Running head: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION 1

Effective Communication and Collaboration

Jaclyn Cordero

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2018

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Introduction

The days of one single teacher in a small school building teaching the town children are

over. Many people, however, think teachers have a say in everything they teach and do not have

to communicate or associate with other teachers. While it may have been like this in the past,

teachers nowadays sit in numerous collaboration meetings with teachers in their grade levels.

Some teachers are forced to team-teach while others decide to do this to lessen the load or burden

of teaching all subjects.

Thus, it is vital that any future and current teachers learn how to effectively communicate

with one another and to collaborate with their fellow teachers. It is also important that teachers be

prepared for spur-of-the moment meetings during what could have been precious time away from

the students. P.E., Music, and Art are not always blocks of time in which a teacher can catch up

on grading. I have learned throughout this student teaching placement that there are very rarely

any free moments in a teacher’s weekday. Despite the lack of free time a teacher may have, many

of these meetings are beneficial, and it is a good idea to take detailed, neat notes to look back on.

Rationale for Selected Artifacts

For my artifacts, I focused on communication and collaboration with fellow teachers and

staff during meetings. My first artifact is notes from a meeting on February 8 that all 5th grade

teachers went to in which an Achieve 3000 representative, Nancy, came to share updates and

feedback on how students are doing on Achieve at the school, as well as tools available within

teachers’ Achieve accounts that teachers can use to promote each individual student’s success.

Achieve 3000 is an online reading program that every student, 3rd through 5th grade, uses. Students

are assigned or may choose an article that is automatically tailored to their own individual Lexile
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levels. Then, students answer various questions to help promote reading comprehension and

growth.

My notes from the Achieve 3000 meeting are very detailed. However, some highlights

include the fact that the school is number 1 in the area in student Lexile growth. I learned that at

the end of each month, students’ Lexiles are adjusted based on their growth for that month. The

fact that students have grown so much is a testament to the teachers at the school and reason to

celebrate! The goal for the school is to have each student get at least 40 articles in for the year, or

four or more articles per month. During the meeting, Ms. Nancy explained the different types of

SOL Challenge lessons and shared an Achieve game that teachers are free to use in their classroom

that helps students identify different Stem questions.

My second artifact is from a 5th grade collaboration meeting on February 9, 2018. All 5th

grade teachers during the meeting discussed the different quarterlies (tests given every quarter)

that students must take within a window of time. At this point, all the fifth graders had already

started the Social Studies Quarterly and most were already done with it (they are given as much

time as they need). However, most of the 5th grade teachers had not yet given the students the

Language Arts Quarterly. Ms. Nugent and other teachers decided to start that on February 14.

During the meeting, we also discussed how starting Monday, February 12, fifteen extra minutes

will be added to the school day to makeup for all the snow days.

Finally, the teachers also discussed the fact that parents have been complaining about the

lack of communication. Many parents want to know how their child is doing without having to go

online. They want physical copies of their students’ work. Ms. Nugent and Mrs. Roberts have

started sending out Tuesday folders in which they place student work and have parents sign the

folder. Students bring the folders back before the next week. Unfortunately, only a few students
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have even brought those folders back. I also know that the teachers are really good about emailing

parents and calling them when necessary. One way that parent-teacher communication could be

improved (Ms. Nugent brought this up) is by notifying parents (emailing, calling, etc.) when their

child is doing well, and not just poorly.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

When I was young and thought about being a teacher, it never crossed my mind that I

would be working with other teachers. In schools in which teacher and administrator collaboration

does not take place, teachers and administration are not on the same page. A truly collaborative

and unified school has organized collaboration meetings that involve just teachers, teachers and

administration, etc. Collaborative schools are good for everyone involved, including students.

A 2011 case study (Rubenstein & McCarthy, 2014) of six districts, all of which have

developed and fostered strong partnerships between teachers and their unions and administrators

while improving education, found following thirteen common themes, including the following:

Emphasis on teacher quality, focus on student performance, substantive problem-

solving/willingness to experiment, an organizational culture that values and supports

collaboration, and collaborative structures at all levels in the district. Each of these are what school

collaboration meetings should exemplify. However, as a high school teacher in one of the six

successful districts stated, this takes time. The biggest reason why many school districts may not

be as successful when it comes to collaboration and partnership is because it takes time (Obrien,

2014).

For the most part, I truly believe that the school I have been placed at does an amazing job

in collaboration (at least among administration, teachers, and support staff). This is evident in the

artifacts I have chosen. At the beginning of every collaboration meeting, certain rules are always
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reviewed in which teachers are reminded to be respectful and courteous of other views, thoughts,

and opinions and to let one person speak at a time. There is an order to the meeting and the principal

sits in on every meeting. However, sometimes things can get heated, especially when teachers are

feeling stressed or overwhelmed. There are two forms on nonverbal communication to be mindful

of when communicating to both colleagues and students: tone of voice and body language (Gavoni,

2015).

An annoyed or condescending tone of voice toward a fellow teacher or a student will not

yield a positive result. I observed a conversation between one of the 5th grade teachers and the

gifted resource teachers occur during the collaboration meeting in which the teacher was being

condescending to the gifted resource teacher. However, the gifted resource teacher took a deep

breath, and responded calmly as she tried to resolve the misunderstanding. The gifted resource

teacher’s calm tone of voice actually ended up calming down the teacher! If the gifted resource

teacher had responded in a defensive way, the meeting would have been a disaster.

Body language is also something that can make or break a collaborative meeting or a

conversation or interaction with a student. If a teacher is sitting at her desk with her arms crossed

and a student has a question, that student may be reluctant to ask the teacher his or her question

since she appears intimidating or unavailable. However, if a teacher is walking around the

classroom and checking on students, that student is much more likely to ask the teacher a question

because she appears helpful and available.

In regard to future implications, I am working on thinking more before I speak, as I

recognize that I can speak life or I can speak death into a child or colleague. 1 Peter 3:10 states,

“Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips

from speaking deceit (ESV).” This is in the context of when evil is spoken to us. Rather than
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“repaying evil for evil,” (1 Peter 3:9) we are to bless others with our words. Furthermore, we are

urged in Romans 12:1-2 to “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”

I believe that how I present myself- how I dress, including my body language- when I communicate

with others, is extremely important. I hope to foster a classroom in which students feel safe to

freely share their concerns and scholarly opinions. I also hope to present myself as an

approachable, professional, and agreeable person to my colleagues to foster a good environment

for communication and collaboration. Finally, I plan on communicating regularly with parents via

weekly emails, personal emails about their children’s successes and behavior, and the like. In

combination, these future goals will help me effectively communicate with colleagues, students

and parents, and effectively collaborate with administration and other teachers.
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References

Gavoni, P. (2015, June 5). The Art of Effectively Communicating with Students (and Staff!).

Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/art-effectively-

communicating-students-and-staff

OBrien, A. (2014, November 20). When Teachers and Administrators Collaborate. Retrieved

February 19, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/when-teachers-and-

administrators-collaborate-anne-obrien

Ripp, P. (2015, August 26). The Student-Centered Classroom: Communicating What Matters.

Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-

classroom-communicating-matters-pernille-ripp

Rubinstein, S. A., & McCarthy, J. E. (2014, March 25). Teachers Unions and Management

Partnerships. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-

12/reports/2014/03/25/86332/teachers-unions-and-management-partnerships/