Candidates create professional partnerships to create learning opportunities for themselves and their students.

Domain 5

One teacher cannot know all there is to know about best practices and new ideas in the world of education. Having a professional, collaborative network of colleagues in place will go a long way towards being informed. Teachers, like anyone else, cannot assess themselves in an entirely objective manner. A colleague who can observe, critique and encourage you is an invaluable partner in education. It is also beneficial to have colleagues outside of the immediate institution one works in. Institutional mentalities can be limiting, as groups usually develop their own unique dynamics that sometimes resist outside ideas. It is important to work within that framework, but it is also important to bring in fresh ideas.

Teachers who discuss their teaching with other professionals learn how to better instruct, but that is only part of the goal. The ultimate effect of collegial collaboration should be student learning. Collaboration between teachers should be apparent to the students, often done openly with students involved in the process. Students can learn more effectively through curricular integration, different teacher perspectives on the same topic, and an increased awareness of the benefits of working together instead of separately. Students often express more interest in a subject when another teacher is involved. Since students are the focus of teaching and learning, it behooves teacher and student when collaboration, teaching, and learning occur in the same setting.

A reality of the world is that we do not work in isolation. Teaching is certainly one of the professions that least lends itself to isolationist tendencies, but teachers are notoriously protective of their individual areas of instruction, and often resentful of outside interference. Teachers owe students more than a prideful show of individual ability. They owe students the best that can be offered, and that comes through collaboration.