Traits of Best Colleagues

zenteach
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Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:29 am

Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by zenteach »

What have been some of the traits of the colleagues you've most enjoyed working with?

What do you hope your colleagues do this year to make it a great school year?
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

Sounds like someone has an assignment or paper due?

Not working with them to start. I like ITs who basically keep to themselves, do their thing, let others do their thing, and not assume some role of telling other ITs how to do things better, or worse the new IT who always compares things to their previous IS that apparently did everything better. If I have to work with them, they do their share of the work.

Id like a note added to their submissions that clarify their submission this year is the same as their submission last year and hasnt changed, that way I can make the same recommendation I made last year without having to read it and compose one again.
zenteach
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:29 am

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by zenteach »

Haha! No paper due here. Just hoping to have a great year and remind myself of qualities to keep or toss.

I see your point about IT's keeping to themselves, but what about collaboration? Just kidding PsyGuy...
Helen Back
Posts: 242
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by Helen Back »

When I first started fulltime teaching I preferred to work alone, which in fact I did, because I was the only teacher at that grade level. That said I've always been quite enthusiastic about sharing my (very well organised) resources. Nobody has reciprocated to the same level.

As I've progressed I have seen the value of collaboration, but not to the point of it being oppressive. My grade level colleague and I use the same medium term plan, but individually vie off from it at times. The skills and knowledge we teach are generally the same but activities and projects may vary.

The question I would ask him is "where are you at in the unit?" rather than "what are WE doing next?". We definitely swap ideas, but there's no onus to actually do the same (although we frequently do). At my last school all classes at a certain grade level were expected to follow the same unit and activities which had been 'collaboratively' put together. It was demoralizing and oppressive. One of the things I love about teaching is the creation part, like an actor writing his own script. If you restrict my ability to create I end up brain dead very quickly.

My current colleague left in June and in his leaving speech he thanked me for the massive amount of resources I'd given him and the fact that we hadn't had an argument in two years. I'm good with that :-)
PsyGuy
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Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@zenteach

I dont find ITs really wanting to collaborate. Most ITs who know what they are doing want to be left alone to do it, they want to close their door and do the thing they have been doing, and they dont have to consult with other ITs as you would in collaboration. ITs collaborate when they have to, and there just as likely to do their own independent things and then write it up as a collaboration to satisfy some leaderships requirement; or when the collaboration reduces their work load and makes their life easier but otherwise whats the collaboration going to do for them that wouldnt be accomplished without the collaboration. An IT has lessons that are ready to go, whats the benefit to doing something different, meaning more work, if the outcome is no better than the original lesson and no IT thinks their lesson plans are poo. What happens is one IT ants to collaborate more than the other IT and they drag their feet such that the other IT either has to do all the work or the new lesson plan doesnt manifest and just doesnt happen.
If you have a collaboration thats 50/50 and one IT isnt motivated they wont do their 50%, and why should they its 50% more work than the lesson plan they already have ready. The only way it works in that scenario is if the motivated IT does 100% of the work and hands it to the other IT and then they have to convince the unmotivated IT that the untried new lesson plan is going to be better, and they really dont know that it will.
Collaboration is one of those things that sounds like a great idea and recruiters and leadership love to hear it, but doing it often just means more work that ultimately results in nothing better than doing it independently.

What do you call a camel? A horse created by committee.
Helen Back
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Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by Helen Back »

Just to add, for me the place I collaborate most (and I use the term loosely) is not at school at all, but on Twitter.
mysharona
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:25 am

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by mysharona »

Helen Back wrote:

> As I've progressed I have seen the value of collaboration, but not to the point of
> it being oppressive. My grade level colleague and I use the same medium term plan,
> but individually vie off from it at times. The skills and knowledge we teach are
> generally the same but activities and projects may vary.
>
> The question I would ask him is "where are you at in the unit?" rather than "what
> are WE doing next?". We definitely swap ideas, but there's no onus to actually do
> the same (although we frequently do). At my last school all classes at a certain
> grade level were expected to follow the same unit and activities which had been
> 'collaboratively' put together. It was demoralizing and oppressive. One of the things
> I love about teaching is the creation part, like an actor writing his own script.
> If you restrict my ability to create I end up brain dead very quickly.

I generally detest it when people quote large chunks of material, but this is well said Helen Back! Now if I can only convince my new teaching partner and my admin.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

@Helen Back

Is that really collaboration or just communication between two colleagues teaching the same form? It sounds like you two have a shared term plan and you just talk about it periodically.
fine dude
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Location: SE Asia

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by fine dude »

Best colleagues:
- offer something in return, more of a symbiotic relationship
- don't discuss students at lunch table
- spread positivity
- don't keep all cards close to their chest.
- genuinely care about their students

Best administrators:
- don't cross limits of their jurisdiction.
- actually know what they are talking about
- committed to initiatives they undertake and follow through (not just to build their CV)
- have no favorites
- have the courage to disagree with parents when the latter are in the wrong
- see value in their faculty
- most of all, visible and hands-on (not micromanage, though)
Helen Back
Posts: 242
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: Discussion

Post by Helen Back »

PsyGuy wrote:
> @Helen Back
>
> Is that really collaboration or just communication between two colleagues
> teaching the same form? It sounds like you two have a shared term plan and
> you just talk about it periodically.

Fair point, although it has been more than that, there have been periods of thrashing it out, but at the end of the day I am more motivated in some subject areas, he's more motivated in others. The motivated one usually dominates, because the motivated one usually has the best thought out ideas. It is what it is. What it isn't is isolationist.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

@ Helen Back

Completely agree, your not going to your little fiefdom, and they stay in their fiefdom, and how about the two of you never talk about anything. Your colleagues who are maintaining a professional dialog, and while that bilateral communication isnt isolationist, communication doesnt rise to the level of collaboration. If its anything above communication its more cooperation, youre working towards completing shared tasks and common goals.

@fine dude

Dont eat lunch with other ITs.
Im pretty sure keeping your cards close to your chest is how you keep yourself from losing.
Have you ever met a leader who didnt think they knew what they were talking about?
Kind of hard not to have favorites.
Parents are the customer, the customer gets to be right, and even if they dont, the parents have a better connection to ownership than leadership.
Maybe see value in their faculty beyond simply being human resources. I dont know any leadership that wants to run an IS without any faculty.
fine dude
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Location: SE Asia

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by fine dude »

@PG
Just like many others on this forum, I don't buy your responses. Only naive newbies believe in what you have to say. So, go ahead and comment as much as you could. You get a certain high in having the last word.
dover2013
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:30 am

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by dover2013 »

zenteach wrote:
> What have been some of the traits of the colleagues you've most enjoyed
> working with?
>
> What do you hope your colleagues do this year to make it a great school
> year?

Non-judgemental.
Passionate.
Empathetic.
Abrasive.
Know when to be lazy.
Know when to work their socks off.
Know when to take short cuts.
Know when to pay attention to detail.
Salt of the Earth with the occasional mood or grump.
Give back at least some of what they take.

Something like that.
Thames Pirate
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by Thames Pirate »

First and foremost, I like colleagues (and admin) who put kids first. There are myriad ways to do this, though, and colleagues who accept this are great. It means not talking negatively about kids, but it might mean talking about kids--what has worked, where you might have found strengths and weaknesses, etc.--whether in the lunchroom or elsewhere. There is a fine line between gossip and collaboration, sure, and we either don't toe it or we accidentally cross it at times, so understanding and forgiveness for each other is critical.

Colleagues who work together to create a scope and sequence and share lessons and units with no expectations that colleagues follow individually (and accept new ideas or improvements from others, whether or not they use or adapt them) are great. It means you can design courses with the same aim and can use the same projects and assignments if you both desire or you can decide to take your own path to the same goals. I had a colleague who passed on all her documents for a unit, but she never asked if I used them, and she was always happy to receive mine (and sometimes adapt and send back, again, with no expectations) just so we had lots of material. Sometimes we would be in wildly different places and other times we would be almost aligned to the day. It was lovely.

Colleagues who don't pull their weight are frustrating. Those who are always late to lunch duty, who are unwilling to take on any extra duties, who never take minutes at meetings, who complain about initiatives regardless of how good they are--nobody enjoys those people.

Those who hole up in their classrooms and keep to themselves are more likely to be the latter. Nobody wants to be micromanaged--we are all (hopefully) professionals, and our differences in style, personality, etc. lead to greater creativity as well as helping us reach a broader range of students. So that balance of sharing and allowing autonomy as well as a healthy dose of passion for kids and forgiveness for mistakes are critical.
fine dude
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Location: SE Asia

Re: Traits of Best Colleagues

Post by fine dude »

One reason why folks are holed up in their classrooms is to avoid constant gossip, negativity, or cliched groups based on nationalities, an antithesis to the global-mindedness that we constantly lecture about. Have seen these groups at lunch, faculty meetings, and social events.
I have also seen teachers sign up for clubs just for extra cash without doing justice to the students enrolled. Some of them just made posters, internet research, or silly shows which had no meaning.
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