Are We Getting Better at Collaboration?

I came across the blog post below that I wrote on “The Big Idea” blog in 2007. Have things changed in 4 years? Read the post below and let me know what you think. Have we gotten better at collaboration?

I've so often heard teachers say, "I just go in my room and close my door and teach the way I want to teach." Is this because they would rather not discuss best practices, standards, and teaching for understanding? Is it because they are uncomfortable when people disagree? Perhaps they do not know how to engage in discourse with other educators.

It’s hard to believe that there are still teachers teaching like they were taught: standing alone and behind closed doors. People in the business world do a much better job of collaborating and engaging in professional discourse than we do as educators. Many businesses now outsource significant portions of work to external companies so it is important to them to increase the success of their employees’ ability to communicate and collaborate and to use the expertise of their co-workers. But it should be just as important to us as educators to jointly develop and agree to goals, essential questions, and to work together to develop authentic assessments and curriculum that enable students to demonstrate understanding.

“Seasoned” teachers are more comfortable “doing their own thing” while new teachers are used to working together and communicating with each other. Young teachers grew up collaborating at school and in their education courses. We taught them that! We teach students to work in collaborative groups yet some teachers fail to be comfortable with collaboration with their peers.

Our young teachers need for us to communicate and collaborate with them. I’ve read a lot about new teachers and the reasons that some of them give up before they’ve even taught for 5 years. They are changing professions because they find themselves in a climate of “stand alone” teaching.

Schools should have a climate where teachers as well as students are constantly learning and growing together. Teachers need to be talking about standards, best practices, and goals for our students and ourselves. When we as educators work together we can improve teaching and learning beyond what any one person can do alone.

One of my favorite quotes is by Alfie Kohn. “People do not resist change. They resist being changed.” Working alone and behind closed doors is a longstanding habit that needs to be changed. How can we change this mindset? Can change be mandated? It is up to us as professionals to challenge this habit and learn to engage in professional discourse.