Building Effective Partnerships 2015

Our Work For Today : *Partnerships will work for all content areas and grade levels. ●The “Why” of partnerships ●How to partner students using instructional reasons ●Teaching students how to be effective partners ●Strategies to use to get started ●Building and Using Anchor charts

Think of partnerships you admire… Why do you admire? What makes them strong?

Why Partnerships?

Research says… Why Partnerships? ● we need opportunities to interact through giving and receiving feedback as well as collaborating on writing activities. ●this increases the sense of community in a classroom, as well as encourages students to become engaged in the writing process with their peers. ●e stablishing partnerships helps with efficiency, expectations, and a consistent routine.

Rehearsal before writing Why Partnerships? All of our writing actually starts with cognition and speech. Providing time for rehearsal is actually providing additional thinking time. During the active engagement part of the minilesson, there is always a spot for partners to rehearse or practice a writing move together. This rehearsal is the part of the “we do”/practice before independent writing.. Everybody loves feedback. Rehearsing together is an additional way to provide immediate feedback.

Using partnerships within a classroom, gives the message that we can be in charge of our learning, and we can learn from one another.

Why Partnerships? Setting Goals… Partners can push each other to set goals and be accountable to those goals. Teacher can conference with partners then partners can check in on each other at the end of workshop.

Without writing partnershipsWith writing partnerships During Independent Work Time TEACHER

How do I build partnerships?

Every student is partnered with someone he/she can benefit from in some way. NO EXCEPTIONS! What are some ways to assess our writers with the idea to build exceptional partners? How can we do this quickly? Brainstorm with a partner ●green partner goes first ●alternating from green then blue, name what criteria information you might gather from their on-demand writing. Making Partners

PARTNER A - works very, very slowly and sometimes too carefully PARTNER B - drafts quickly and freely, gets thoughts down fast PARTNER A - methodical and strategic about writing PARTNER B- writes fast all of the time and too sloppy

Structures and Routines ●Partner work should be happening every day. TURN AND TALK IS NOT PARTNERSHIP TIME ●Partners will sit next to each other during mini-lesson time. (efficiency) ●At the beginning of independent writing/reading time partners tell each other what they are working on today. At the end of that time, partners share whether they accomplished their goal or set a new goal. (accountability/self-assessment) ●Place partner chairs around the room with a five minute timer. (accountability, stamina, self-assessment)

How do I partner students? How do I make partnerships meaningful?!

WANTED Write a want ad for a writing partner. Think of at least 3 things that you are looking for in a partner. Be specific. Remember you are looking for someone that will help you to become a better writer.

APPLY to the WANT AD Write a brief letter to answer the application or ad for the writing partnership job. Include at least 3 specific skills you can bring to the partnership.

Strategy Two: Videotape Pay close attention to what the students are saying and doing. What does the teacher offer this partnership? What are some benefits of videotaping your student partnerships? 2:26

Methods to Teach Partners demonstration Proficient Partner Ghost Partner Fishbowl

FISH BOWL Find willing partners to display their partner dialogue while the rest of the class observes. Then students discuss and sometimes suggest how to improve. (midworkshop share?)

ASKING OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS What are you working on? Can you show me where you tried that? How can I help you?

Productive Powerful Partnerships Set goals

Summary Checklist 3. Structure and Routine! 2. Make them meaningful 1. Establish partners

LASTLY Find yourself a partner that will push you to be better.

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Questions? More Information?