Discussion 4.1- Building Relationships

   One thing that I have always believed and will continue to believe is that you have to build some sort of a relationship with the people you work with, whether that be other teachers or students.  I would say that this is the key to get the ball rolling when it comes to collaboration.  I also think that attitude is another key factor in being able to accomplish great things with either another individual or a group.  With that being said, I think that a great strategy to use in order to build relationships with other teachers is to stay positive and make sure they know that they have support and they are able to call on you at any time.  If teachers feel that they can come to you whenever they need help, they are much more likely to cooperate and be patient when things don't work.  I can honestly say that I have a tendency to lean toward the negative side of things and I recognize that, so I try very hard to find the positives.  If I understand that about myself and I see that another teacher is struggling to see the positives in a new piece of technology they are using, I can easily relate and show them the positives and how to stay calm even when they are rattled.  I have tried this strategy within different groups of teachers I've worked with and it worked pretty well and allowed us to push forward and make progress.  I've also been in groups where I was the negative catalyst that caused the group to work sluggishly and quit before we even tried.  Attitude and can make or break the collaborative process.

   A strategy that I believe has not worked out well is putting teachers with only their grade levels and not allowing them to work with any other grade level or special class teacher.  I think that this strategy can be used for some things, but if the same group of people are always together, then when they collaborate, it's the same types of ideas being tossed around.  However, if teachers are all mixed up, then they can bounce new ideas off of each other and maybe see some neat things that others are doing.  It makes me sad when teachers stay within their cliques and never really share ideas with others.  We're all capable of incorporating new ideas into our classrooms, but until we actually sit down with others who aren't on our hall or teaching the same subject, we won't realize what all is out there.  This happens all to often during staff development and I hope to see it change in the future because there is so much we can learn from each other.  When I think about technology and how much needs to be done to help teachers embrace it, it scares me that these cliques may not be open to change and will continue to do what they've always done.