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Educators are savvy relating to understanding the worth of collaboration. Web sites and blogs by beneficiant lecturers are loaded with ideas and tips to run a enjoyable and fascinating classroom. It’s simple arithmetic — two heads are higher than one.
Current Tech & Studying Revolutionary Chief Award winners Jeni Lengthy and Sallee Clark, who collectively kind the distinctive and galvanizing partnership Jenallee, have taken collaboration to the following stage via their mission to “evangelize” the usage of edtech.
The Delivery of “Jenallee”
Maybe step one in forming an ideal partnership begins with an openness to attach with others.
“We met on the primary day of labor seven years in the past,” says Jeni Lengthy, edtech advisor, writer, and speaker. “It was an instantaneous connection. We knew we had a lot in widespread and we have been destined to be greatest associates, however we had no thought the place that friendship would take us!”
Connecting as associates with mutual respect and the same mindset and perspective turned an excellent first step in creating a strong skilled crew.
“As we started to get to know one another, we realized that every of our particular person visions for implementing expertise use within the classroom aligned, and that we had comparable passions and beliefs relating to expertise,” says Sallee Clark, edtech advisor, writer, and speaker. “My mind all the time works higher when brainstorming and studying alongside somebody. The facility of educators working collectively to resolve issues and meet students’ wants may be very impactful on this planet of schooling.”
The Advantages of A Dynamic Duo
“We all the time say, ‘Two brains are higher than one,’” says Lengthy. “Completely different views are essential and we imagine it’s higher to work collectively to supply a extra highly effective end result.”
Certainly, splitting duties and taking advantage of disparate ability units doubles the sources at hand to seek out the very best stage of success. Jenallee’s first step in taking advantage of their partnership was to find out who might greatest shine by which space.
“We accomplished a Strengths Finders survey, which revealed so much about who we’re as educators and associate lecturers,” says Clark. “There have been some challenges when first collaborating and dealing collectively. More often than not, we wished to be like one another. The Strengths Finders survey taught us that we are able to depend on one another and leverage our distinctive strengths to work extra successfully in serving educators. For instance, we discovered that Jeni is robust at arranging content material, speaking, and wooing individuals. Whereas I’m sturdy in ideation, technique, and connecting with individuals. Our strengths complemented one another very properly. Once we began leveraging these totally different strengths we have been capable of create content material to assist lecturers way more effectively and supply a greater product to our lecturers.”
Information is highly effective. Quite than inflicting division, understanding their innate abilities strengthened each the friendship and dealing relationship.
5 Steps to Create and Keep a Partnership, In keeping with Jenallee
- Talk: Know each other’s passions, imaginative and prescient, and targets.
- Belief: Deal with each other with respect, hear to one another, and carry up one another.
- Know one another’s strengths: Leverage one another’s strengths to turn into environment friendly and produce an end result that’s higher collectively.
- Checklists: “We love checklists,” say Jenallee. “It helps us keep on monitor, talk, and be sure that all of our targets are being met.”
- Have FUN: That is key! “Having enjoyable is what makes studying occur for us,” say Jenallee. “We’ve enjoyable studying, planning, and creating collectively.”
Going International for Innovation
What began as a friendship with widespread skilled targets shortly blossomed into an innovation-fueled mission to place the highlight on edtech and what it might do within the classroom.
“As Jeni and I began sharing edtech ideas and tips, we realized that most of the lecturers had the identical questions at totally different campuses,” says Clark. “It made us see that we wanted a approach to share this data to all of our lecturers as a result of we noticed that if one instructor had a query, one other instructor in all probability did as properly. So, the Jenallee YouTube channel was born. We beloved the way it was serving our group of lecturers and likewise the grand group of lecturers world wide.”
The success of the Jenallee YouTube content material shortly expanded into webinars, movies, social media posts, reside talking engagements, blogs, and even books.
“Our final purpose is to create an accessible and FUN studying expertise for each educators and college students,” says Lengthy. “We firmly imagine that when college students are engaged of their studying, they’re extra more likely to retain data. Making studying enjoyable is one efficient approach to obtain this.”
The duo loves sharing content material, concepts and options with a worldwide group of educators. Bringing skilled improvement to the following stage by providing sources which can be straightforward to grasp and instantly implement is vital.
“Tutorials are brief, however helpful,” says Clark. “We hope to empower educators with practical-use movies and concepts for making studying enjoyable and accessible—instruments they’ll flip round and use of their lecture rooms tomorrow. We’ve seen joyful tears fall as a result of educators have discovered options that assist each pupil to succeed inside their lecture rooms.”
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the optimistic suggestions,” says Lengthy. “Academics persistently categorical how useful our sources have been. That is our ardour— their satisfaction is what brings us pleasure!”
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