Facilitating and Evaluating Collaborative Work
Background Information
The creation of good relations between individuals and professionals is not easy due to the various differences that results from misunderstandings, conflict of interests and overlapping of duties. Others stem from interpersonal behaviors. These differences necessitate conducting of a research to analyze the failures that come about as a result of these perennial misunderstandings that are witnessed. As a student teacher at S.P 9 Brooklyn which is a first grade consisting of 12 girls and 18 boys, classroom has two female teachers. One teacher has eight years of experience. Currently, there are two students who are ELLs and nine students with IEPs. 28 students identify as African American, one Nigerian, and one Guyanese. There are also students of different language backgrounds in the class and they learn a broad range of disciplines and participate in co-curricular after class programs.
Assessments are conducted thrice a year which include both formal and informal assessments; as a result of this the students are highly cooperative even though they are at different levels of their education ranging from emergent readers to proficient readers in the same class. From this description a teacher was an ideal selection for the study as the selection was done from my personal observation.
The professional I chose for this exercise was Mrs. McNeil who is a teacher at my per my class observation. She is preferred because two heads are better than one as provided for from the logical perspective that is used in pooling of expertise and resource to provide the rightful intend. The idea of two teachers handling the same classroom enables an inclusive approach of a class where each tutor has role that is distinct enabling the learners to develop academically. Another important aspect of teacher educator that led to the choice of Mrs. McNeil is their flexible nature that enables the two works in varied settings. The teacher is in her early 30s but has an experience of six years. She has a wider knowledge base with regard to handling classrooms making her a right march for the interview. She is not disabled enabling her to effectively handle her classroom with ease.
The three people that the interviewee collaborates with that will also have a role in the discussion part of the paper are the pupils, the special teacher and the pupils. During the interview, the interviewee will be given the questionnaire that has the interview questions for brainstorming the kind of questions that she will be dealing with. She will further be required to portray clear and precise answers that will enable her to be understood. As the interviewer, I will then pose question one by one as she responds while I fill the questionnaire and make extra observations with regard to the questions she will be putting across. During the interview, parents will also be required to provide their view with regard to the interviewee making it necessary for them to be made to fill the questionnaire; they will provide information on their encounter with the interviewee, their relations, attitude and some of the unique portrayals she puts up. Pupils can also be maximized to give their encounter since the interviewee spends most of the time attending to them.
The context of the conversation was outside a classroom at the end of the day. The interview started as a recap of what the interviewee had been doing during the lesson which later changed to the aim of the interview which is an evaluation of the collaboration of the interviewer and interviewee in carrying out her duties.
School Leadership Team includes administrators such as the principal at the top, staff, teachers, and five parents. They all participate in monitoring student progress and helping them prosper in their studies. The principal, Alota Wright on, has been with the institution since 2006, and lives in the Clinton Hill area.
They are encouraged to help their children in ensuring that homework and assignments are done. However, a majority of them seem to be too busy to control checking this progress of their children. The school has a supportive PTA that provides enriching after-class co-curricular activities to the students such as foreign language, chess, and dance. Parents in the same program coordinate their duties, as well as encourage each other in regards to schedule and activities. Through constant communication, they encourage not only their children but also themselves to take part of the learning process.
They keep enriching and updating themselves with knowledge to ensure their professional development. Student data and work is analyzed to provide content and quality development. Teachers from different grades collaborate to ensure the curriculum is satisfactory as the experienced long serving ones mentor the new educators. Their association boosts students’ development by implementing after-class enrichment programs. There is also a guidance counselor present on the team, who helps answer field different questions that occur in the process
Researchers and educators have corroborated that there is need to train teachers to work effectively with the development of training objectives and content skills for teacher supervisors is on going of what the individuals would like to understand concerning the teachers the project research participants provide they knowledge of how they understand these the individual and the extend to which he/she should improve. Although their main focus was on what beginning teachers should know to work more effectively with the participants noted that the skills and knowledge they identified should be part of the repertoire of any teacher working with the list they compiled provides valuable information to the pre service teacher education community, it also can provide useful information for the in service professional development of teachers.
Staff relationships are sometimes characterized by mutual respect, and that they are not asked for their opinions on student issues that aide decision making can have a positive effect on student learning. Although they are not teachers, and most do not have the formal education or training of certified staff members are often in a position to observe students in a variety of settings and among many task demands. They can provide a great deal of anecdotal information that may be useful in making educational decisions. Teachers acquire skills on the job that can be shared because they develop specific techniques for working with children with behavioral issues or for facilitating student friendships and classroom participation that both professionals and paraeducators may find useful.
They are also expected to be classroom leaders as they are supposed to take an active interest in and responsibility for all students for instance they are supposed to have a one-on-one relationship with a child for long periods, but some teachers reduces their contact with the child unintentionally excluding the child from participation which might result to lack of familiarity with children with disabilities, lack of support for inclusion, level of discomfort with the or the child, or simply an oversight in a busy classroom. Teachers must be the teachers of all the children, and each child should feel that he or she has a relationship with the teacher who should feel supported from their work and the children with whom they are working as important members of the classroom community. The discussion was based on how well the children would be assisted in ensuring that they were well facilitated and the work of the teachers handled with ease.
Those who participated in this interview process were adamant about their wish to be treated as fully participating team members as children at an early age see the personal benefit in pitting one parent against another, children in the classroom can sense a weakness if the adults do not provide a unified approach to classroom management and student expectations. This makes everyone’s job more difficult; teachers can set a good example for students by resolving conflicts in a thoughtful and professional manner, the work relationship between teacher and paraeducators should be one of cooperation and professionalism. There is the expectation that general education teacher guides their daily work, even when a special education teacher provides them with lesson plans or instructions for working with specific students because the teachers are typically prepared to work with children, not to supervise adults; and many of them are uncomfortable.