Collaborating in the Classroom

    Since a young age we have been learning to work with others. It started as play when we were toddlers, turn and talks in the early education years, to group projects and presentations in secondary education and those expectations for collaborating didn't jus stop in high school. People do it everyday at their jobs. From talking in meetings to collectively coming up with a plan for a business and even still working on group projects the ability to work well with others is imperative in most jobs, but especially education. Teachers work together everyday to come up with lesson plans and fun learning activities that an be done within their classrooms. They bounce ideas off of coworkers, their teams that they have within their grade ban, other teachers in the district and even teachers all over the country. Thanks to social media teachers are able to connect all over the internet. They tweet ideas and ask questions and are able to gain different perspectives from all different walks of life. 

    

Personally I have experienced the benefits from collaborating with other teachers and coworkers within my job an my clinical hours. I am currently completing my final clinical (student teaching), where I collaborate with my mentor teacher everyday. I stay after most school days we discuss our plan for the next day. We reflect on the day- what worked? what didn't? and we try and come up with the solutions and new ways to do things efficiently. Just the other day I went into the other kindergarten teacher's room and asked her how she makes the time for learning centers because we struggle in my room and she walked me through step by step on how she runs center time. I took a lot from her and it was only five minutes of both our times. Communication is a superpower and it is a huge influence on the ability collaborate. Being able to collaborate can open door within the workforce and open your own perspective to new ideas helping you grow as a professional.