Collaborativeness

I think collaborativeness is an important disposition to understand because this is a disposition that is not only important to have as future teachers, but also as students and as people in general. I think a highly effective team is one that works together. There may be one person who seems to lead the group more, but that shouldn't mean that this one person ends up doing all the work. I think the only way a team can be effective is if everyone puts in their ideas and they are able to discuss as a group which ideas work best to make a decision all together. This is sometimes much easier said than done. In working in many different "teams", whether it be in class, music ensembles or sports, I've learned that you will come across people with very different ideas from your own. Being an effective team, means being able to discuss your different opinions and come up with an idea that pleases everyone in the group. I think collaboration is different from group work or cooperative learning, because in collaboration, you really working together AND learning together. Group work often ends up being a situation where one person does all the work, or everyone does the same amount of work but it is just split up and not decided together. To me, group work is almost like individual work that happens to be presented in a group. Collaboration, on the other hand, depends entirely on working together. Cooperative learning, is good, yet there is no collaboration involved unless there is discussion between the learners. Collaboration is something I've had to work on as a student, and I know it will continue to be an important disposition to have in my life, as a teacher and as an adult in general.