The Leadership and Collaboration standard ensures teachers engage in meaningful relationship building with parents, administrators and coworkers in addition to building a positive classroom environment with students. In other words, positive classroom environment extends beyond the classroom and involves collaboration and team work between teacher, resource staff and parents. Three ways teachers can demonstrate successful application of this standard are: establishing open communication with the students’ guardians, collaborating with coworkers and staff and improving one’s leadership skills.

Establishing and maintaining open communication with students’ care givers and guardians is essential to building a positive classroom environment and helping students achieve their academic and personal goals.  Creating a classroom management plan and sharing it with resource staff as well as caregiver is an important step toward establishing one’s leadership role. Starting the school year with an introductory letter in which the teacher shares her goals for the class as well as means of communication and a few personal aspects about herself will help establish a positive relationship with families.

Collaborating with coworkers and resource staff is vital for improving one’s skills and practice and to create a successful school environment. Working with co-teachers and instructional aids, as well as collaborating with substitutes, and various resource staff  contributes to improving one’s practice through gaining new ideas and perspectives. Having monthly professional development meetings, such as “lunch and learn meetings” contributes to team building and sharing of ideas on professional strategies.

Improving one’s leadership skills and continuing education will help better one’s leadership skills.  Participating in conferences, workshops and various staff development activities will help improve leadership skills.

For more information on how to improve collaboration and leadership skills, please see my reflections in my paper “Planning for Instruction.”