This is part 3 of my self-evaluations of my “Four Things to Be Relentless about in 2019,” which were Inclusion, Reality, Collaboration, and Positivity. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
This is how I summarized Thing 3:
Collaboration
I was the kid who hated group work because it made everything take longer. I could roll with it because the outcome didn’t really matter. But education and equity and teachers’ and learners’ mental health are high-stakes issues requiring sustained work among people with complementary skills, temperaments, perspectives, and experiences.
Here are some things I did and some things I still want to do.
Some things I did
with teachers & students from Kent House, Mérida, Spain
—Co-organized and acted as a respondent to a pedagogy panel at the Society for Classical Studies annual conference.
—Continued to work with a team at International Baccalaureate to revise its curriculum and assessments.
—Partnered with Kent House, an English school in Mérida, Spain, to put on a workshop.
—Led a team of instructors at the North American Institute for Living Latin Studies (SALVI) to create and run a summer course.
—Led a team of cohort leaders and coaches at the International Forum on Language Teaching (iFLT) after working with them and other organizers to design a special track for beginners.
—Worked with an international team of instructors to run the CAELVM institute in Madrid.
—Presented, exhibited, and led open discussions with affiliates of CI Posse at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) annual convention.
—Collaborated on podcasts: as co-host (with Cathy Reed and Gus Grissom) of Quomodo Dicitur?, as special guest of In Foro Romano (by Abi, Anna, and Lida) and Marina Garanin, and as interviewee of Janina Hanson for We Teach Languages and Jahdai Jeffries for What in the World? Language Podcast.
—Worked with Lindsay Sears on a student edition of the poems of Sulpicia.
—Co-presented a freestanding workshop with Gus Grissom in New York City.
—Teamed with Skye Shirley to operate two Living Room Latin workshops in Greater Boston.
—Flew to Mexico City to record language learner materials with Abigail García López.
—Taught at CI Liftoff Summer Institute in Minneapolis with Tina Hargaden, Allison Litten, and Dana Miller-Kitch.
Some things I still want to do
—follow through on those collaborations in progress!
—increase my co-presenting with the intent of (a) learning from co-presenters and (b) increasing the voices other people get to learn from.
Observations
—Lots of my regular work is a type of collaboration with schools, districts, and organizations that hire me to work with their teachers and/or leadership, but the kinds of collaboration described in this post require more sustained attention and organization.
—In some of the above cases, the ball is currently in my court, and I feel guilty about not being sure how or not having the wherewithal to proceed.
—Collaborating on projects remains daunting to me, mostly for logistical reasons. I need to learn more about effective workflow and division of labor in collaborations.
Are you part of any past or future collaborations that you’re especially excited about?
Up next: Things I did and want to do re: Goal 4, Positivity