Planning the Novel Study of "Island of the Blue Dolphins" together was more interesting and engaging than planning a novel study alone. We read the book and chatted about our goals and objectives and made a plan together. Aside from being a more engaging way to plan, another immediate benefit was our recognition that we both had different perspectives, focused on different ideas and themes, and had different ideas about the best way to teach the unit. We realized this diversity would provide a richer experience for the students than either of us could create alone.
Planning worked well because although we had diversity in a number of areas, we had basic agreement on some key factors: we wanted the students reading and talking with each other; we wanted the students representing knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways; we wanted the students to uncover and explore complex themes; and we wanted the students to evaluate the author's treatment of themes. Initially we planned to have the students reading and discussing the novel in small groups each day and reflecting in more depth through a variety of assignments at the end of each week. This worked poorly for a variety of reasons and we were able to talk together and take turns observing the students to problem solve together - another benefit of collaboration.
The overall structure of the novel study was as follows: Melody and Jeannie taking turns reading aloud while the students drew visual representations; at least 2 breaks in reading with directed questions for table group discussion for 4 minutes; post discussion writing on question and self created images; half way break in novel where half the class explored artistic representation of knowledge through drawing maps and key scenes with Melody, the other half explored main events and created storyboards and showed knowledge through dramatic representations with Jeannie; presentations by each group for the other, followed by discussion groups to discuss process and product; end of novel same process with the groups switched; student exploration of key themes and then choosing an interesting theme to work alone, with partners or small groups as a major writing project at the end of the novel. Major projects involved a great deal of rereading, student collaboration and higher level thinking skills.
For us, collaboration was powerful because:
1. It allowed for a diversity of focus and richer experience for the students than could have been achieved from a single teacher. Jeannie was more focused on political themes, while Melody was more focused on nature themes.
2. It allowed for both of us to capitalize on our strengths. Melody was more drawn to facilitating artistic representation of knowledge while Jeannie was more drawn to facilitating dramatic representation.
3. It allowed the students to see Melody and Jeannie collaborating and therefore served as a model for the students to draw on in their own collaborative efforts.
4. It allowed Melody and Jeannie to take turns observing rather than teaching and assess the quality of the learning experience.
5. It allowed for meaningful problem solving when problems arose.
6. It allowed for additional assistance for students with special learning needs by having two teachers available in the regular reading time and smaller teacher student ratios for project work.
The galleries highlight the collaborative process in which the students were engaged as well as the products that they were able to come up with. You can view the galleries through the following links:
We hope you enjoy this as much as we enjoyed collaborating and implementing this novel study.