Collaboration, not Isolation

Some days I feel like Sisyphus, carrying the same basket of laundry upstairs just to have it end up downstairs to be washed, or picking up toys just to have them appear on the floor as if a godly punishment for hubris. Again and again, day in and day out. Some days are better than others. However, this week, it was especially Sisyphistic.

Yep, that’s right. I just used that adjective. Check it out on Google in a month and see if it has caught on with the teenagers, “Hey Jennifer, you are looking totally Sisyphistic with your physics textbook.”

Anyway, I do have a point. And an education point at that. It goes like this . . . 

I am currently on sabbatical from teaching. I want to spend time deep in the daily life of my children at this stage of their lives. However, this sabbatical comes with its fair share of boulders to push. It’s tough to do the stay-at-home thing by yourself. It is lonely and often does not ever seem to improve. In this way it is like teaching.

Teaching is a lonely profession where we often are pushing boulders. Compounding this is the fact that we rarely meet with colleagues in deep, meaningful collaboration to find ways to deal with the boulders.

In a collaborative model, teachers can impact student learning by analyzing student work and setting goals; thinking through lesson designs; interpreting data; or sharing education philosophy. It’s the old adage, Two Heads are Better than One.

Yet, for all of its benefit, collaboration seems to run against the norms of a school system. A system where closed rooms and small spaces; a scheduling system that does not allow classes or teachers to meet; individual teaching styles and agendas; and preteaching coursework focuses on the individual teacher are the norms. And with a greater number of tasks being added to the school day by outside interests, there seems little chance that working collaboratively will occur.

However, if our students are to improve, collaboration must occur.

The two greatest barriers to collaboration are lack of time and training. As I can attest, you cannot just put two people together and call it collaboration. If you are lucky, it works. More often, it is a superficial use of term collaboration which only looks the part on the master scheduling board in the principal’s office. It takes time to create the collaborative culture in a school. In addition, it takes training to equip teachers with the skills necessary to work as a collaborative team. The teaming teachers need to figure out how the rhythm of instruction will play out. They need to learn how to work together after working in isolation for so long.

The benefits of collaboration outweigh any initial uneasiness to sharing space, skills, and time. I have had two collaborative situations in my seven teaching positions and it did make a difference in the learning of my students. The invigoration of students taking charge of their learning and being successful offset any extra time, and in the end, it took less time in a collaborative model because more teachers shouldered the boulders.

So what can we do? Act. It is said that the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second best time is today so let’s plant some trees. Strengthen your teaching and find a way to collaborate. Start small and begin by sharing ideas with a fellow teacher. Hopefully, you can take this partnership and create a foundation for a collaborative model because, after all, it is all about the success of students.

What collaboration insights do you have?

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Comments

[jone]

Collaboration is critical for student achievement and yet I can very well relate to the comments about the lack of time. I provide opportunities to collaborate as the library media specialist in my building. But the classroom teachers have so much on their plate and time is so limited, collaboration with staff is a creative dance I do. One thing that has helped in my effort to collaborate is our school's focus on the thinking strategies and the workshop model for writing.

[Annette Weeks]

When our school was deep into PLC's we looked at one of the high schools in Yakima. I don't remember which one now. But it shouldn't be too hard to find out which one if it has sustained itself. That was about 5 years ago that we went and visited.

Another place to look is Southridge in Beaverton or Hillsboro, OR. Our school also went and visted them.

We too got caught up in the data and notice I am writing about what we did in the past.

[Travis A. Wittwer]

@Mark Gardner, great question at the end. Anyone? Any strong PLCs in high schools in Washington? I too would love to read about that.

[Mark Gardner]

We have had "Professional Learning Communities" in our building (HS) for five years, but with a new admin team this year, we've discovered that we have been approaching this collaborative mindset from the wrong angle.

The most valuable thing which has supported our PLC and collaboration recently, a CSTP Teacher Leadership grant which gave us release time to observe one another's practice, function as informal coaches, and also gather for a modified "lesson study-ish" kind of collaboration. What made it valuable was that gift of time, carved directly out of our day, not added onto it. In sum, a couple dozen teachers participated for over 100 hours total of collaboration time. Do the math and it doesn't seem like much, but that many teachers spending even one or two hours together every so often caused a spike in our morale and sense of community.

I'm a little concerned by my building's current thrust re: PLC and collaboration... that it must be data driven. I understand the need for data collection and analysis, but I think collaboration can take many forms, and when collaboration starts to feel like homework...well, we already have enough homework.

Does anyone else out there have a truly functional PLC model at the high school level they could share about? I'm familiar with duFour (sp?) and his philosophies and his building, but locally in WA, any you know of?

[Travis A. Wittwer]

@Clix, teaching families. Yep. I come from one too. It is a great network. I want to echo your thought that popping your head into other classrooms and saying "hi" although small, is a great way to connect and make yourself available to other teachers. Who knows, that teacher at which you waved last week will choose to sit at a table with you at a workshop and then during a break you will agree to do some lesson study. Good luck to all that you give the students, Clix.

[Clix]

Well, first of all, I say hi. And I smile. And I pop my head in to other teachers' rooms and wave.

I also eat lunch with one of my colleagues in her room. Since it's just two of us, it usually doesn't turn into a b*fest. We do commiserate, but we also encourage each other.

Every so often our department gets together for lunch or something fun outside of school. But we often end up talking about school stuff too!

I blog. I've joined several online communities. I get a lot of ideas and support there as well.

Finally, I've got a personal learning network I can't escape from – my little brother and both of my parents are all teachers!

[Travis A. Wittwer]

@TL, it is odd that the profession of teaching, one that deals with people, is so isolating. Sure there are some jobs where you are isolated--phone solicitor, forest ranger--but most people would see the working with people:isolation from people ratio of teaching bizarre. I think I may find a way to graph this :O)

While on sabbatical, I have worked with various people and organizations, most outside of teaching and it is amazing the collaboration and shared experience I get when working with these people.

Now, that all said. I think one aspect of teaching, one that is likely to not change for a long time in any major way, is the set up of the day--period in, period out . . . . X# of periods a day, X# of students a day. Part of the problem with collaboration in a school setting is that the time and structure does not lend itself to collaboration so teachers that are willing to collaborate often do so on their own time. And while that is a sign of dedication and interest in pushing the skills of the teacher, at some point in the day, even teachers need to spend time with their families, or sleep. We could easily work all day long without a break. There is just that much to do and it never ends.

So, the structure of how a day at a school works is likely to not change, but that does not mean give up. It means find another way.

Back to my collaboration with groups that are not education related. It works well and is the norm because it is part of the culture to meet at a coffee shop and discuss ideas; it is the style to send hundreds of emails back-and-forth fleshing out an design; and it is the personality of people who work in professions that don't put you in a room as the only adult there. My point, it may come more easily to professions outside of the classroom, but I am sure they have their own issues.

TO ALL--What do you do to get collaboration in your life as a teacher?

[TL]

I agree with Tom and Travis.

I had the opportunity to particpate in lesson study group in November and December and found it to be helpful and "liberating". I wish admin (at all levels) would put more credence into collaboration. Teaching is the only profession that works in isolation.

Check out this link for my groups process during the lesson study (http://esd112tah.wordpress.com/page/5/)

[Travis A. Wittwer]

@Tom, I just checked my city library and Schmoker's book is not there so it is off to Amazon. Sounds like a good read. This is an area of education in which I have a strong desire to do something. To think of a collection of the most willing and strongest people around, in one place, all working to impact students and it does not happen. Why? Lack of collaboration.

For the rest of the reader, Tom brings up two topics for further reading: Lesson Study and Critical Friends. Both of these are worth the time to look up and read.

And Tom, you bet I will work to change the lack of collaboration in schools. Thanks for the comment.

Anyone else read Schmoker's book and have some thoughts?

[Tom]

Great post, Travis! I think all of us, as both teachers and parents, have pushed that same boulder up that same stairway more times than we care to remember. Two things:
1. Michael Schmoker, in his must-read "Results Now" comes to the same conclusion as you (although it takes him 195 more pages): if we're ever going to improve education, we need to get out of our classrooms and take collective responsibility for every student in our schools. And we need to use data to see what works and use that data school-wide; if teacher A pushed the boulder 15 yards up the hill, the rest of her department can meet her at that point and push the boulder from there, instead of waiting for it to roll back down to the ground.
2. Lesson Study. We've used this professional development model in my building for years and it's a proven tool for getting teachers to collaborate on meaningful learning activities. Boulders move a lot more easily when four teachers are pushing.
Unfortunately though, despite models like Lesson Study or Critical Friends, and despite writers like you and Schmoker, it's too often too easy for teachers to go to their own rooms, close their doors and teach their own students. All alone. Let's change that today, so that we can sit together, in the shade, twenty years from now.