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Reflection from article on collaboration.
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Breathe New Life Into Collaboration
5 Principles for Reviving Problematic Groups
Bradley A. Ermeling
In the article the author discusses five principles to use with teachers who are struggling to
collaborate together. These five principles can also be used to get collaboration started. The first
strategy is to, as a group, find a shared concern and identify a goal around that concern. Focusing on one
particular area takes the focus off the antagonisms. The second strategy is to establish teacher
ownership. In this principle, it is important for the teachers to have ownership in their goal.
Administration can make suggestions of key areas but need to stay out of the conversation and the goal
setting portion of the collaboration. Strategies for teachers to use in their classrooms are important to
share so they have support in attaining the goal. The third principle centers around group norms or
commitments that will guide each and every meeting. The norms or agreed upon guidelines help ensure
the meeting stay on track and meet the needs of the group. The norms also provide a way to hold
teammates accountable to the shared goal. Fourth, teams should expect productive action. The
question is asked, “Are we going to do something about this? Or are we just going to talk about it?”
Agendas for every meeting with the focus on the goal help manage this. Finally, it can be important for
administration to strategize according to the team. If there is a particularly difficult team member a
suggestion to have them present something relevant to the group can help turn their lack of
participation into becoming a valued team member.
This article was extremely relevant and timely for me! We have a team who we need to apply
these five principles to and hopefully it will help their collaboration which will spill over into their
instruction for students. These principles are not new and I have certainly heard and read them before.
Sometimes we need gentle reminders of what we know and when to use what we know! The article has
me considering which route to take to help the teachers get to a common goal and shared belief. It will
take time and patience but the end result is worth it!