Key Requirements For Effective Collaboration Essay

What does effective collaboration require?

I think one of the key requirements for effective collaboration is for each stakeholder (general education teacher, special education teacher and central office) to be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the co-teaching process (The Maryland Co-Teaching Framework Overview). While it is imperative that all stakeholders work together and shoulder similar responsibilities, it is important that each stakeholder identifies what strengths, education and areas of expertise they have and use these to strengthen the learning environment as a whole. Another key requirement is setting a strong, professional foundation for the collaborative relationship to be based on. In Successful Co-teaching: Keys to Team Development Part 1, the two model co-teachers discuss that productive co-planning sessions and professional development tools were the two “magic keys” to unlocking effective collaboration. Finally,

Bruce Tuckman’s stages of team development outline an explicit and effective way to establish good communication between professionals (Successful Co-teaching: Keys to Team Development Part 2 and 3). Like a marriage, co-teaching requires copious amounts of time and attention put on communicating and doing so in a way that allows you to have high-stakes or uncomfortable conversations (Co-Teaching Is a Marriage). Tuckman’s stages layout steps that focus not only on how to establish a foundation for building effective communication, but also how to build communication norms together as a group and revisit aspects of communication that are not working as effectively as they