Collaborative practice...BRING IT ON!

Reading through topic 5 about collaborative practice, I am finding it difficult to understand why teachers would NOT want to collaborate. Throughout my teaching, I have always sought to collaborate with other teachers. Not only is it better for your students, as they get the benefit of 'two heads are better than one', it is also good for your professional practice to see what others are doing.

However, both schools I have worked in have not had qualified TL's on staff. I guess the collaboration I have experienced is between other classroom teachers as opposed to CPT. The first school I taught at had a teacher in the library, but not a TL. She would plan her lessons for library lessons, but other than that, there was no collaboration. My school now is too small for a TL (or a teacher in the library!), but in terms of collaboration, we often have whole staff planning days, going through what each class is doing and preparing whole school inquiry based units of work. Although there is no TL in attendance, I believe that this collaboration is of great benefit both to our students and to us as professionals. Maybe as I continue through this course, I will have the expertise to provide more to these sessions, particualrly in the area of working towards an ILSC. I am already getting excited about introducing one of the information skills models that I have been looking at. I can see that these would be of a HUGE benefit to our students.

Look out term 3 planning day...my head is bursting with ideas!! Collaboration can only BE positive...surely...