ID_+Thought+Provoker+3

After reading Chapter 3 of Helping Teachers Teach, describe your own experiences with collaboration - this is a chance for you to raise the issues surrounding the pros and cons of collaboration - the goal of this course is to take you from where are currently are regarding collaboration to a point where you can visualize the potential value of collaboration - in other words it is OK to voice negative thoughts and feelings about collaboration. Type your response in Word and simply click on "Create Message" and paste your response in the message box. Do not post an attachment.

In Chapter 3 of //Helping Teachers Teach//, we learn about a tool called the instructional consultation assessment chart (ICAC). The ICAC has 3 (really 4) levels of involvement going up the vertical axis (i.e., no involvement, initial, moderate, and in-depth), and the 8 steps of the instructional design process going out horizontally (i.e., needs assessment, objectives, learner analysis, assessment, strategies/activities, materials, implementation, and evaluation). It is recommended that the instructional consultant gauge the level and nature of her involvement in instructional design tasks and strive to become more involved where appropriate as time passes.

Over the past ten months, I have been working on a collaborative and ongoing effort with a local school district as a university-based instructional consultant. To better understand the definition of "blended learning" at the school, I scheduled approximately 20 hours of observations with 6 teachers at the school in the spring. I could tell that some teachers didn't mind me there and were happy to entertain my questions and the slight disruption caused by having a stranger in the room. Another teacher was fairly antisocial, but I think that had more to do with his nature than with me. Two teachers in particular stand out. They seemed defensive about their teaching, and even though I tried to reassure them that I wasn't evaluating their teaching--I wasn't passing judgment--I do not think they believed me. And so, instead of teaching, they spent lots of time talking to me, defending choices, lamenting disruptive students and impossible expectations, etc.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it can be an uncomfortable position, getting into a teacher's business. Yes, I know that they are supposedly working in a public job in the public sphere, but really, it's their planning, it's kind of their classroom (they are responsible for it). To attempt to change that dynamic--depending widely by the personalities involved, of course--can be daunting to the outside instructional consultant. Whether an outsider from a university or an insider from the media center, it's hard. Lots of teachers may not see the value of collaboration. One reason for that is that they have not seen it done well or at all. In my own training, there was nothing about team teaching, collaboration with the media specialist, or others. In the complete folly of my first year of teaching, I thought I had to know everything when I entered the classroom, and while I asked everyone around me a lot of questions, there were even more questions that I was too scared to ask. I didn't want to look like an idiot. That type of insecurity may be a bigger problem with some younger teachers who may be less mature.

At this point, I will continue to collaborate with the school because I am invested in the project with the administrators and the teachers. I recognize that I need to do more rapport-building work with the teachers. There may be a possibility of running a focus group with the teachers who are affected by the project. Perhaps this would be a good way to build relationship, done well. There may be possibilities for running professional development as well. This needs to be carefully planned and well executed so that it doesn't irritate teachers with its irrelevance (needs assessment and learner analysis need doing). These sorts of value-added experiences lay the groundwork for a better collaboration. Now to just do it. :)