“The nature of relationships among the adults within a school has a greater influence on the character and quality of that school and on student accomplishment than anything else.” — Roland S. Barth

As adults in schools, we strive to help our students develop strategies to manage their interpersonal relationships. Relationships amongst the faculty are equally important, and as educators, we need our own set of tools to successfully work with our colleagues. Schools ask teachers to work in a variety of collaborative models such as lead/associate, co-teaching, teaching teams, committee work, classroom teacher/specialists. Further, these teachers/staff bring different perspectives and come from different backgrounds and generations, resulting in misunderstandings, misaligned expectations of each other, and different relationship styles.

How can we cultivate tools to transform collegial relationships into collaborative ones? Just as schools encourage the development of classrooms that are responsive and attuned to the needs of our students, teachers should be supported to be responsive to each other. Whether we are managing teachers or are in a position where we are expected to collaborate with peers, this workshop will help build strong and healthy relationships amongst teaching teams, which in turn benefits the students and the overall school culture. Participants will practice strategies that can be used in faculty and grade level collaborations and that can be put in place immediately to get their 2018-19 school year off to a positive start!

In this workshop, participants will:

•Practice skills to enhance communication amongst their teaching partners, set relational expectations, and establish shared goals within a teaching team;

• Learn how to successfully use a pre-year meeting amongst teaching partners to set expectations, goals, and relationship norms;

• Use role plays and case studies to understand and to address the pitfalls of a collaborative/co-teaching relationship;

• Understand perspectives of different generations in school relationships, and develop communication tools to bridge gaps and enhance empathy and understanding;

• Explore how a successful teacher mentorship program can address communication challenges amongst teaching teams.

This workshop is ideal for administrators, teachers, new and experienced teaching partners (lead/associate teachers, co-teachers), and teaching teams of all kinds.