Raising Teacher Collaboration both within and beyond our school walls.

Along with its well researched benefits for students collaboration is promoted as a key tool for effective Professional Development in NZ education. There are increasingly new ways to develop effective professional collaboration. Two methods that have grown in popularity over the last 24 months are in my opinion are #edchatnz and Educamps. Firstly for over a year I have been participating in professional discussions through #edchatnz on twitter. My perspective on this is that professional teams need at least one person to be connecting with professional forums from beyond their own learning community to keep updating and refining their practices and ideas. What I have experienced through #edchatnz is precisely that, continued exposure to a wide range of current practices and opinions. These aspects have helped me to keep track of relevant discussions regarding current practices and professional readings. Secondly I’ve attended 2 educamps. My first was #educampalmy in which i attended in person and the second #educampwelly, I watched through streaming. In both instances I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I experienced in #educampalmy was passionate discussions about modern practices, connections made through social media being re-inforced through kanohi kei te kanohi, sharing of ideas and co-constructions of new strategies. Educamp Welly was a more limited version yet still worth the time joining in through stream. While streaming is not really comparable to being at an educamp in person, streaming allowed me to contimue connecting with like minded teachers and leaders in real time from a distance. Upon reflection I feel these methods for promoting collaboration have been remarkably effective in developing a sense of professional camardery and ongoing inspiration. However I see this practice as potentially resulting in a satisfying sense of collaboration with colleagues from afar, which has clear benefits, but this distance can limit the opportunities for growth that can be gained through collaboration. What can I do better to raise the effectiveness of the collaboration currently used within our immediate learning community? What I would like to do is focus upon one teacher in our learning community and encourage them to join me on any of the social media based forums I plan on using this year. Recently I read a blog by Rose Maceachern about critical friendships (this blog was recommended to me by an #edchatnz tweeter). I see this professional practice as a real opportunity to develop in a more personal and professional way. Developing a partnership based on common goals and values is exciting and scary. As stated in the blog, the ultimate aim is to develop these critical friendships both within and beyond the school we are working in. I see this as a relevant goal for our own learning community. Promoting practices that are based on mutual respect,trust, critical thinking and partnership is a powerful and growth enhancing practice that will ensure that we develop effective collaboration both within and beyond our learning community.