concerted chaos
  • blog.
  • about.
  • workshops.
follow.

How to Stop Collaboration

1/22/2013

3 Comments

 
Over the past year (and intensifying particularly over the past month), collaboration has become one of those omnipresent educational buzzwords. It is often attached to things like "21st century education" (which is a silly term how it is used--we're "preparing" students for "a 21st century world"-- I'm pretty sure that we're almost fifteen years into the century now...).  

Sorry for the digression. Obviously, if you've read any of my blog (or Cheryl's), before, you know that collaboration in its purest, non-transactional form, is the cornerstone of our practice. We'd never want to stop.

However, there seem to be a few reasons we don't collaborate as a general rule. The first two are obvious; the third, perhaps less so. 

The first reason teachers don't collaborate is the culture of competition we have in our schools. We want everyone to do well, but just a little less well than us. We forget that we're talking about students here, not numbers on a page.  The second reason, and the one everyone gives when asked why they don't collaborate more often, is time. Many teachers are set in their ways, many have small children, many have hundreds of other responsibilities, and collaboration just seems like another item to add to the list.  

It's not; it's critical for professional growth and personal sanity. But that, again, is a different thread for a different time (though it's one that Cheryl addresses in 90% of the blogs she writes). 

My concern here is with the third reason people don't collaborate. This reason is perhaps the most insidious of the three, because it's not a reason we can get rid of via external means, like eliminating standardized tests or giving teachers an extra hour of planning time a day.  

The reason that underlies so much of the non-collaborative spirit we see in schools today is that we don't think our ideas are good enough. We don't want to share because we're afraid of being mocked, or being told we're doing it wrong, or people suggesting "improvements" to something we thought we'd perfected. 

I am certainly guilty of this. I share the class difficulties I face with Cheryl and the other members of the #CoFlip Collective (hereafter #TheCFC), but as for sharing things here, with the larger educational world...I definitely hold back. I hope that the result of this withholding isn't that everyone who reads my blog thinking I have all my class stuff perfectly together. I don't. (Nor does anyone.)

Education is messy. That's why this blog is called Concerted Chaos.  There is a point to what we do in class, sure, but we aren't dealing with little automatons. We teach and learn with real people.  It's chaotic. 

I think it's important to share the struggles we all have during our school days.  Other teachers need to see the mess-- one of the most dangerous trains of thought for any teacher is "It's only me that's having this problem, and it's my fault."  Actually, it's probably not your fault, and you're DEFINITELY not the only one experiencing that problem.  

True collaboration is an art form--it requires us to be vulnerable, to say, "What about this?" without fear of being shot down immediately.  We need to have safe spaces to say what we really think, and have real practitioners offer real solutions.  That's what collaboration has given me. It took me a long time to trust my own voice in our collaborative partnership. I have realized, though, that I can't withhold my ideas, no matter how terrible I think they are, or how badly I think they reflect on my classroom.  

Those bad ideas may not be bad at all.  And they very well might be the seeds of far greater things to come. 

To that end, #TheCFC will be introducing (in the next month or so--stay tuned for specifics!) the Flipped Learning Journal, an online collection of the best ideas regarding the Collaborative Flip.  Our intent is that this will become a place much like English Journal is for NCTE/English teachers, where we publish concrete, nuts-and-bolts, this-is-how-you-do-this-in-real-classrooms types of articles.  Also in the works, to go along with the FLJ, is a vodcast through which you will get to tour actual live flipped classrooms and see how they really work in the real world. 

We're very excited about this-- we're certainly not perfect, but we have some ideas.  It'll be cool for everyone to see what they look like where the rubber meets the road. 

3 Comments
Kate (of course) link
1/22/2013 03:35:09 am

Trust and impunity of ideas is an important factor in the collaborative process, but there is something else to consider as to why people don't collaborate: the give back. Having taught the same curriculum (with variation) for 14 years, I am brimming with materials that I've cultivated and refined and would love to share! And while I will always offer assistance to a colleague who arrives at my door seeking help (since I know where I can find him/her), I'm not always as motivated to share on the web because I'm afraid that someone will steal my stuff and never give back... or post it to Teachers Pay Teachers and make a million bucks on my hard work. Of course I could post my own stuff to Teachers Pay Teachers, but that totally goes against what I believe in, despite my secret desire to earn a million bucks on the stuff I create... ANYWAY... Collaboration is a two way street; give and get. The trick is finding that person to trust. WHERE/HOW to find that person??? Could there be a Teachers Seeking Teachers page (although that sounds creepy)?

Reply
Lyn Hilt link
1/23/2013 08:02:14 pm

Hi, Andrew,
I'm glad you shared this post today. Your points are dead on. I agree there is a culture of competition in/among our schools. In a district with three elementary schools, I see it every day. Compare, compare, compare. It's disheartening. We need to see the children sitting in front of us and do our best work for THEM. Doing so requires true collaborative spirits among the educators who serve them. One of my teachers shared a story about working in a grade level team meeting in the district- another teacher (not from my building) shared a resource he had created that would benefit the entire team, and when asked if he could share, he said, "Are you kidding? It took me a lot of time to work on this." He wanted to keep it to himself!

I also agree that many teachers are so humble about their craft and their master skills that they're hesitant to share, simply because they think they have nothing to offer. This, as we know, is not true, and we need to encourage our teachers to share with one another at the local level, as well as extend their reach globally.

Yes, open sharing requires us to be vulnerable, but I think there are enough of us who have been learning transparently now for some time, and we can share the benefits of doing so. There will always be those who prefer to exist on their own islands, but chances are most teachers will jump at the opportunity to share their expertise when given the chance!

Reply
Web Designing Company in Chennai link
12/6/2019 03:28:43 am

Eumaxindia - We are Chennai based Web Design Company. We provide you unique Web Designing and Development Services in Chennai with best quality websites.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    The Writer

    I'm Andrew. I write about learning. I like to learn. 

    The Writings

    October 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012

    The #CFC

    Cheryl Morris
    Karl Lindgren-Streicher
    Crystal Kirch
    Carolyn Durley
    Brian Bennett
    Katie Regan/Shari Sloane
    Kate Baker
    Audrey Double Mac
    Sam Patterson
    Delia Bush
    Lindsay Cole

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.