Collaborativeness

Collaboration is a very important aspect of teaching. Although you may be in charge of your own specific classroom, to maximize effectiveness you need to collaborate with other teachers. This starts with communication. An example that comes to mind once again brings me to my high school music programs. For both band and choir each student had a brief, weekly lesson which was only possible through the collaboration of the teachers. (The student would have to miss about 15 minutes of class for their lesson.) My directors would make a schedule of all lessons and hand it out to to the teachers, so everyone was in the know.

Teachers also need to collaborate with extra-curricular leaders, such as coaches and theatre directors. Quite often students will need to miss school or leave early because of an extra-curricular activity. My high school activity leaders did a great job of collaborating with each other so students could be in multiple activities. For example, during Christmas break One-Act practice and sports practices were always organized in the least conflicting way. Our director would organize play practice around when certain people had sporting events. I remember one year I had an away softball double header on the same night as opening night of our musical. Arrangements were made and I was able to do both activities.

Through my experiences I have come to view the secret ingredients to successful collaboration and teamwork are communication and compromise.