Techniques for successful collaborative effort with teachers in your school

[Tammy]

Hi everyone I am looking for suggestions about how to have a successful collaboration with fellow colleagues in one's school.

Could anyone share an example of a successful collaborative effort with a teacher?

How have you overcame some of the barriers to collaboration that Media Specialist and Teacher Librarians have faced for many years, including time?

How do you hope to increase collaboration or how have you increase collaboration? What strategies have you tried? How did you identified teachers who want to collaborate with you?

Is the principal or administrator supportive of your collaborative efforts?
What techniques would you suggest to encourage one's principal or administrator to support one's collaborative efforts?

Thank you for all your responds and all your suggestions :)
Thanks again and have a great day :)

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Tammy,

I have some very pragmatic sorts of suggestions here:

http://dougjohnson.squarespace.com/dougwri/collaboration-and-reflec...

All the best,

Doug

[Carolyn Foote]

One answer--food :)

Just kidding, but having chocolate in the library seems to be my best strategy!

Seriously, I heard a great presentation at TCEA by Barbara Jansen about working with your principal. The theme of the presentation was 'What Five Things would you want your principal to know about your program?'

The idea is for you to focus on what the most significant things are to share with your principal, and then make sure you both "tell" them and also "show" them in action.

Doug Johnson has done some excellent things on this topic, and you may want to check out Joyce Valenza's site as well.

[Bonnie Hauser]

Hi Tammy,
I have found that I have the greatest success with our first year teachers. I would love to work more with our experienced teachers, but time seems to be an issue for both the teacher and me. The less experienced teachers sometimes feel overwhelmed and need help, and once they learn that I am there to collaborate with them, and that I have experience in the classroom as well as the library, they become quite receptive to working with me. One of my plans to get more collaboration going with other teachers is to use the updated AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner. I want to go through them and create an "explanation and examples" page for my principal to show him how teachers and librarians working together improves student learning. Perhaps then I can get him to help encourage teachers to work more directly with library staff.

Good luck,
Bonnie