Collaboration can be defined in a multitude of different ways; however for myself and many other educators, collaboration means working together with others to meet a common goal. Each person's journey to reaching that goal may look different, but we are all working towards the same goal.
The video below explains more about the basics of collaboration.
Who benefits from collaboration?
Well, everyone. In education, educators, administrators, families, students, and other stakeholders all benefit from effective collaboration.
Specifically with educators, we would be stuck with doing only what we already know to do without collaboration. Education is a continuously evolving field, and we need new ideas, thoughts, opinions, and input from others in order to continue to grow and provide the best opportunities to our students that we possible can.
Have you ever heard the old adage, "It takes a village to raise a child?" Well, it takes a village and effective collaboration to teach a child, too.
Check out the video below for more information on why it is so important for teachers to collaborate.
This next video also highlights how collaboration can be used in the classroom and school-wide.
Communication and Collaboration
As Vanilla Ice so poetically stated in his 1990 hit, "Ice Ice Baby," you have to "Stop, collaborate, and listen." Communication is, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of collaboration. Without effective communication, how can we expect effective collaboration?
In the article "Thinking Beyond the Classroom: Teacher to Teacher Communication" the author discusses the importance of educators communicating with each other. As educators, we must be willing to have conversations that are frank, honest, and respectful, and when we have those sorts of conversations, we must listen to each other ("Thinking," 2018, para. 3).
This webpage published by ASCD includes quotes from educators and administrators detailing their thoughts about communication, as well as techniques and strategies that they have found to be useful when communicating with their colleagues.
There are also a number of great technology tools to assist with communication and collaboration. Here are some of my favorites:
The fundamental problem-solving process includes gathering data, identifying and describing the problem, discovering possibilities, developing a plan, implementing the plan, assessment of the progress, and follow-up on the plan (Knackendoffel, Dettmer, & Thurston, 2018, p. 153).
Collaboration is an essential part of the problem-solving process. Individual and group introspection is important throughout the process as well. Without ongoing reflection by both the individual teachers, as well as the group as a whole, they would be unable to identify the problem and begin to understand what may be the cause of the problem. Additionally, it is imperative that individuals remain open and honest, both with oneself and with the group, in order to properly develop, implement, and assess the problem and proposed solution(s).
There are a number of tools that can be used during the problem-solving process for educators. One tool that is very versatile and that I would suggest is Google Drive. Educators could use components like Google Docs to brainstorm and collaborate on a specific plan to implement, track data using Google Forms, or even use Google Slides to create a presentation to share with other colleagues.
Source: Knackendoffel, A., Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L. P. (2018). Collaboration, consultation, and teamwork for students with special needs (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Diversity and Collaboration
Understanding the effect of diversity in education is essential to collaboration. The students in our classrooms come from increasingly diverse backgrounds, and it's imperative that we develop and understanding for and an appreciation of the various cultures that we encounter as educators. As educators, we should introspectively examine our own cultural biases to ensure that we do not allow those to interfere with our teaching or collaboration with others. According to the text, developing a respect for and an understanding of the differences and similarities between each other's culture is a key component to developing the relationships necessary for effective collaboration to occur.
However, ignoring diversity is not the solution to developing an understanding of various aspects of diversity. Educators must "striv[e] for improved cultural compentence" (Knackendoffel, Dettmer, & Thurston, 2018, p. 285). As stated in the textbook, when an individual ignores diversity or pretends it doesn't exist, that person is "ignor[ing] the characteristics that make each person special and unique. Thus, efforts to become more inclusive in educational consulting relationships must include expanded knowledge about many aspects of diversity" (Knackendoffel, Dettmer, & Thurston, 2018, p. 285).
There is a game that I have used during a training session I have led for a summer camp with which I worked called "Barnga." The game is rather simple, but I think it closely relates to the ideas expressed in the textbook regarding understanding and acknowledging diversity and collaboration.
The game calls for several small groups of about four to six people. Each group is given a deck of playing cards and one sheet of instructions for a card game titled, "Five Tricks." Each group is instructed that they will be given a few minutes to study the game instructions and that, while playing the game, there is to be no verbal communication. Once players have an understanding of how the game works, they then play tournaments within their group. Whoever wins the next hand will move to the next table and join the next group of people. However, what they don't realize is that every group was given a slightly different set of rules at the beginning, so the rules that one person is following is not the same as the rules another person is following while playing the game.
When the players move to new tables, they find that it's difficult, confusing, and chaotic. Although they each have the same "goal" of winning the card game or hand, they can't speak to each other in order to understand that they are each following different rules. The same could be said for education. When we don't take the time to talk with our colleagues and understand the "rules of the game" that they have learned and are following, it becomes impossible to reach our common goal. As educators, we must take the time to learn about our own "game rules," as well as share those with others and learn theirs as well. Source: Knackendoffel, A., Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L. P. (2018). Collaboration, consultation, and teamwork for students with special needs (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Possible Challenges
Of course, there are bound to be some challenges when collaborating with others, especially if you're new to collaboration. You may encounter colleagues who are resistant to collaborating. In those situations, it is critical than you do not react instinctually, as "remaining patient will model a spirit of acceptance that is spiced with invincibility and yet grounded in purpose" (Knackendoffel, Dettmer, & Thurston, 2018, p. 133).
One of the most frequently cited challenges of collaboration is the lack of time to dedicate to collaborating with colleagues. In their book, Collaboration, Consultation, and Teamwork for Students with Special Needs, authors Knackendoffel, Dettmer, and Thurston (2018) provide the following ideas for either creating more time for collaboration or using the current time more efficiently (p. 189):
"Teachers sharing the same lunch period with their planning period after lunch, which results in 90 minutes of shared time per day
Teachers interacting while students leave the building a few hours weekly to perform community service
Substitutes hired with money saved by increasing class sizes by one or two students
Daylong staff development for three to five days per year in some districts
Compensatory time for teachers participating in two- to three-day planning sessions during breaks between terms
Staff development days, with as many as five or more instructional days waived by state legislatures
Lengthened instructional days
Special talents and skills programs provided by specialists or community service days for students while teachers meet to collaborate and plan
University personnel working in partnership to provide activities that free up teachers to interact"
There are a number of other challenges that teachers may face that are very unique to his or her own school or district. The video below details additional ways in which educators can collaborate with limited resources.
Source: Knackendoffel, A., Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L. P. (2018). Collaboration, consultation, and teamwork for students with special needs (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
This sounds great, but how can I start collaborating?
Talk with your colleagues! Let them know that you are wanting to collaborate with them. Take some time to get to know each other, and each person's strengths and weaknesses. When you have new ideas or try a new strategy in your classroom, let your colleagues know how it went. Take small steps towards collaborating with your colleagues.
The video below provides a blueprint for collaboration in education.
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Caskey, M. M., & Carpenter, J. (2014). Building teacher collaboration school-wide. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/446/Building-Teacher-Collaboration-School-wide.aspx
Davis, L. (2019). Teacher collaboration: How to approach it in 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://www.schoology.com/blog/teacher-collaboration
Edutopia. (2015, August 25). Teacher collaboration: Spreading best practices school-wide [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85HUMHBXJf4&t=116s
Edutopia. (2018, March 17). 60-second strategy: Stand-up meetings [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNe5Xx42meQ
Edutopia. (2018, March 20). Co-teaching: A mentoring strategy for preservice teachers [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B71CLOHabq0&t=10s
Grundler, M. & Grundler, L.. (2018). The Creatively Connected Classroom Podcast.
Keeping the door open to collaboration. (2015). Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/practice/teacher-collaboration-matching-complementary-strengths
Knackendoffel, A., Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L. P. (2018). Collaboration, consultation, and teamwork for students with special needs (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
OnSide Learning. (2014, February 6). Education- collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po40I4c94R0
Ronfeldt, M., Owens Farmer, S., McQueen, K., & Grissom, J. A. (2015). Teacher collaboration in instructional teams and student achievement. American Educational Research Journal. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.921.1537&rep=rep1&type=pdf
schoology. (2017, October 19). A blueprint for effective collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YM83uTgXJA
TEDx Talks. (2013, November 13). Groupthink for good -- why teachers need collaboration: Heather duncan-whitt at TEDxWellsStreetED [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1IlqnYlhnU&t=21s
TEDx Talks. (2014, January 15). The power of collaboration: Dr. shelle vanetten de sánchez at TEDxABQWomen [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmQVNE-MbKI
Tell me About … / good ways to communicate with teachers. (2015). Retrieved June 23, 2019, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr15/vol72/num07/Good-Ways-to-Communicate-with-Teachers.aspx
Thinking beyond the classroom: Teacher to teacher communication. (2018). Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://www.legacyintl.org/highlights/thinking-beyond-the-classroom-teacher-to-teacher-communication/
Vangrieken, Katrien & Dochy, Filip & Raes, Elisabeth & Kyndt, Eva. (2015). Teacher collaboration: A systematic review. Educational Research Review. 15. 10.1016/j.edurev.2015.04.002.