• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

April 6, 2015 Common Core

Teacher Collaboration: Scaffolding by Grade Levels

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Alice Trosclair

Alice has been teaching for fourteen years. She currently teaches English I, English III, English Language and Composition AP, and English Literature and Composition AP. She lives with her husband and son in south Louisiana. She also has hundreds of "adopted" children.
  • Teaching in a Pandemic: Help Teachers, Help You - February 2, 2021
  • The Importance of Feedback in Distance Learning - October 9, 2020
  • What a Teacher Wants: One Teacher's View - March 25, 2018
  • Artist is Not a Dirty Word - March 18, 2018
  • The Death of Reflection in English/Language Arts Classrooms - March 9, 2018
  • More Than A Teacher - March 4, 2018
  • Real Teaching Resolutions - January 5, 2017
  • 23 Times I have Questioned My Sanity While Teaching - September 7, 2016
  • Part 3: Adventures in Real Word English/Language Arts - Let Them Be Great - August 23, 2016
  • Part 2: Adventures in Real World English/Language Arts: Making Them Care - August 4, 2016
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Is your department communicating? It seems like common sense, however, too many times teachers in the same subjects are not communicating from one level to the next. Students shouldn't have to fill in gaps when they progress within a subject.  Teachers need to move beyond the possessive view of students and begin to collaborate across levels to help students succeed.  How do we avoid a disjointed department or grade level?

1. Communication. Departments and grade levels have to meet at least monthly. Set a department goal. For example, student learning goals, yearly and by graduation.  We are all subject matter experts. Each one of us has something to contribute. It is completely unfair for one grade level to shoulder the burden of a state exam, and the rest of the department is allowed to assume the mentality that the test is the 10th grade teacher’s problem or the Algebra teachers’ issue. If you teach 9th grade, the 10th grade teacher’s score reflects on you. You have to help prepare the kids so she doesn’t have to shoulder the burden alone. Not just 12th grade teachers are accountable for a graduation rate. What can the 9th-11th grade teachers do to help those rates? We all have to work together. If a 9th grade teacher is great at teaching poetry, then the 10th grade teacher will not have to spend such an in-depth unit on poetry and focus on weaker areas. Explore what you are good at within your department and share that with each other.

2. Follow the standards. The standards scaffold material for you. All you have to do is follow it. Look at standards and see what they expect from students at the end of the year in 9-10th grade and what they need to do in 11-12th grade.
This is a standard for research for 9-10th grade: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.8 - "Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation."

This is a standard for research in 11-12th grade: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8 - "Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and over reliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation."

The differences in the standards are clear. The 11-12th grade standard expects students to gather information, but to assess the strengths and weaknesses looking at audiences and purposes. If the 9th and 10th grade, teachers focus on their standard, the 11th grade teacher does not have to spend as much time explain how to find digital sources or even assessing them, she can focus on teaching WHY a source works for a certain audience.

3. Share student work and be consistent. I will never understand why a teacher would not want to bring student work into a meeting. If a 9th grade teacher brings in an essay, then the 10th grade teacher can see where the students are coming from.  Or, the 9th grade teacher might look at a 10th grade essay and realize she needs increase expectations. Working together is the only way to make sure everyone succeeds. Scaffold your essays. Every teacher has a different style of teaching, but working together ensures the students succeed. Teach grammar the same way, use the same formula to teach writing, even consider laying out the binder the same way. When the students know what to expect when they walk into a social studies classroom or math classroom, have the battle is won. Remember the students deserve and need consistency.

4. Observe. There is no right way to teach, but there is a wrong way. Observing each other can increase trust with in a department. It helps us expand our “teaching box,” by learning different strategies and helps us decide what is best for our kids. If we are weak in teaching writing, and go see how another teacher does it, it helps the entire department. If we need fresh idea, what better way than to go right next door?

By working together and building relationships between grade levels and school will not only grow, but thrive. Happy collaborating!

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailDo you Speed Date? Default ThumbnailEngaging Parents From School To Home Making STEM Matter in Schools The Royal Wedding: Why Should We Care? One American Teacher’s Perspective
« Four Things Teachers Should Try Before Removing a Student
The Many Hats of a Teacher »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. We have over 45+ writers worldwide and boast over twelve million page views. We will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about improving public education through articles, events, and social media. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

Popular Posts

  • The Case for More Accountability: It's Time to Blame the Parents
  • Equity In TAG Implementation: Pull-Out Services Vs. Differentiated Instruction
  • Leggings At School? Here's 10 Reasons We Support This Clothing Choice
  • 5 Tips for Welcoming First-Time Virtual Students

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2023 The Educator's Room.

The owner of this website does not consent to the content on this website being used or downloaded by any third parties for the purposes of developing, training or operating artificial intelligence or other machine learning systems (“Artificial Intelligence Purposes”), except as authorized by the owner in writing (including written electronic communication). Absent such consent, users of this website, including any third parties accessing the website through automated systems, are prohibited from using any of the content on the website for Artificial Intelligence Purposes. Users or automated systems that fail to respect these choices will be considered to have breached The Educator's Room Agreement.  

We have included on the pages of this website a robots meta tag with the “noai” or “noimageai” directive in the head section of the HTML page. Please note that even if such directives are not present on any web page or content file, this website still does not grant consent to use any content for Artificial Intelligence Purposes unless such consent is expressly contained.