Teaching is a stressful job and sticking together with your fellow teachers will help you through some of the trickiest of times. So, embrace your fellow teaching friends and their supportive ways. Here are some of the top reasons for teacher collaboration.
Reasons for Teacher Collaboration
We Understand Each Other
Sometimes, explaining the frustrations of the day to our partners, friends or relatives who don’t teach falls on deaf ears. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s that they don’t understand. Sometimes, we want a teacher buddy to roll their eyes and agree with our frustrations that a student chose to write on a worksheet even after you reminded them not to. Again.
We’re Outnumbered
There are far more students than there are teachers and sometimes, a class can get the better of a lone teacher on a bad day. Showing up with support from a friend can make all the difference in the world. Especially if they’ve got the stare down.
We Provide A Pick-Me-Up
The occasional cup of tea, a bar of chocolate or even just a conversation that isn’t about Instagram influencers, YouTube personalities, Fortnite, FIFA and Love Island (Actually, keep the last one depending on your taste…) can make a difference to your day.
We Look Out for Each Other
Sometimes, we’re busy and sometimes we need someone to cover us for a break duty, after-school duty, assembly or in the worst-case scenario: watching over your class while you run to the toilet because it’s lesson 4 of a 5 period day and you’ve been putting it off for hours. We’re a team and we work together.
We Defend Each Other
“Mr. A lets me look at my phone in class.”
“Mrs. B lets us listen to music.”
Little do most students know, that teachers make a pretty good team. Mr. A and Mrs. B are great friends and chat to each other all the time. They’re acutely aware that listening to music and using a phone in the classroom is not OK and they’ve got each other’s back.
We Learn From Each Other
Finally, it’s important to recognise that we’re not perfect and we’re constantly improving our craft as a teacher. We do that by learning from each other. Some of us are an absolute marvel at making planning a breeze, other teachers have behaviour down and others know exactly how to achieve a semblance of work-life balance. Learn the ways other teachers excel and make their methods part of your toolkit.
Don’t forget to read even more of our blogs here! You can also subscribe to Beyond for access to thousands of secondary teaching resources. You can sign up for a free account here and take a look around at our free resources before you subscribe too.