Habit #6 - Synergy

At our school many classes create cross-disciplinary projects with other classes.  As a social studies teacher I always pair up with the English teacher for his purpose.  Our first two years working together were quite productive, since we had regular meetings to collaborate on projects.  In this our third year, we now have a nice menu of already-created projects to pick from.  However, I’ve started to notice that we might be resting on our laurels a bit too much.  Since we stopped our regular collaboration meetings, several of the projects have run into hiccups here and there, since there was no explicit planning of the project implementation this time around.  I will now try to get those meetings going again.  Even though we already have some great projects ready-to-go, I know that getting back together to purposefully create new synergy on these projects will make them even better.  To teach this concept, I will introduce it to my Music Appreciation class.  As we are approaching our concert, this will be a great opportunity for the individual members of each band to think about what synergy they can create on the stage together!  What can they as band members create together, that they could never do alone?  Coordinated dance moves to the music?  Added harmonies from more voices than just the lead singer?  The possibilities for synergy here are exciting!