Week Six: Collaborate

Have you ever had a teacher or coach ever tell you that "There is no I in Team". If anything I have come to learn of even greater importance of collaboration.
  Sometimes I think I know everything, but turns out most of the time I don't. It is not until I start to talk with other people and learn from them do I really start to grow and sustain more knowledge.
    The whole meaning of collaborating is working together, bringing knowledge from all persons to create and ever better outcome.

In essence we all come together with a different piece of the puzzle. We may know what the picture may be from our one piece and we may even understand exactly where our piece goes: but it is not until be bring all our pieces together that we know what the picture is or building something amazing.
   This can be related to teaching and how we work with other professionals to help those students with greater needs. As we put forward out best efforts and contribute we can accomplish so much. As we all know the part we play, work things out together, and have mutual respect, the students we help will be able to flourish and progress in their education.
   Granted, there will be opposition when collaborating: no one thinks exactly the same. but this gives us a chance to better develop our problem solving skills together. No ones thinking is more right than someones else's, but it is our job to communicate and problem solve to come up with the best solution to ensure the best education all students have a right to.
  When I think of a collaborative effort the first thing I think about is my husband and I and the 1 marriage that we share. We both come from different back groups, families, and even cultures. but despite the differences we have 1 marriage and that makes us a team. Collaboration in Marriage is extremely important: without it you can not progress or gain happiness. If one of us quits, then the other one suffers, but on the other hand if one succeeds then we both succeed. The same can be easily said about collaborating as educational professionals. As we ALL work together there are incredible outcomes and growth both for us an individuals and those individuals which we are stiving to help succeed. Its a win-win!