. A colleague who was also an ICT teacher supported us in adjusting our teaching methods to the digital world. We learned from each other and I made progress.

We also had 1 hour once a week via Zoom - "coffee-time". For us, unofficially.

All colleagues had access to online lessons, which was in the beginning a bit uncomfortable for most of us. We have not been used to having open classroom doors. During this period we found out that peer support and learning, exchange of ideas contributes to the quality of teaching of all parties involved and that we can benefit most from it.

We have learned a lot from critical feedback from colleagues in our team since there was a high level of trust and respect among us. This is a necessary condition for peer learning.