# Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/In Today's Schools Table of Contents/Teacher Interaction & Collaboration

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Positive interaction among teachers and teammates builds a strong learning environment. My first (and only) full year of teaching was successful due to the support and guidance of veteran teachers and my teammates. My teammates and I worked wonderfully together because we always put the needs of our students first. We searched for new lessons, innovative ways to incorporate technology in the classroom, and shared our individual philosophies with each other. I believe that our philosophical similarities were key in building a strong team. When I left to work on my degree, they all balled like babies. Our bond grew extremely strong over just one year. I was no longer an only child, but a member of a teaching family with three great sisters.
One of the strongest bonds I share is with my special ed. paraprofessional. She spent 3/4 of her day in my classroom assisting the students with IEPs and 504s. I always took time to listen to her suggestions and often incorporated them with much success. Not only was she a gift to me and the special education students, but she was a gift to all of the 4th grade teachers and students. Without her guidance and expertise, kids would have probably been hanging from the rafters. Always show respect and support teachers in a collaborative environment. Communication is the most important thing in a collaborative teaching relationship. With out it, a classroom can become detached. Collaboration = communication. Acrow005 (talk) 01:19, 26 July 2009 (UTC)
As scared as I will be on my first day of teaching, I will be very relieved to know that I will have a team to lean on until I can stand completely on my own 2 feet. One of the things I am actually looking forward to are the half-days on Wednesdays, because it will at least allow me enough time to look at how well students are learning and how effective my own teaching is. More importantly, I will have others that understand what I am going through and have possible solutions. While researching for my Wikibook article, I came across an article that discussed how social networking was being used for teacher collaboration. Teachers of the same district, state and even nation-wide would attend virtual conferences about strategies, testing, students, parents and overall education. It was actually very beneficial to teachers, as well as schools and administration because teachers did not have to travel long distances to see each other. They could simply go on an online chat or have a video chat and discuss IEPs, department plans or standardized testing. One state actually require first year teachers to do teacher collaboration through social networking so that they could transition easier into the classroom. Although I am still a pre-service teacher, I occasionally go on educator website and read forums. They are extremely informative and make me think about things I would never even consider. Adart001 (talk) 01:07, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
Collaboration is great! As a new teacher, I discovered that there were always people around to ask advice. In particular, one colleague and I were both new teachers and the only two in our district teaching our subject. So we used this to our advantage. Why recreate the wheel, when people have already made it and you have help. Between the two of us we come up with all kinds of games and interactive activities for the kids as well as halved our stress levels since it was that much less we had to do as individuals. This was an idealistic case, not all teachers are as open and helpful and books would lead you to believe. Many of the teacher I talked to were not open to collaboration, or willing to help at all. Some of the older teachers especially were very territorial over their ideas and work and did not see the common goal. Scrai010 (talk) 02:05, 3 August 2009 (UTC)