Developing a Relationship with a Partner School

Overview

Whether your partner school is in the same county or a different country, student motivation increases when working in conjunction with students at another school. Students invest more effort into projects when they have an authentic audience. Additionally, when students (not teachers) leave feedback and communicate directly with one another, educators can capitalize on the excitement of working with new students and increase student performance.

Developing a relationship with another school requires a large investment of time. However, it is worth this investment due to increased student motivation and excitement.

How to find a school

Partnerships can be built through connections that may not be initially evident. We partnered with a school in India because an employee at MWV, my Kenan Fellowship sponsor, had a personal connection to the school. Where do you have connections? Perhaps you know a teacher in another state or even at another school within your county. Start there. Students will be excited to work with other students. Although an exotic location is exciting, there are many additional challenges that accompany working with a school halfway around the world. Any partnership is worthwhile, no matter the location!

More important than location, you are looking for a teacher who is excited by the opportunity to work together in this innovative way. This experience should be enjoyable for everyone.

Working Together

To pitch our partnership we sent a one-page Project Overview to our potential partner school. The summary document allowed the teachers to discuss the project with their administrators. Additionally, this document was used for publicity purposes at the partner school.

We also shared a calender with all due dates before the beginning of the project. Depending on your relationship with the partner teachers you may develop this calendar independently or collaboratively. Even though we carefully planned due dates ahead of time, the calendar was adjusted throughout the process. Creating the initial calendar was challenging due to the holidays, exam schedules, time zones restraints for each school. The dates were selected from the most agreeable times within both the school calendars. Times for web-conferences were chosen with awareness to inconveniences and challenges in both locations. For example, when students participated in the web conferences our students came before school and the students in India stayed after school. However, when the teachers met for web conferences our teachers stayed up late and the teachers in India met before school.

Be open to opportunities to work together. Our partner school was unable to incorporate this project into the regular school day so it became an after-school club. Our partner school selected sixteen students in grades seven through nine to participate in this project. These students met after school, once per week. Our school had sixty-four students in grade seven participating in the project. Our students worked on their projects during the school day because it was integrated into their regular curriculum.

Communication expectations were also discussed. The following expectations were established:

• Acknowledge / respond to all e-mails within 2-3 days.
• Send minutes summarizing each meeting regarding project.*
  • *This includes teacher only meetings and meetings with students.
• Send minutes within 2-3 days of meeting.
• Meet all deadlines outlined in the proposed calendar.
• If deadlines can not be met please communicate as soon as you realize the deadline will not be possible.

The development of personal connections will make or break the partnership. Invest time in communicating with the teachers at your partner school!

Introductions

Teenage students thrive on social interactions. For this partnership to prosper these social connections between students must be fostered.

To prepare students for collaboration we went through several steps. First, all students made an introductory one-sheet using Microsoft Word. These documents were shared with the partner school. Second, students read through each others introductions and prepared questions for a web-conference. Third, we held a web-conference so students could introduce themselves “face to face”.

Lesson plans for these introductory steps can be found on this website.

At the end of the thematic unit we held another web-conference to share final projects, insights, and reflections.

Here are other general tips for establishing a successful partnership.

1. Choose a school in an English speaking country.
2. Designate one person from each school to communicate directly and openly about the project.
3. Send agendas before each web-conference.
4. Have a teacher-to-teacher web conference before the student web-conference.
5. Have both schools check and re-check the technology immediately prior to any web-conference.
6. Be flexible.
7. Communicate frequently.

Curriculum Alignment

The lessons and projects in the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” address objectives in both the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the 21st Century Learning Goals. Correlations with each are listed below.

21st Century Learning Goals

The 21st Century Learning Goals were adopted by the state of North Carolina in 2005. These learning objectives are particularly useful for assessing student learning in the areas of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity/innovation. For a complete list of the 21st Century Learning Goals please go to http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.

As students complete work in this section of the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” they will meet the following 21st Century Learning Goals objectives:

21st Century Interdisciplinary Themes

Global Awareness

• Understand and address global issues
• Learning from and working collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work and community contexts
• Understanding other nations and cultures, including the use of non-English languages

LEARNING AND INNOVATION SKILLS

Creativity and Innovation

• Work Creatively with Others
  • Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively
  • Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work
  • Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas
  • View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

• Make Judgments and Decisions
  • Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs
  • Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view
  • Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments
  • Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis
  • Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes

Communication and Collaboration

• Communicate Clearly
  • Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts
  • Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions
  • Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate and persuade)
  • Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priori as well as assess their impact
  • Communicate effectively in diverse environments (including multi-lingual)

• Collaborate with Others
  • Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams
  • Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal
  • Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member

INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

Media Literacy

• Create Media Products
  • Understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics and conventions
  • Understand and effectively utilize the most appropriate expressions and interpretations in diverse, multi-cultural environments

ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Literacy

• Apply Technology Effectively
  • Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information
  • Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.), communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy
  • Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies

LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS

Flexibility and Adaptability

• Adapt to Change
  • Adapt to varied roles, jobs responsibilities, schedules and contexts
  • Work effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities

• Be Flexible
  • Incorporate feedback effectively
  • Deal positively with praise, setbacks and criticism
  • Understand, negotiate and balance diverse views and beliefs to reach workable solutions, particularly in multi-cultural environments

Initiative and Self-Direction

• Work Independently
  • Monitor, define, prioritize and complete tasks without direct oversight

• Be Self-directed Learners
  • Go beyond basic mastery of skills and/or curriculum to explore and expand one’s own learning and opportunities to gain expertise
  • Demonstrate initiative to advance skill levels towards a professional level
  • Demonstrate commitment to learning as a lifelong process
  • Reflect critically on past experiences in order to inform future progress

Social and Cross-Cultural Skills

• Interact Effectively with Others
  • Know when it is appropriate to listen and when to speak
  • Conduct themselves in a respectable, professional manner

• Work Effectively in Diverse Teams
  • Respect cultural differences and work effectively with people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds
  • Respond open-mindedly to different ideas and values
  • Leverage social and cultural differences to create new ideas and increase both innovation and quality of work

Productivity and Accountability

• Produce Results
  • Demonstrate additional attributes associated with producing high quality products including the abilities to: Work positively and ethically, Manage time and projects effectively, Multi-task, Participate actively, as well as be reliable and punctual, Present oneself professionally and with proper etiquette, Collaborate and cooperate effectively with teams, Respect and appreciate team diversity, Be accountable for results

Leadership and Responsibility

• Be Responsible to Others
  • Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind

North Carolina Standard Course of Study 


Science, Grade 6

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Science, Grade 7

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Science, Grade 8

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

English Language Arts, Grade 7

Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04

Goal 3: The learner will refine the understanding and use of argument.
Objective: 3.02

Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objectives: 6.01, 6.02

English Language Arts, Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04

Goal 2: The learner will synthesize and use information from a variety of sources.
Objectives: 2.01, 2.02

Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objective: 6.02

Computer Technology Skills, Grade 7

Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15, 1.16

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 2.04, 2.05

Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
Objectives: 3.01, 3.07, 3.08, 3.09

Computer Technology Skills, Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15, 1.16

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objective: 2.06

Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
Objectives: 3.01, 3.05, 3.06, 3.07, 3.08

Social Studies, Grades 6,7, and 8

Depending on the location of the partner school and the grade level being taught, it is possible to meet several Social Studies objectives.