Collaborativeness

  When first becoming a teacher, you may think that you are all alone.  This is not the case.  Most schools have teams or groups that meet together every week or so to discuss things in the classroom.  These groups or teams are important to teaching because the best way to learn is from experience.  By talking to other teachers you learn what they have experienced and will be better prepared for something similar to happen in your own classroom.  If every teacher had to experience a event in their classroom before they were able to learn from it they all would be horrified and unprepared their first couple years of teaching.  Fortunately that is not the case and coworkers are willing to share their experiences in group or team meetings.
  Now that we know the importance of teams and groups how do we run a well planned team meeting?  I would say that one of the first things is to have a plan.  Those few minutes in between recess and lunch are critical minutes that need to be planned so that the time is used effectively and efficiently.  Without a plan, it can be very easy to get off topic and waste time.  Even when teachers have the best intentions of working hard and getting things done, distractions will happen.  With a plan topics that are important to talk about will have enough time to be discussed, plus things won't be forgotten that way.   With a plan teachers can conduct a meeting with their team that is time effective and not forget the topics to be discussed.
  During the planned meetings with your team teachers need to be positive and supportive of your other teachers.  Support the ideas your fellow team teachers have, but suggest new ideas if you have some.  Be a contributing member of your team by sharing your own experiences or advice on the topic being discussed.  The way that people learn from collaboration is when people collaborate together.  Without feedback from your peers you won't gain knowledge. With feedback from your peers you will  know how to teach or address a situation in the classroom differently or more effectively.   This benefits you as a teacher because you can be more at ease knowing that other teachers are backing you up and gave you good advice.  Collaboration also benefits the students because when teachers share their style with each other, the best of the best teaching styles can be used to educate the students in the best way possible.
  As long as everyone in the team spends the time and effort to plan ahead, give positive support, and be a good contributor in the team than everyone will benefit from discussing experiences that fellow teachers are having in their day to day lives in the classroom.