Work smarter, not harder - be collaborative

Collaboration for adaptive, inclusive learning.

Collaborative teachers for effective learning

When you as a teacher collaborate and work together with your colleagues, you create a more cohesive and effective learning environment for your students.

By sharing resources, ideas, and strategies, you’ll save valuable time and ensure that your students are receiving consistent messaging across all subjects.

Collaboration amongst your team can greatly impact a school's success in promoting adaptive, inclusive learning. As an educator, you are likely more than aware of the power of encouraging collaboration amongst your students.

However, a collaborative approach amongst your staff can significantly impact on a school’s success – and thinking collaboratively can save a huge amount of time, money and resources.

I have found that one of the most effective ways for teachers to achieve a collaborative approach is to do so between departments and subjects as a kind of ‘culture’ of the school and effectively share the workload.

Why is collaboration so effective?

Collaboration between staff is a key message I share with the schools that I work with. In my experience as a teacher and in implementing these frameworks in schools, I have seen it to be the most effective way to share common goals and best practice from teacher to teacher, subject to subject.

The teachers feel more equipped when working towards a similar vision and approach. For maximum impact, a school should have a consistent message when it comes to adaptive, inclusive learning.

One of the ways I’ve helped schools to do this in EAL settings is to develop an academic language programme that is evident across all subjects, giving all teachers the opportunity to understand what academic language looks like in their subjects. They then share across departments what works well in their subject when teaching and embedding this in others.

Developing an academic language program is just one example of how collaboration can benefit both teachers and students. Collaboration between teachers when it comes to specific students can help teachers to better understand their students' individual needs and create tailored learning plans that are more effective. There are of course, many benefits to knowing your students well - for more on this take a look at an article I wrote recently: How well do you know your students?

EAL Experts

When a school works collaboratively to identify a common language in a consistent way, and they then draw on the expertise of staff across the school to share best practice, you essentially develop your own in-house EAL experts.

It is collaboratively identifying a curriculum that is bespoke to your student’s specific needs. This approach also fosters collaboration among teachers when dealing with individuals, enabling them to better understand the needs of each student.  

By doing so, the school can better support these students in their academic and personal growth and help them reach their full potential. In short, collaboration is key to creating a successful learning community that benefits both teachers and students.

I am a firm believer in working smarter, not harder and once these frameworks are in place and adopted as a culture in the setting; educators and students will thrive.

Book in for a consultation with me here: Chat with Anna to discuss these frameworks further. Follow me on LinkedIn to see more of our methods for effective EAL teaching.