Collaboration is Not Group Work!

What did I learn?
I learned a lot about what collaboration looks like in the 21st Century; it is not used in the same way educators have used it in the past.  In my experience, when teachers told students they were going to "collaborate" they meant that students were going to work in groups.  In truth, collaboration is much more than group work or even working together; this is just the first level of collaboration.  There are other factors that need to be considered in order to reach the highest level of "collaboration" in the 21st Century.

• Shared Responsibility - There needs to be a common product or design with all members mutually responsible for the outcome.
• Substantive Decisions - In addition to shared responsibility, important issues need to be resolved together that have to do with the content, process or product.
• Interdependent - In addition to shared responsibility and making substantive decisions, participation of all group members in required (and not by dividing and conquering).  There is individual and group accountability because the task cannot be completed without all members' contributions.

What changes might I implement based on my new knowledge?

I am not currently in the classroom, but I am tasking myself with learning more about the six 21st Century Competencies in order to better support teachers at my site in my role as Instructional Coach. While I work with all disciplines, mathematics is my background and where I feel most comfortable.  The teachers at my site are already at a level 1 (students are required to work in pairs or groups) almost on a daily basis.  I think in order to get students and teachers to the top level the mathematical task that is assigned needs to be flexible enough that it can be broken into individual parts that eventually need to come together to solve the complete task.  For instance, if students were given a task to find the total distance traveled on a map, each student would be responsible for finding a portion of the distance (the group members would decide who finds what portion of the distance) and then bring their "distance" back to the whole group in order to find the total distance.

I think it is important to note that it is not necessary to get to the top level of collaboration with every task.  If a task lends itself to be broken down in this way that is one thing but teachers should not feel the pressure to break up a task just to reach the top level of collaboration as it would become superficial. Not every activity or mathematical task will lend itself to collaboration and that's okay.  

My Journey Begins

What about myself am I most aware of as a learner?
To me this is a loaded question, since there are so many facets to being a learner.  That being said, I can't pinpoint just one thing.  The first thing that comes to mind, is that I need time to process.  When I am put on the spot, I never feel as though I can articulate my thinking well and in my mind, sound incompetent.  The second thing that comes to mind is I tend to procrastinate if the task is outside of my comfort zone, as can't figure out how to tackle the task.  The third thing that comes to mind is I find it hard to collaborate with others if I don't know their work ethic well enough.  I am a perfectionist and find it hard to trust that things will get done the way I feel they should be.  That being said, I tend to surround myself with people that have a similar work ethic.

What do I know about student learning and the 21st Century Competencies?
I have spent a lot of time throughout my career exploring what it means to be a 21st Century Learner.  I was a part of the Nevada Pathway Project from 2009 - 2011 which focused on 21st Century Learning.  However, the project focused a lot on technology use within the classroom (only one dimension) and the six dimensions really weren't at the forefront yet.  Classes I have taken since then have given me the opportunity to explore the six dimensions (I've done the sort at least 3 times) theoretically but since I was taking these courses as I was exiting the classroom, I haven't had a lot of opportunity to explore them in practice.  All this being said, I know what the six dimensions are but haven't been able to take my practice up the continuum for each competency.

As I think about my instruction, how do I use the 21st Century Learning Competencies as a guide to my teaching practice?
Bluntly, I don't.  I am currently not in the classroom and haven't been for a few years now.  The main reason I am taking this course is to better inform my knowledge of the six competencies and how to use them effectively within a lesson in order to better support teachers at my site with 21st Century Learning in the classroom.