In the December 2017 issue of The Learning Professional, Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh
reiterates what we know about collaboration and adult learning; that is,
learning is social and learning together makes a difference. Unfortunately,
just getting together without clear goals and actionable items, does not make a
collaborative approach particularly useful or effective.
Stephanie suggests five important fundamentals to integrate
when developing the standards for collaborative work: 1) Clarity of purpose
where teachers can share intentional goals for the learning and make deliberate
plans to work together towards achieving these goals. A shared vision creates a
community. These goals are meaningful and not amorphous. They lead towards
action; 2) Norms of collaboration where colleagues respect one another and
collectively decide what is important and how the goals will be achieved; 3)
Resource allocation is critical and where administration plays an important
role. Teacher teams need to be given ample opportunities to work together in an
environment that welcomes creativity and collective problem solving. The
teachers’ voices need to be heard and honored in a non-evaluative setting;
creative problem-solving where a variety of perspectives are shared helps
encourage “thinking out of the box”; 4) Facilitation and support are essential
in keeping the flow of the meeting moving in a positive direction; the place
for venting is different than a place for making recommendations for school
wide improvement. Facilitation is a skill and it is different from presenting a
professional development session; 5) Accountability for results is important
when collective responsibility is the norm and all staff are considered members
in a community of learning and practice… one for all and all for one!
As a coach, which of
these fundamentals are you able to encourage in your school wide collaborative
planning?
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