Blog Post #7
How do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students? How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school? How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
How do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students? How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school? How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
ReplyDeleteCompetitive collaboration is used during review games like Jeopardy before tests. Students work in teams to answer questions. All students need to show that they have attempted the problem before collaborating as a team. At our school, we meet in grade level teams weekly and share ideas. Our social committee puts on fun competitions monthly to keep our creativity sparked.
How do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students? How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school? How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
ReplyDeleteI use this by having my three classes compete against each other each unit based on how much growth they show. We'll do review games on websites like blooket and the class that goes up the most from the first day of the unit to the end gets half the class as a free period. We also give 5 minutes of extra recess to the class with the highest good calculations on magmamath for the day. They really encourage each other and ask their peers to study in their down time so they can win the following day.
How do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students?
ReplyDeleteIn my math classes after I teach the lesson and we work on practice problems on some days I allow students to work in partners and/or small groups. Sometimes I pick the groups and sometimes I allow the students to pick the groups. While they are working I walk around the classroom and listen to discussions about the problems. I sometimes sit down and work one on one with groups that need it. This allows me to help the students who are struggling more on a math concept/lesson taught.
How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school?
I think the "competitive collaboration" among teachers can get better within our small school. I would like to see more staff meetings/PLC time used effectively discussing ideas we do as teachers within our classroom to allow students to be more engaged. I feel as though some teachers may be using something I do not know about but we rarely have time for open discussions about this. I think if we did we would see the students more engaged and willing to compete within our classrooms for all general education classes.
How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
I think this would be a great way to actually utilize professional development for teachers instead of doing some of the things we are currently doing. Which I believe are a waste of time and not helping our students or pushing our students.
One way I’ve used a competitive collaboration idea is having the students complete a pass the artwork activity. The students in the class were split into 2 groups. A main topic for drawing was given and the students on the team had 2 minutes each to add to the drawing. Some students chose to add onto what a previous student was drawing and other students added new details to the drawing. The students were engaged throughout the activity and it was a friendly competition. I think teachers in our school often collaborate to create meaningful learning, whether it’s classroom learning or fun school wide activities. Collaboration between teachers can strengthen professional relationships. I think it’s very important for teachers to have strong work relationships.
ReplyDeleteHow do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students? How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school? How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
ReplyDeleteIn my school, every Tuesday we collaborate with our grade level team. We create an agenda for each week so we know what we need to accomplish. Some things that we cover is: assessments for the upcoming units in math etc. This benefits the professional development of all teachers because students are at the front of the discussion. We are focusing on where are students are performing well at, but also where they are not performing well at and how we can get struggling students to improve. With this process, all teachers will be on the same page.
In my class, “competitive collaboration” is kids pushing each other to do better, but still helping each other get there. When students see a classmate make something cool, it raises the bar and the next thing you know they are asking, “How did you do that?” That is when learning speeds up, because it is motivation and teamwork at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI build it in with things like partner troubleshooting, “ask three before me,” and sharing a few strong examples during work time. The competition is not to beat someone, it is to improve your own work, and the collaboration keeps it positive.
For teachers, I would love to see the same idea, not competing for credit, but pushing each other to grow. Try something new, share what worked and what did not, then come back and make it better together. If we did more of that, PD would feel less like a one-time meeting and more like ongoing improvement, and nobody would feel like they are doing it alone.
Jeannie Miller
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching, "competitive collaboration" is kids competing against each other in team games like when we studied for tests and quizzes. Or I would have them ask others for help.
For teacher, It helps to watch each other grow. When you see one teacher gain more, that makes you want to learn more.
I've used "competitive collaboration" during my social studies/history classes where kids would choose a topic we were studying to learn and create a presentation for the class. This provided the opportunity for each group to "teach" the class about a historical event or person rather than from reading on their own in the book or having me tell them. I've also created jeopardy games via powerpoint and we'd play as a science review before a test. The kids really enjoyed it! I think its important for all teachers to learn from one another and share ideas. When I taught in a departmentalized group, I would get together weekly with the 2 other teachers I shared students with and we would discuss what we had planned for the coming week in our classrooms. If the ELA teacher was working with her students on writing essays or summaries, the math teacher and myself would try and incorporate that into our week as well so there was some continuity throughout. It proved to be very beneficial and we made a great team!
ReplyDeleteHow do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students? How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school? How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
ReplyDeleteI use Kahoot for Vocab. So students don’t love vocab study. I used Quizlet before. However, students didn’t love it. It was very individual.
I introduced Kahoot last year and they LOVED it. That is their competition. They love to race robots and the underwater sea monster.
I’d just like to see collaboration. We have such a good teaching staff. But we are so busy and separated across the state. We have such good brains that if we worked together, we could do such good.
There are a few ways I use competitive collaboration in my classroom to accelerate growth.
ReplyDelete1. I play team games such as "stress related" family feud. Students will talk amongst their groups to try and score the highest points, and be determined the winning group.
2. Suicide prevention poster. Students collaborate to come up with the best poster. They share creative ideas with one another, as well as factual information required for the poster
3. Partner blooket. Students share one chromebook and play blooket as a team.
In my school there are several ways we do collaborative competition as teachers. During our professional development hours, we have scavenger hunts and other games that involve team work. We also collaborate with our students, during study hall- our annual christmas door decorating contest.
Working with others can NEVER hurt learning. Collaborative competition allows others to learn by bouncing ideas off one another, or seeing how another person "moves" to solve something.
In my early childhood special education classroom, I use competitive collaboration by having students work together on activities while also encouraging them to challenge themselves. For example, small groups might complete a hands-on project together, learning from each other while trying their best. This helps students grow academically, socially, and emotionally. I’d like to see competitive collaboration among teachers in our school through shared goals, friendly challenges, and idea-sharing. This would make professional development more practical, motivate teachers to try new strategies, and help everyone improve instruction—benefiting all students, especially those with diverse learning needs.
ReplyDeleteAs a School Counselor, I use the idea of competitive collaboration by encouraging students to support each other while still striving for their personal best and working on teams. For example, when working on social-emotional learning projects, college or career readiness tasks, or group problem-solving activities, students can share strategies, provide feedback, and celebrate each other’s successes while still being motivated to push themselves. In other areas such as collections or drives to support causes throughout our community and school are competitive collaboration among our students. These approaches allow students to learn from peers, develop teamwork skills, build resilience and support causes as a whole. I would like to see competitive collaboration applied among teachers by creating spaces where staff can share strategies, lesson ideas, or counseling interventions and team together, while also striving to improve their own individual practices. Friendly challenges, peer observations, or collaborative goal setting could motivate growth while maintaining a supportive environment. This could make professional development more meaningful because we could learn from each others real successes within our own school community, build trust, and collectively raise the quality of education and student support across all classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI use competitive collaboration in PE and in the weightroom by creating an environment where students push themselves and each other to improve while still helping teammates succeed: like competing against each other in the pro agility, vertical jump, or a flying 10.
ReplyDeleteI’d like to see teachers use the same approach by sharing ideas, trying new activities, and giving honest feedback in a supportive way to their peers. In my opinion, this can make professional development more meaningful, because we all learn faster when we challenge each other while working together.
I use competitive collaboration mainly for review games in my classroom. I use this when we work in small groups for a Jeopardy style game or when we use Quizlet Live. One of my favorite review games is called Stinky Feet. In this game, each student must try the problem or come up with their own answer before collaborating with their team and finally coming up with their team answer. All teams can earn their chance to pull a card but it really encourages discussion amongst kiddos and expressing why they think their answer might be the correct one.
ReplyDeleteAs far as teachers using this, I think we should focus on the sharing or collaboration part more than the competition piece. I try to always share ideas or display what my students are doing so that if other teachers think its fun or exciting, then they will either ask me how I accomplished the project or perhaps just seeing the projects displayed will encourage them to try something new too.
In my classes we use competitive collaboration when beginning and wrapping up a unit. Students love to play games or research together to create innovative learning experiences, sometimes reporters for historical learning and then we play quiz games such as blookit or jeopardy. Its fun to see where kids go to learn and share their ideas with others.
ReplyDeleteHow do you use the concept of “competitive collaboration” to accelerate the growth of your students? How would you like to see “competitive collaboration” used among teachers in your school? How could this benefit the professional development of all teachers?
ReplyDeleteIndividual Class: Competitive Collaboration is used a lot during my cooperative and competitive games units. A lot of strategy is involved in these games, so students must work together to come up with a strategy that they think will work best for them.
Whole School: Three times a year I do what is called "The Fastest Class Challenge". This is a challenge to see which class can walk, jog, or run the most laps in 5 minutes. Students from every class try to pump each other up and strategize what they will do to win. Winners get an automatic free game day.
Teacher: For me, I am the only elementary PE teacher so there really isn't anyone for me to compete against in my district; however, I do collaborate with the art, library, and music teachers. We try to work together and help each other out whenever we can.
As a high school history teacher and coach, I see competitive collaboration as a powerful way to push students to grow while still supporting one another. In my classroom, I try to create an environment where students are encouraged to think deeply and challenge each other’s ideas in a respectful way. Sometimes, we treat these discussions like court cases or debates, where there is a winner at the end, but I try to shift that mindset so the goal is deeper understanding rather than just winning. For example, when we analyze historical events or debate different perspectives, students often “compete” to make the strongest argument, but they are also learning from each other in the process. That balance of pushing for excellence while sharing ideas helps accelerate their understanding.
ReplyDeleteAs a coach, this concept is very familiar. Athletes compete against each other in practice, but the real goal is improvement for the whole team. The best athletes often raise the level of everyone around them by modeling effort, strategy, and discipline. I try to bring that same mindset into my classroom, where students are motivated not just to do better than others, but to help each other improve while still striving to stand out.
I would love to see this concept/mindset used more intentionally among teachers in my school as well. When teachers share strategies, lessons, and results, there is a natural push to improve without it feeling like comparison for the sake of ranking. Instead, it becomes about learning from each other’s strengths and trying new approaches in our own classrooms. A huge part of coaching and teaching is “stealing” other people’s ideas and finding ways to adapt and use them as our own. Seeing what works in other rooms can inspire better instruction across the board.
We utilize competitive collaboration for students during our fitness testing by keeping a leaderboard. Most students enjoy comparing their scores with their peers anyways so this helps us celebrate student success while pushing their peers to strive for higher goals. The downside to this model is the fact that there are many students who are maybe not as naturally gifted as their peers and they deserve to be celebrated for their accomplishments too. Just because a student didn’t score in the top tier of their peers does not mean that they didn’t work hard or improve.
ReplyDeleteI think that competitive collaboration could be used amongst teachers in school in the same way that it is used amongst students. Find a weakness amongst the staff in your building and utilize teamwork and competition to help teachers feel supported in working on their weaknesses.
I use competitive collaboration by setting up challenges where groups work together to solve a problem. The competition builds energy, but because the goal requires a team effort, students must share ideas and rely on each other to succeed. This pushes them to produce better work than they would alone.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see teachers use this by openly sharing their best strategies and results. Instead of working in isolation, we could challenge each other to reach specific student growth goals. It is about being motivated by a peer's success to improve your own methods.
This makes professional development active rather than passive. It encourages us to observe each other and borrow effective ideas. When we collaborate to tackle the challenges of the job, everyone's skills sharpen much faster.