Collaboration PD

PD for the Sommerville COL teachers with Chris Bradbeer:

Last term we were lucky enough to be able to organise some PD with Chris Bedbeer, who has lived and breathed collaboration through the design of MLEs

He has shared with us his understanding of collaboration and the benefits and challenges it creates. Through his extensive research he has learnt to define collaboration as “A process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible”(Gray, 1989, p. 5). This aligns with how TKI is also defining collaboration, “Collaboration is the process of working together to achieve a common goal. In teaching, the common goal is always improved learner outcomes.” (TKI).

To be able to use collaboration in the classroom effectively people must know the difference between collegiality, cooperative learning and collaboration. Chris explains that these can be looked at as a scale of intensity of how people communicate and work together. See graphic below:

Collegiality “Collegiality refers to opportunities for faculty members to feel that they belong to a mutually respected community of scholars who value each faculty member’s contributions to the institution and feel concern for their colleagues’ well-being.” (Gappa, Austin, & Trice, 2007, p. 305).

Cooperation - This is when a person supports someone else in their work or goal.

Collaboration-   When we work together to achieve a common goal.

Chris shared with us the co teaching strategies and how these look in the classroom. There are 6 different approaches. We discussed that these can be used interchangeably throughout the day or week to suit what is needed for student success. Please see table below for the approaches.

Key Benefits of collaboration:

• Teach to your strengths
• Support one another
• Opportunities to learn from and with each other
• Improved student outcomes 
• Opportunity for social learning 

Key Challenges of collaboration:

• Hierarchy challenges
• Time and workload
• Personality types

We will know that collaboration is successful and that working together is synthetic when learner engagement is positively impacted. This session with Chris reflects back to our hypothesis as it begins to inform our practice to see how we can be on the same page of what collaboration means and how it looks in the classroom. If student achievement and engagement is the destination think of teacher collaboration as the journey. Collaboration is dynamic and is an ongoing process, enhanced by different peoples ideas and strengths and accommodations.