Collaborating

I am the type of teacher who feels it's important to be a team player. Collaborating with other teachers on lesson plans, ideas, strategies, and student progress improves on my own classroom instruction. Mentoring new teachers helps them to become more comfortable with their working environment and teaching while new teachers bring in new ideas. Veteran teachers share what works and what doesn't. Brainstorming ideas with other teachers is a wonderful way to improve on or add to existing lessons. The use of the internet now makes collaborating and sharing ideas more accessible, from researching lessons to collaborating online with other teachers. I use Google Docs as one way to share and collaborate with other teachers. With this internet tool, I can choose to allow other teachers to edit my documents or just view them to share.
Collaborating with other teachers, especially those at your school and in your grade level, makes for a more satisfying work atmosphere while it improves your own skills as an educator.