Working with Colleagues

Working with Colleagues

            Working with colleagues, especially being a new teacher can be extremely overwhelming and intimidating.  There are plenty of websites that are available at the click of a few keys that offer some great insight on how to collaborate with teachers and how to work your way into the system.   One blog I found discusses how to get everyone working together and how to be a team player.  The best line that stands out the most is the when the blog posts: “Put a group of determined, opinionated individuals in the same school, however, and you often have a recipe for headaches” (Education World).  The blog goes on about how to turn your coworkers into fantastic team members that all battle the field of the unknown and bored students.  The other article I found discusses how to deal with not so awesome colleagues, which I found useful, since there is always going to be someone you don’t get along with.  This article discusses how to handle the type of teacher you are dealing with in a professional matter that doesn’t allow the situation to get worse and can actually offer a reprieve from the individual. 

            My experience is limited due to the amount of time I am in the classroom, but I have noticed a few times while eating lunch in the teacher’s lounge that colleague interaction is both helpful and hurtful.  Depending on the day, some of the members are polite to everyone, but most stick into their little clicks, especially when they know you aren’t officially working there.  Other teachers are wonderful and help out with advise in any way that they can.  I agree that teachers can help each other with new ideas and with dealing with difficult students, but on the other hand I have seen how some biases from teachers have caused other teachers to treat students in a particular way.  I try my best to keep an open mind when it comes to students, regardless of what I hear from the other teachers, until I have had sufficient time in getting to know the student in order to develop a sense about him or her.  Another problem that I have with the idea of collaboration is how to convince other teachers that, while you are new to the scene, you are capable of teaching a classroom.  I feel that because of the clicks and other sort of biases that go along with being a teacher for a certain amount of time, they look on us with a sort of pity, like we are incompetent.  I get “Good Luck” all of the time when I tell other teachers that I want to teach 8th grade.   I am perfectly aware of what level I am going to teach and the idea that I might not be able to handle it is extremely rude! 

            This research is most applicable to me as a future teacher in that I will be experiencing the whole colleague scene, when I get hired somewhere.  It will also be helpful to know how to handle certain faculty to prepare myself for student teaching, which I will inevitably be in contact with most of the teachers at the school.  Besides, being able to have a mentor or someone to turn to when I am about to have a breakdown from having my students be uncontrollable will be a nice addition to my list of confidants.  My collaboration with my fellow teachers and staff will be extremely beneficial to my students, especially the students that I will need assistance with in understanding the best way for that student to learn.  With collaboration comes knowledge and since we will be teachers, knowledge equals success.  My students will be able to witness new ideas and techniques through the collaboration of me with other teachers.

Works Cited

 “Be a Team Player: Collaborate with Colleagues.” Education World. N.P       Web 11 May 2014.

 “We Are Teachers.” How to Get Along With ANY Colleague. N.P Web. 11      May 2014.