Working Together in Different Places

For our last assignment for Course 2 a group of elementary teachers decided to take on the AUP for the Elementary School at ISB. We decided to create a google doc with the original document so that we could all have input and make changes without physically being in the same place. Which was good because one of the members of the group was in Japan and not Thailand where the rest of us were. We all agreed that the language in the original document would be difficult for students to understand and since it is a document that students are supposed to understand and follow that didn't seem right.

As the document began to evolve it was clear that it was going to be difficult to create one document that would be kid friendly and developmentally appropriate for six grade levels. One document became two: K-Grade 2 AUP & Grade3-5 AUP. Then after some more thought, two documents became three: Pre-K-Grade 1 AUP; Grade 2-3 AUP; & Grade 4-5 AUP. They all have the same concepts and ideas in them they are just each written to fit the appropriate audience as best we could. I don't think any of us think our finished product is perfect probably because we know that with a project like this it's really never finished. The AUP's will need to change, develop, and grow as the needs do.

I would always prefer to work in a group rather than by myself. The whole "two heads are better than one thing". The use of google doc made this possible because all of the group members had packed schedules so actual face-to-face meeting were near impossible. It was interesting to see the work evolve and change in the short amount of time that we had to work on it. I did meet with two of the group members individually at different times to do some work and I have to say that I found those two meetings more productive than when I was trying to work on the project alone. So I guess in the end for me I still need a little face to face and real talk but this first experience of collaborating on-line was a positive and valuable experience for me.

THANK YOU!!!!!
To all of the members of the ES AUP collaborative group.