Learning is a continuous and life long process. As teachers it is important for us to engage in the learning process throughout our careers.

During 2021, we started working in Collaborative Teams. This enabled us to work with our colleagues and work on a range of topics and improve our teaching practices.

During our Professional Development at the start of this term, teachers have once again formed collaborative teams. They will be working on the topic of respect, and how this translates into the relationships and subject content in the classrooms and also how this impacts and manifests throughout the school culture.

Teachers often work independently within their subject areas and sometimes this can be an isolating environment. By working with a team, it allows us to share new ideas, pedagogy and enables us to learn from our colleagues. The purpose of working together, is to encourage students to work to their full potential, use higher-order thinking skills and have students understand and apply their learnt skills to other learning areas and contexts.

Collaborative Teams follows a learning cycle and this is what teachers will be working on over the course of this year. As there are a number of new staff at Emmanuel, the collaboration in the various groups will be varied and rich, as everyone brings new knowledge and experiences to the meetings. These will enable us to learn new skills to transfer into the classroom and explore new avenues in teaching and learning. A follow up article will appear in the Big Picture as our work progresses.

Janice Pieterse — Secondary Learning Support Co-ordinator