After being in a 5th grade class for the last two weeks, I have noticed a huge change in the style of teaching and the classroom environment compared to my previous practicum experiences in younger grades. My overall goal for this practicum is to find ways to get the students more engaged in learning. Everything seems to be black and white, clean cut, and "stick to the books" style. This sort of clashes with what I believe in as a teacher because I want my kids to have a chance to have fun and collaborate.  In chapter 3 of the Dana book, it discusses all the reasons of why collaboration is so important. The three reasons that struck home for me, were "teacher talk is important", "there's safety in numbers" and "there's strength in numbers." I love this idea. These reasons are targeted more for teachers that are doing inquiries. But, I decided that they also apply to a classroom setting. As of right now, I do not think the teacher has enough meaningful discussions with the students. This age group needs some kind of guidance and structure, but they are getting to the point where they need to voice their opinions and interact with their peers and teachers in a beneficial way. Students also like to collaborate because it makes them feel "safe." They feel more comfortable speaking up and bouncing their ideas off of others, rather than doing individual work and stressing out that they are not doing it in the right way. Also,  I have always loved the idea of collaboration because I believe strongly that knowledge is power. So, more brains at work produce a greater generation of knowledge (strength in numbers.) Now, I know that some students rather work individually than in a big group. Of course, that is fine too. But, as of right now, I feel like my fifth graders are not given the chance to experience collaboration enough to find out whether or not they like it.  So, what are some ways that my partner and I can experiment and find ways to introduce collaboration to our students without us feeling like we are stepping on our teachers toes?