The Community Within School or Center CHAPTER 8
W
orking with other adults at your own center or school can be rewarding and helpful as well as, on occasion, challenging. As an early childhood professional you will find that the relationships you build will be important to job satisfaction, to your success with children, and as the basis of your interactions with families and the outside community. In this section are some suggestions to think about as you embark on a career that requires successful relationships with other adults.
Collaboration
Skill in collaboration is a good place to start. Here are the five
Instructors who teach specialized subjects, like art or music, separate from the primary teacher must collaborate to make sure that the students receive a well rounded and well transitioned education.
Associated Press
qualities of people who are successful at collaboration, particularly in an educational setting, adapted from Marleen Pugach and Lawrence Johnson (2002). Good collaborators:
· accept the challenge of complex goals and joint endeavors,
· appreciate the contributions of the people they work with,
· actually enjoy the social process involved in solving problems and negotiating disagreements,
· recognize and appreciate the personal growth they acquire from working with others,
· continually reflect on their professional practice and on their experiences in collaboration.
See Field Notes 8.3 as an example of how such positive collaboration can work.