Making a Commitment to Collaboration

Collaboration isn’t kids working quietly and peacefully at all times—it can be noisy and it often involves some push and pull among members. True collaboration requires kids (and adults!) to be thoughtful, pragmatic, friendly, and flexible in their thinking and actions. Collaborators demonstrate independence, self-sufficiency, and care in their work and their relationships with adults and peers. They listen first, ask questions, and disagree with compassion. When things go awry, they have the skills and support to correct missteps and mend relationships.

Collaboration isn’t kids working quietly and peacefully at all times—it can be noisy and it often involves some push and pull among members. True collaboration requires kids (and adults!) to be thoughtful, pragmatic, friendly, and flexible in their thinking and actions. Collaborators demonstrate independence, self-sufficiency, and care in their work and their relationships with adults and peers. They listen first, ask questions, and disagree with compassion. When things go awry, they have the skills and support to correct missteps and mend relationships.

These students are not just “good groups” or special in some way, and the schools where we have witnessed this work range from wealthy to high-poverty, in suburban, rural, and urban settings. What makes collaboration possible is not the location or the students, but all of us: the teachers. Building a culture of collaboration is a process that we launch at the beginning of the year and continue to emphasize, refine, and support until students leave our care. In collaborative classroom cultures we consistently see

• co-creation and ownership of the guidelines that dictate how students interact with each other and adults
• explicit instruction and support in when, how, and why we collaborate with others
• a culture of love, respect, reflection, and celebration that is encouraged by every students and staff member in the building

Collaboration can supercharge the work that you are doing in your classroom: it ignites interest, adds a heightened sense of purpose to the work, and puts children in leadership and decision-making roles. But collaboration is even more powerful than what we see only in the classroom: the collaborative practices we teach leak into the hallways and playgrounds as students create self-sustaining groups and work together to solve problems and accomplish tasks.

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The above has been adapted from Read The World. Learn more at Heinemann.com