- Published: October 6, 2022
- Updated: October 6, 2022
- Level: College Admission
- Language: English
- Downloads: 50
Teacher Collaboration Most middle schools undergo major educational reforms and that includes motivating their teachers to have open communication or engage in collaboration. There are situations when teachers tend to work out of sight, alone in the planning or work on their own during preparation of their lessons. Sometimes there are those who struggle alone in troubleshooting instructional problems.
In an interview with a K-12 teacher at Richwoods, several insights were drawn out about teacher collaboration and this include activities usually teacher engage with that fosters collaboration, the benefits teachers, the direct impacts of collaboration to students, ways how to create collaboration and how school administrators plan as well as implement programs which heightened teacher collaboration.
Activities that Fosters Teacher Collaboration
Study group, formal as well as informal seminars and trainings, faculty presentation in conferences are some of the activities that promote teacher collaboration. It serves as venue for teachers to support each other’s strengths, discuss their weaknesses, sharing of pool of ideas, strategies and materials.
Benefits of Teachers from Collaboration
Teacher collaboration result in enhancing collegial relationship that breaks the isolation, burn out, and job dissatisfaction. Instead, teachers attain high level of professional fulfillment, enthusiasm at work and job satisfaction. Teachers become more equipped in the classroom, able to reconcile differences of colleagues and students and able to settle occasional conflicts effectively. Since there is collaboration, complex tasks are managed better, new ideas emerge, thus improve schools’ curriculum and instruction.
Impacts of Teacher Collaboration to Students
Although not uniformly good, teachers who have spent time to work with others have noticed significant improvements in their students’ academic performance, attitudes and behavior, and attitude. Since teachers are living examples of collaborative behavior for their students, be it in extracurricular activities or in academic endeavors, students may be influenced by them. When teachers communicate with one another about their experiences with students who manifest student learning and behavior problems, they also acquire ideas as to how to deal with such students and impose the learned interventions.
Planning and Implementing Program which Promote Teacher Collaboration
There is no much difference in the process of collaboration planning and implementation when compare to other school programs. The former is just somewhat unique considering that it is more behaviors and attitudes focused. Classically, the execution of the program should be systematic. The goals must be clear, structured and measurable. Resources should be practically identified, anticipating the possible barriers as well as the appropriate actions to counteract barriers. Plan must be detailed as much as possible, and more importantly, the methods of evaluation must be identified at hand.
Schools must not only focus in infrastructure and economic development. Priorities must be set optimally towards faculty development and student achievements. All out support to teacher collaboration must be practiced even though it entails necessary changes. In the same manner, teachers should continue to work across academic disciplines, discuss, debate, revise, and engage with the institution’s shared vision.