One of my expectations for our principals is that they foster a collaborative leaning community among their school’s staff. According to research, there is lots of evidence to show that collaboration, when done well, will positively impact student achievement. What I am finding is that it is easy to mistakenly assume that the congenial work environment that results from collaboration will have this intended impact. So what then, is effective collaboration? Rick DuFour’s definition: collaboration is “a systematic process in which teachers work together to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results”[1] nicely summarizes what it is about and hinges on the word systematic. I know that maintaining the discipline to systematically follow collaboration’s processes is difficult.
For the past two years the district’s leadership team has skirted the edges of working as a collaborative group. We are now going back to the drawing board, so to speak, and are committed to getting it right. Included with this new focus is our recognition that we need to collectively embrace learning as a part of our weekly meeting. Our meetings then, need to be more than sharing information and making decisions.
I read this week that baby boomers enjoy being self-sufficient and tend to have a difficult time embracing collaboration. With many of our staff in this age bracket (me included), we need to be insistent but patient in taking the steps to help our schools become collaborative learning communities.
[1] DuFour, R (2003). ‘Collaboration lite’ puts student achievement on a starvation diet. Leading Edge, 24, (4), 63-64
Insistent but patient with collaboration
One of my expectations for our principals is that they foster a collaborative leaning community among their school’s staff. According to research, there is lots of evidence to show that collaboration, when done well, will positively impact student achievement. What I am finding is that it is easy to mistakenly assume that the congenial work environment that results from collaboration will have this intended impact. So what then, is effective collaboration? Rick DuFour’s definition: collaboration is “a systematic process in which teachers work together to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results”[1] nicely summarizes what it is about and hinges on the word systematic. I know that maintaining the discipline to systematically follow collaboration’s processes is difficult.
For the past two years the district’s leadership team has skirted the edges of working as a collaborative group. We are now going back to the drawing board, so to speak, and are committed to getting it right. Included with this new focus is our recognition that we need to collectively embrace learning as a part of our weekly meeting. Our meetings then, need to be more than sharing information and making decisions.
I read this week that baby boomers enjoy being self-sufficient and tend to have a difficult time embracing collaboration. With many of our staff in this age bracket (me included), we need to be insistent but patient in taking the steps to help our schools become collaborative learning communities.
[1] DuFour, R (2003). ‘Collaboration lite’ puts student achievement on a starvation diet. Leading Edge, 24, (4), 63-64