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Fostering Collaboration Among Young Students Using Digital Tools_Eriko

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Fostering Collaboration Among Young Students Using Digital Tools_Eriko

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Reading this article, I found it very interesting that even young students can be encouraged to collaborate using digital tools. Specifically, the practical strategies like turn-taking and color-coded collaboration, which enable students to effectively work together while respecting each other's contributions with proper teacher guidance, were insightful. It reinforced the importance of fostering collaboration skills alongside digital literacy.

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Fostering Collaboration Among Young Students Using Digital Tools

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With plenty of scaffolding, lower elementary students can successfully work together online.

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Elevating Elementary Project-Based Learning with AI

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Elevating Elementary Project-Based Learning with AI

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This Edutopia article outlines an innovative project-based learning experiment in which elementary students collaborated with AI to design and construct a Lego cityscape. Initially operating independently, students commenced collaboration with peers and diverse AI tools—first utilizing Brickit for construction instructions, subsequently neural. love for AI-generated artwork, and ultimately ChatGPT for design strategizing. They collaboratively developed prompts, assembled vocabulary, curated concepts, and progressively refined their work. A challenge with variable scale necessitated peer collaboration, leading to collective problem-solving and resulting in a unified construction. The transformation of the classroom from individual builders to a collaborative team highlights how AI, when judiciously incorporated, can ignite creativity, foster teamwork, and enhance profound learning in young students.

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A Lego PBL Unit That Fosters Collaboration

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Elementary students can learn a little about how AI works as they collaborate to design and build a cityscape.

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In this article, students and teachers co-created a six-stage AI–Lego build framework (vocabulary building, prompt design, curation, creation, scaling, and feedback) with ChatGPT serving as a genuine partner.

When teamwork faltered due to inconsistent scale, students collaboratively resolved issues, reinforcing AI as a catalyst for creativity, communication, and problem-solving.

Here, we see how humans and AI can collaborate to generate ideas and work hand in hand - and I say "collaborate" because AI is here to stay!

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A Lego PBL Unit That Fosters Collaboration

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Elementary students can learn a little about how AI works as they collaborate to design and build a cityscape.

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My thoughts about Collaboration and Effective team work

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My thoughts about Collaboration and Effective team work

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In IB classroom, collaborations and team work are essential. In this environment, I think teacher's role is very important because teachers need to provide students the supportive environment, and encourage them to discuss, and to learn from each other. For the students, I think they can improve their communication skills through the team work, it's not only about expressing themselves efficiently, but also about listening and providing feedback to others' contributions.

In a Chinese language classroom, teamwork could be the activities such as group role players, or dialogue practice, or some project based team work. I attended one class that teacher asked student to create a video based on topic, and students were split into different groups, and they worked on the videos as their project. By working together, students not only practice language in real situations and interactive context, but also build diverse and cultural awareness. Through peers support and shared responsibility, students can overcome challenges more easily, learn from different perspectives, and develop essential language skills that prepare them to use what they learnt in language class into their real life.

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I have always been skeptical of the idea that collaboration skills naturally develop just through repeated group experiences. This article supported my view that collaboration should be taught intentionally. I especially appreciated the reference to Tuckman’s stages of group development, which gave me a concrete structure I want to help my students experience.

The idea that group formation should be a shared process between teachers and students also stood out to me. Instead of letting students simply choose friends or those they think are skilled, it suggests forming groups based on preferences, such as the roles they want to take or the goals they want to pursue. I believe this approach can strengthen both student agency and the quality of collaborative learning.

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Articulating what good teamwork looks like takes planning, reflection, and respect for student choice.

Sjoerd van Leeuwen / The iSpot

One of my all-time favorite reflective protocols is the Start-Stop-Continue exercise. It encourages learners to consider the impact of whatever is being learned by asking them about its perceived impact. A teacher or facilitator completes a lesson or an instruction sequence and then pauses, asking their audience to consider what they're going to start doing, stop doing, or continue doing based on a learning experience.

One example of how this structure was impactful for my growth occurred after I participated in a series of professional learning communities (PLCs) focused on collaborative learning. I was teaching middle school, and while collaborative learning can and should be done at any grade level, it's especially important in middle school, because tween learners need support as they encounter more complex emotions and social situations for the first time.

Based on what I learned from the PLC and the impact those strategies had in my classroom, I committed to start, stop, and continue certain things in regard to collaboration, each of which had profound impacts on how I viewed work time within a project-based learning (PBL) context.

START: Differentiate between group work and team work

Calling project work time "group work" is a bit of a misnomer. I once heard a colleague of mine, who also happened to be an experienced little league coach, explain the importance of this distinction in a very clever way: "There is a reason why we call them baseball teams rather than baseball groups." His point was that groups are not invested in the long-term success of their partners, while teammates recognize that individual efforts contribute to the success of all and are therefore more invested.

1. It provides students access to different perspectives and solutions that may exist outside their project team.

2. It allows teachers to leverage protocols that might call for pairs, trios, or larger groupings than the project teams may provide.

3. It gives students a break from the people they're collaborating with the most. This is sometimes critical to the continued harmony in a classroom, especially at the middle school level where relationships and hormones seem to change with the tides.

The reason this differentiation is key is that it reminds teachers to provide temporary grouping structures throughout the course of an assigned project that are different from the team that is producing the final product. There are many benefits to this, but here are three that I've observed:

STOP: Assuming That collaboration is built by experience alone

Having students work in groups is not the same as teaching them to collaborate. It's akin to teaching someone to swim by throwing them in a lake and shouting at them from a distance until they figure it out; it's skill development born out of desperation, and there are definitely less stressful ways to learn.

I believe that providing specific, teacher-facilitated opportunities to discreetly develop collaboration skills should be a part of any project where teamwork is required, especially early on. You want students to have a chance to follow Tuckman's stages of group development before grades add extra stress to the experience. Provide them time for storming and norming before deadlines, and you'll be setting them up for a better chance at success.

This can be done with short group challenges accompanied by a quality assessment tool, such as a rubric that clearly articulates what good teamwork looks like. Books like the summer camp classic Silver Bullets or the evidence-based rubrics on the PBLWorks website are resources worth checking out. Building your students' collaboration muscles takes planning, but it doesn't need to add full days to your PBL projects. Look for places to include 15-to-20-minute experiences at the beginning of your day for greatest impact.

CONTINUE: Include student voice in groupings

Whether or not to allow your students to pick their own groups for collaborative learning is a common question. While student choice can promote positive class culture and engagement, students don't always make grouping decisions based on who will be their most effective learning partner. Despite this, I did and still do advocate for occasionally allowing students to have some say in their groups, but this doesn't mean completely unstructured, or on scaffolded control.

Group and team formation should be a shared endeavor. Sometimes you're the one who makes the decision, and sometimes you allow a degree of student choice-but most often in a shared process.

An example of this would be allowing students their choice of roles, then a teacher uses that choice to form groups based on those roles. Another example might be allowing them to submit the name of a partner whom they want to work with and then forming the final group by putting two pairs together. They might also choose the type of final product they would like to create and then form groups based on that choice.

These choices I made about what to start-stop-continue doing in regard to group and team work became much more than just kids working in groups, but an opportunity to increase a key college- and career-readiness skill that would benefit them for the rest of their lives.

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An Effective Strategy for Successful Group Work

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Effective group work strategies can improve learning experiences when teachers balance their guidance with student choice.

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I am a big believer that if there is a problem in my classroom, there is a book in my library that addresses it. I even have some of my books separated by issues that come up often such as: sharing, respecting personal space, waiting your turn and, even, teamwork. The books listed here are all mostly new to me, and I look forward to getting some copies in my classroom soon. To this list I would like to add Swimmy by Leo Lionni. It's a modern classic where a fish survives a tragedy only to use his experiences to encourage his new family to collaborate together against a predator. Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention is about a young inventor who learns how to listen to her friend in order to overcome a problem together.

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It's not easy getting a class of young learners to work together, but these 12 picture books may guide them in the right direction.

A classroom is made up of unique individuals who come together to form a one-of-a-kind community of learners. The road map to creating a collaborative community of students is also unique, but I found that the direction often revealed itself during the first weeks of school. Every year as a teacher I asked myself two questions: "What do my students need from me?" and "What do my students need from each other?"

One particular school year, a group of self-assured and independent kindergarten students marched through my classroom door on the first day of school. They were energized and laser-focused learners, and it looked as if it was going to be a breeze, considering all these models of leadership at the helm. It took only a few days to notice there might be a blip on the radar-numerous times each day, I heard my name wailing like a siren from the block area or dramatic play.

After one particularly busy day of responding to frantic pleas during independent choice time, I shared the situation with my teacher friend. She replied, "So you have a bunch of architects, but no one wants to build?" That was it. This classroom full of leaders was overly committed to their own ideas and struggled to negotiate and accommodate the ideas, needs, and wants of their peers; my class was frustrated and stuck.

It became clear that for these children to transition from a group of me-focused students to a solid "we," I needed to intentionally plan and emphasize additional collaborative activities for the year. I proceeded immediately to prioritize visuals, activities, and words that would encourage group projects to help these students see each other as equal partners in the classroom. All of these components wound up benefiting each class afterward.

Establishing centers and areas that encouraged shared space and materials (e.g., construction sets, writing supplies, dramatic play prop boxes, and makerspace materials)

Documenting scenes of classroom collaboration with candid classroom photos, demonstrating to the students that their collaborative work had value in the classroom

Facilitating individual, small group, and large group discussions about collaboration

There were many guiding factors in shifting my classroom to a collaborative model, but these were three essential activities:

One strategy for facilitating classroom discussions and encouraging children toward a collaborative mindset is to read picture books featuring characters (ideally children) who collaborate on a project. Numerous picture books address the needs, interests, and antics of the individual child, but in a school setting, it's imperative that educators share stories that enable children to begin to identify what peer collaboration looks and sounds like.

The picture books that follow depict small groups of children or characters who demonstrate interdependence though navigating a project with a small group or partner. Each book features characters who demonstrate persistence and resilience as they become partners in projects necessitating give-and-take. All of the books offer the potential for rich STEAM and SEL discussions in the context of a literacy activity.

12 Picture Books That Foster Collaboration

Going Places, by Paul A. Reynolds and Peter H. Reynolds, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Classmates and neighbors Rafael and Maya are participating in the "Going Places" competition. They decide to combine their go-kart kits and their imaginations to soar above the competition. (Preschool-grade 3)

Lemonade for Sale and Treasure Map, both by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. These two stories in Stuart J. Murphy's MathStart series feature the Elm Street Kids. Friends and neighbors work together to accomplish their group goals. (Grades 1-4)

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Picture Books That Inspire Collaboration in Early Childhood Classrooms

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It's not easy getting a class of young learners to work together, but these 12 picture books may guide them in the right direction.

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Effective Collaboration Deserves a Better Problem

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Effective Collaboration Deserves a Better Problem

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Collaboration is one of those buzzy keywords tossed around everywhere... from corporate boardrooms to kindergarten classrooms.

But we all know the reality. Too often, actual collaboration ends up as a group struggling to work together— and mostly failing.

Why is this?

Most groups lack a deeper rubric for purpose-driven, highly communicative, deeply interdependent collective action.

~

In this report, The Buck Institute for Education (with the National Center for Improvement of Educational Assessment) offers such a rubric --

a rubric rooted in fundamental issues that need to be attended to before the collaboration even starts.

Collaboration is doomed from the outset when there is a failure to properly design the problem-to-be-solved before the action begins.

Too often collaborative projects lack a problem that is:

1. Complex Enough

The group’s mission needs to be sufficiently COMPLEX—a juicy, meaningful challenge that inspires diverse perspectives, discussion, and negotiation.

2. Sufficiently Open-ended

The complexity of the problem must be OPEN-ENDED allowing for multiple, defensible solutions and novel situations for the group to tackle.

3. Actually Authentic

The problem also needs to be AUTHENTIC—a real issue whose solution has felt consequences, and will impact something genuinely important to the group.

~

After laying this foundation, the Buck Institute’s rubric goes on to introduce tools and techniques to foster communication and interdependence. All are important.

But...

The key insight for me is that

effective collaboration

starts BEFORE the beginning:

by carefully designing the group’s mission -

ensuring their shared problem is

complex,

open-ended,

and authentic.

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2021 Research-Based Collaboration Rubrics

We're pleased to share these research-based Collaboration rubrics created in collaboration with the National Center for Improvement of Educational Assessment (Center for Assessment), based on a comprehensive review of the literature about Collaboration.

These research-based rubrics are designed to provide useful, formative information that teachers can use to guide instruction and provide feedback to students on their overall performance. Students can also use the rubrics to reflect on their own learning.

Looking for older versions of PBLWorks/BIE Collaboration Rubrics? You can find on this page in the resources section!

Log in to get this resource...

To view or download this resource, log in here.

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2021 Research-Based Collaboration Rubrics We're pleased to share these research-based Collaboration rubrics created in collaboration with the

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I actually started reading another article that referenced Tuckman's Stages of Group Development and had to find out what it was about. I have been doing group work for many years and never knew that someone had studied and written about group dynamics, breaking them into stages of development, and given them really catchy names like forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. What is useful about Tuckman's stages is the advice given to move a group to the next stage. "Relinquish the comfort zone of non threatening topics and risk the possibility of conflict," to move from forming to storming. All of the advice and descriptions are useful. Read this article to give context to your experiences with orchestrating group dynamics!

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This article reminded me of using an online game-based learning tool called Kahoot! Initially, I was reluctant to use it in the class I taught as a substitute teacher during my time at university. However, I realized that it was actually effective in maintaining students’ concentration and motivation. Moreover, tools like this can also help strengthen collaboration among children.

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Fostering Collaboration Among Young Students Using Digital Tools

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With plenty of scaffolding, lower elementary students can successfully work together online.

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協力や協働には、一人では成し遂げられないことが可能になったり、成果物に創造性や豊かさが加わったりと、多くの良い面があることは重々理解している。でも、"Collaboration is inherently messy" という言葉のとおり、実際にはごちゃごちゃしているし、面倒だし、いらいらするし、精神的に疲れることも少なくない。そんなときにTuckmanのモデルを知っていると、自分やグループの状態を少し距離をおいて見つめ直すことができて、今の状態に名前がつく安心感（病名がわかる感覚と似ている）や見通しが持てることで、気持ちがすこし軽くなるような気がする。

I fully understand that collaboration and cooperation have many advantages, such as enabling things that cannot be achieved alone and bringing creativity and richness to the outcome. But, just as the phrase "Collaboration is inherently messy" suggests, in reality it is often disorganised, frustrating, and mentally exhausting. In such moments, knowing about Tuckman’s model allows me to take a step back and reflect on my own or my group’s state. It gives me a sense of relief to be able to name the current stage (similar to the feeling of knowing a diagnosis), and having a sense of perspective makes things feel a little lighter.

Prompt: Translate this into English without changing the tone or intent or adding any information.
Translated by ChatGPT (GPT-4o), 2025-05-22

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After reading the article, I realized that it all comes down to building relationships and creating rapport not just with students but also with parents and teachers. Since in Collaboration and Cooperation we need to trust and respect each other, we first have to make sure that we all have a good working relationship outside of work.

Building a dream team and creating effective PLCs would need a leader who will be able to make everyone feel comfortable in sharing and accepting ideas.

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The leader of a professional learning community describes how she ensures that team members work together effectively.

ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo

Like many aspiring teachers, I thrived in my college education classes yet struggled to find my footing as a new teacher within a team. When I was appointed to lead my own team, my first priority was to cultivate an environment that made everyone feel that their contributions mattered.

As a leader, I began to understand that there are two essential characteristics of an effective professional learning community (PLC) that are difficult to master and not explicitly taught to aspiring teachers: fostering a culture of collaboration and managing the process of collective inquiry. Focusing on these two aspects of my PLC became paramount for me to run a truly effective team.

A Culture of Collaboration and Support

Authentic collaboration is essential for accomplishing common goals within a teaching team, and the first step is getting to know your team members as people.

The first meeting of the year should be a low-stakes, get-to-know-you event. The only objectives at this meeting are to get to know your team members and establish team norms for your PLC meetings. An off-campus location can make the meeting feel less formal and more comfortable. I have teammates fill out a personality test and bring it to the meeting-it's an easy conversation starter, and understanding each person's strengths, weaknesses, and work style helps set a tone of collaboration.

After the initial meeting, it's essential to continue to have low-stakes, nonwork time together as a team, whether it's lunch or an after-school outing. I tend to schedule these gatherings at the end of each grading cycle so that they have a celebratory feel. Spending nonwork time together builds upon the first meeting and fosters bonds that strengthen the team.

Once your team members feel comfortable with you and the procedures of the PLC, it's time to start giving them tasks that contribute to the effectiveness of the PLC meetings. I begin this process after the first grading cycle. Establishing shared accountability and support within a team prevents ambitious teachers from developing feelings of insignificance and animosity that can tear a team apart. It's a good idea to plan out the second unit with them, or demonstrate how to use data analysis to drive units and lessons. Give all team members ownership by enabling them to create lessons they're interested in.

The goal is not to push people into a task they aren't ready for but to offer opportunities to contribute and grow. When they take on a new task, it is the leader's duty to support them outside of the PLC as much as possible so they feel successful when delivering their creation to the team. That will help everyone-especially new teachers-keep growing.

Effective Collective Inquiry

The goal of collective inquiry within a PLC is to build shared knowledge by utilizing new methods of teaching and examining best practices. This allows both new and experienced teachers to contribute to the decision-making process and employ their own teaching style.

Once a collaborative culture has been established, teachers will feel more comfortable sharing ideas and practices with the team. The key is to actually utilize those ideas. Something I really struggled with as a teacher who was new to a team was that when I shared ideas, they were never used-and I was never told why, which added to my feelings of frustration and insignificance.

To realize the goals of collective inquiry, it's imperative to acknowledge and use team member ideas as much as possible. New teachers coming out of college have a fresh outlook on how to present ideas and teach skills, and they are huge assets to the team and can help build a bank of resources that add to the students' experience of lessons. Veteran teachers are more experienced with the content skills and best practices, such as questioning strategies or actively monitoring student work. They add management strategies to the activities presented by new teachers.

Playing on the strengths of both new and veteran teachers within a PLC builds the knowledge bank of the team and enables each teacher to have ownership in the lessons and curriculum.

Ultimately, getting to know my teammates as people, building their confidence and knowledge, and intentionally utilizing ideas from each member of the team has allowed me to create an effective PLC-my dream team. My new-to-the-profession teachers have created an exemplary lesson bank that is categorized by content skill, as well as seating charts that organize students by their mastery of specific skills. My more experienced teachers are pulling proven, effective strategies from other curricula and altering them to fit our students and subject.

Creating an effective PLC team is challenging, especially since teachers are generally not explicitly taught how to do it. Focusing on creating an authentic culture of collaboration and intentionally fostering collective inquiry within PLC are vital parts of creating your dream team.

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Collaboration and Collective Inquiry in a PLC

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The leader of a professional learning community describes how she ensures that team members work together effectively. ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo Like many aspiring teachers, I thrived in my college education classes yet struggled to find my footing as a new teacher within a team.

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I enjoyed reading Kristin's article on how she helped her Kindergarten class learn to collaborate even when there were so many leaders present. Particularly, I enjoyed the 3 strategies she recommended to help children learn the basics of sharing and collaboration. "Documenting scenes of classroom collaboration with candid classroom photos..." is something I would really like to try in my classroom. This offers visual reinforcement of the hard work children put in when they work together to solve a problem. The books she recommended are also quite good!

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It's not easy getting a class of young learners to work together, but these 12 picture books may guide them in the right direction.

A classroom is made up of unique individuals who come together to form a one-of-a-kind community of learners. The road map to creating a collaborative community of students is also unique, but I found that the direction often revealed itself during the first weeks of school. Every year as a teacher I asked myself two questions: "What do my students need from me?" and "What do my students need from each other?"

One particular school year, a group of self-assured and independent kindergarten students marched through my classroom door on the first day of school. They were energized and laser-focused learners, and it looked as if it was going to be a breeze, considering all these models of leadership at the helm. It took only a few days to notice there might be a blip on the radar-numerous times each day, I heard my name wailing like a siren from the block area or dramatic play.

After one particularly busy day of responding to frantic pleas during independent choice time, I shared the situation with my teacher friend. She replied, "So you have a bunch of architects, but no one wants to build?" That was it. This classroom full of leaders was overly committed to their own ideas and struggled to negotiate and accommodate the ideas, needs, and wants of their peers; my class was frustrated and stuck.

It became clear that for these children to transition from a group of me-focused students to a solid "we," I needed to intentionally plan and emphasize additional collaborative activities for the year. I proceeded immediately to prioritize visuals, activities, and words that would encourage group projects to help these students see each other as equal partners in the classroom. All of these components wound up benefiting each class afterward.

Establishing centers and areas that encouraged shared space and materials (e.g., construction sets, writing supplies, dramatic play prop boxes, and makerspace materials)

Documenting scenes of classroom collaboration with candid classroom photos, demonstrating to the students that their collaborative work had value in the classroom

Facilitating individual, small group, and large group discussions about collaboration

There were many guiding factors in shifting my classroom to a collaborative model, but these were three essential activities:

One strategy for facilitating classroom discussions and encouraging children toward a collaborative mindset is to read picture books featuring characters (ideally children) who collaborate on a project. Numerous picture books address the needs, interests, and antics of the individual child, but in a school setting, it's imperative that educators share stories that enable children to begin to identify what peer collaboration looks and sounds like.

The picture books that follow depict small groups of children or characters who demonstrate interdependence though navigating a project with a small group or partner. Each book features characters who demonstrate persistence and resilience as they become partners in projects necessitating give-and-take. All of the books offer the potential for rich STEAM and SEL discussions in the context of a literacy activity.

12 Picture Books That Foster Collaboration

Going Places, by Paul A. Reynolds and Peter H. Reynolds, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Classmates and neighbors Rafael and Maya are participating in the "Going Places" competition. They decide to combine their go-kart kits and their imaginations to soar above the competition. (Preschool-grade 3)

Lemonade for Sale and Treasure Map, both by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. These two stories in Stuart J. Murphy's MathStart series feature the Elm Street Kids. Friends and neighbors work together to accomplish their group goals. (Grades 1-4)

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Picture Books That Inspire Collaboration in Early Childhood Classrooms

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It's not easy getting a class of young learners to work together, but these 12 picture books may guide them in the right direction.

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Leveraging 4 dimensions of better conflict conversations

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Leveraging 4 dimensions of better conflict conversations

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This article gives the ideas of avoiding conflict by being clear and specific about the goals and commitments. I thought it resembles with the thought of differentiation from Tomlinson that students can advance their learnings, once they know what they need to learn specifically and clearly. Reading this article allows me to think that the key for collaboration is to clarify the problem and try to share the conception specifically. I like to implement it during the discussion and hope to deepen understanding of collaboration.

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No matter what conflict you face, there will always be four dimensions that will make it productive. Today, we share these four dimensions and a few of our G.O.A.T. Powerful Phrases from our new book, Powerful Phrases for Dealing With Workplace Conflict: What to Say Next to De-Stress the Workday, Build Collaboration, and Calm Difficult Customers (Harper Collins).

4 dimensions of constructive conflict

1. Connection - Do we know one another as human beings?

2. Clarity - Do we have a shared understanding of success?

3. Curiosity - Are we genuinely interested in other perspectives and what's possible?

4. Commitment - Do we have a clear agreement?

1. Connection: Do we know one another as human beings?

Workplace conflict always involves people - and every conflict gets easier the more you know one another, understand one another's perspectives and see one another as human beings.

Imagine that you're in a clash with a coworker named Joe. You've come together to talk about it. Joe opens the conversation with a Powerful Phrase: "I really care about you and this project, and I'm confident we can find a solution we can all work with."

Well, if Joe's basically a good guy, who got you out of a bind last year when your little boy was sick . . . and, oh yeah, just last week he told your boss you're a rock star at pivot tables (that sure was nice of him), that's a solid way for Joe to start the conversation.

You might think, "Well, I'm frustrated but come to think of it, Joe always seems fair. Let me listen to what he has to say. He's right. I bet we can work this out."

Now imagine the same conflict different Joe.

This Joe recently threw you under the bus and took credit for your work. Oh yeah, and last week, he laughed at your idea during the staff meeting in front of your boss and all the people.

Now, if Joe starts the conversation the same way, by saying, "I really care about you and this project . . ." you might think, "Nice try, Joe, but that's a hard stop. I don't trust you."

That's the power of connection. The more connection you can build before you need it, the easier conflict becomes. And yeah, for many people, connection feels challenging right now because of lingering pandemic hangover, hybrid or remote work and cross-time zone teams.

As you seed the ground for easier collaboration, influence and trust, one of the best things you can do is get to know the people you work with as people, not just their function. Treat them with dignity and be trustworthy. It takes extra time, but you'll earn it back many times over when you work through conflict. If you've not invested in the relationship, or the other person doesn't trust your intentions, even the most carefully chosen words will fall flat.

And speaking of connection - there's one more person to connect with: you. Constructive conflict requires you to know your values, your goals, what you need and what you want.

2. Clarity: Do we have a shared understanding of success?

Think about any significant conflict you have now or had in the past. We're willing to bet that the source of that conflict includes an expectation violation. You thought they'd clean up their coffee mugs after the meeting. They thought the magic coffee mug fairy would take care of it. Everyone carries around expectations of one another. And sometimes, you don't even know you have an expectation until someone doesn't live up to it. So, the second dimension of constructive conflict is to get on the same page: create clarity about outcomes and expectations.

One of the common mistakes we see people make in workplace conflict is that they don't clearly understand what success looks like. So, you get conversations like this:

Jack: "I don't like this." Jill: "Okay, what would you like to see happen?"
Jack: "I don't know. I'm not sure what I want."

Can you feel the frustration? That's a conversation that can't go anywhere. (And before you feel bad when you show up like Jack . . . listen, we do it too.)

When you get clear for yourself and help other people find their clarity, you can have a more productive conflict conversation.

3. Curiosity: Are we genuinely interested in other perspectives and what's possible?

One of the fastest ways to get to the root cause of a workplace conflict is to show up genuinely curious about the other person's perspective. Your sincere curiosity helps people feel seen and gives you a better understanding of what it will take to solve a problem.

This is often the hardest part of constructive conflict because you have your point of view for a reason. It's hard to be curious when you're furious. And yet . . . the cool thing about curiosity is that when you ask a good question, it automatically helps pull you out of that reactivity. It's hard to be angry and genuinely curious at the same time.

Now you might think, "Oh, I'm curious, all right. I want to know, 'What's wrong with them? How can they be so freakin' stupid?'"

Those are questions, of course, but they are extensions of your frustration and won't help you understand the other person's point of view.

And that's why we specify questions. Questions that increase understanding. That helps you build on another's ideas. Questions with answers that make you say, "Huh, you know, I never thought of it that way." And we'll give you plenty of these effective curiosity questions throughout the book.

4. Commitment: Do we have a clear agreement?

One of the most frustrating aspects of workplace conflict conversations is that it seems like they'll never end. As you connect, get curious, and build on one another's suggestions, your conversation needs to produce action, or nothing changes. And if nothing changes, it's worse than if you never had a conversation. Now you've wasted time, trust drips away, and people lose hope. Commitment is the answer and the key to moving you from words to action.

There are two keys to a useful commitment. The first is to get specific. You want specific actions with specific owners who have specific finish lines. The second key to an effective commitment is to schedule a time to review your agreement.

Let's look at an example.

Say you have a peer you rely on for data. Let's call him Don. And the two of you are in conflict because Don's not giving you the reports you need for your team members to do their jobs. You have a friendly conversation, and because Don's team is drowning in work, you agree your team will request the data only once a week.

That's good so far, but that's not a commitment. You still need specific actions, specific owners and specific finish lines, with a specific time to review your commitment. So, you build the following agreement: This Friday, you will explain the new process to your team. Your team members will get data requests to Don's team by 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Don will explain the new process to his team at their meeting tomorrow morning. Don's team will supply the requested data on Wednesdays by noon. You and Don will meet in two weeks on Monday at 4:30 p.m. to see how it's going.

The specificity makes it clear what everyone will do. You don't leave it up to good intentions. The follow-up meeting makes it more likely that you will both keep your commitments, and it creates time to deal with the inevitable challenges that will disrupt your new plan.

By fostering genuine connections, ensuring clarity of goals, maintaining an open curiosity about different viewpoints and securing clear commitments, you can transform potential conflicts into opportunities for growth and collaboration.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own. Take advantage of SmartBrief's FREE email newsletters on leadership and business transformation, among the company's more than 250 industry-focused newsletters.

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Leveraging 4 dimensions of better conflict conversations - SmartBrief

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Avoid conflict by being clear about goals and commitments, while fostering connection and curiosity, write Karin Hurt and David Dye.

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This video explains that cooperative and collaborative is simmiler, but not same, but this distinction the two has slightly different purposes.

Collaboration learning is also possible in the lower grades, but corporative learning is more effective because students also focuse on the basic knowledge. In older grades, collaboration learning is more suited to the use of knowledge to generate new ideas.

The difference between the two is not easy to understand, and I would like to deepen my understanding through practices.

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This short video clip introduces the differences between cooperation and collaboration, and why we need both for deeper work, higher motivation, and better quality.

Collaboration is to generate ideas. To generate new ideas, collaborators need to be vulnerable enough to scrap away stereotypes they have and to start from scratch with other collaborators. Without this interdependent process, there will be no mutual trust, no shared values, and no new ideas.

At the end of the video clip, it tells us why both are important. Because we now know the difference, we can confidently say these two ways of working together must be used accordingly to achieve the best of all that we have got!

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Cooperation vs Collaboration: When To Use Each Approach

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This article explains that giving clear feedback from the teacher is a good strategy for group learning. Feedback helps students understand their actions and the results. It is important for teachers to focus on positive actions, not negative comments. Group learning can be hard at first, so teachers should explain the expected behaviors before starting. During the activity, teachers should show feedback. When evaluating, it is important to share feedback with the whole class. Erina

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Teaching Students to Work in Groups

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A strategy for giving students explicit feedback on group interactions promotes participation and collaboration.

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Benefits of Service Learning for High School Students

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Benefits of Service Learning for High School Students

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This article demonstrates the effectiveness of service learning for high school students. Service learning requires students to go beyond volunteering by identifying community problems and developing action plans to address them. It also has an academic component, including writing assignments and reflection activities. The article also discusses volunteerism, introducing systems that recognize students for achieving various categories of volunteer service.

I hope that service learning and volunteerism will be more actively integrated into school activities, providing many high school students with opportunities to learn things they cannot acquire in the classroom.

-Masami

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Service learning and volunteering help high school students give back to their community and grow as individuals.

As the service learning coordinator for the Pomona Unified School District in California, my goal is to increase student volunteerism, particularly in secondary schools, and have as many students as possible participate in their communities, to be part of something greater than themselves. When students become more involved in the community through volunteering or service learning, it has a long-lasting impact on their development into adulthood.

While volunteering is beneficial to both the student and the organization, service learning challenges students to go beyond volunteering. In service learning, students work to identify a problem or need within their community and make a plan of action to help. For example, they might find an area of social justice they're interested in, conduct research on that topic, and collaborate and communicate with their peers in implementing change.

Service learning has an academic component in addition to volunteering. There's usually a writing piece, a call to action, and reflection on what students learned or accomplished. All these elements elevate this experience to be one that they will grow from as an individual as they benefit the community. Additionally, many universities recognize the value of service learning.

An article published by the International Center for Global Leadership highlights the benefits of service learning for university acceptance. Universities understand the impact of creating a service learning project, which enhances students' communication and leadership skills and helps them to be more successful making connections and building relationships within their community.

Acknowledging Volunteers

Volunteering is also a valuable experience. In 2003, President George W. Bush established the President's Volunteer Service Award to recognize volunteers. "Led by the AmeriCorps and managed in partnership with Points of Light," as it says on their site, "this program allows certifying organizations to recognize their most exceptional volunteers."

The award is given to any U.S. citizen or permanent resident across the country who performs a specified number of hours of service within a 12-month period. The student volunteers time to an organization that benefits the community. Although its impact might be similar to service learning, there's no academic component.

The levels of award, from bronze to gold, depend upon the student's age and hours they spend volunteering. After the student has accrued qualifying volunteering hours, the certifying organization can submit a request for an award and medal. Schools, organizations, and churches are examples of certifying organizations. It's best before pursuing this award to find a local certifying organization that can submit the application for the award when the service is completed. Here are some rules and eligibility requirements.

Another option for volunteering recognition is the Congressional Award, established in 1979 to "recognize initiative, service, and achievement in young people." To receive the Congressional Award, a student must exhibit and demonstrate their ability to set and reach goals in four categories.

The first category is voluntary public service. The second is a personal development goal determined by the student. An example might be to improve their organizational skills. They would set a plan of action and a method to verify that they met their goal. Third is a physical fitness goal-e.g., having an objective of building up stamina by establishing a hiking routine to increase their cardio. Lastly, there's an expedition or exploration goal, which encourages students to get to know their community, both local and distant, better-for example, planning an overnight trip for themselves and their family or friends to someplace new.

Students can earn awards from the bronze to the gold levels, based upon completing these four areas. Students can register directly online, and the award "accommodates young people with special needs or disabilities who are willing to take the challenge." This award isn't monitored by a teacher, but students do need a mentor and can request that a teacher take on this role to encourage and assist them as needed. The cost to register is a onetime fee of $25 unless the student can demonstrate financial need. The Congressional Award is great for getting students in the habit of setting and reaching goals. If the student reaches the gold level, they'll receive recognition from their congressional representative and be invited to local and national events to acknowledge their achievement.

I hope that more schools will start promoting service learning or volunteerism within their own school districts to build leaders for our communities as students move forward past high school.

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Benefits of Service Learning for High School Students

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Service learning and volunteering help high school students give back to their community and grow as individuals. As the service learning coordinator for the Pomona Unified School District in California, my goal is to increase student volunteerism, particularly in secondary schools, and have as many students as possible participate in their communities, to be part of something greater than themselves.

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"Collaboration vs. Cooperation: What's the Difference?"

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"Collaboration vs. Cooperation: What's the Difference?"

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he HuffPost article "Collaboration vs. Cooperation: What's the Difference?" discusses the nuances between collaboration and cooperation in an organizational context. The article clarifies that while the terms are often used interchangeably, they have distinct differences. Reading the article and other background readings on this topic, I believe that fostering a culture of collaboration is crucial for achieving truly impactful outcomes.

Cooperation is described as a transactional approach where individuals work alongside each other to achieve their individual goals without a strong emphasis on a shared vision or purpose. While cooperation could be adequate for achieving fundamental duties or personal objectives, collaboration goes beyond simple coordination. It requires team members to be more actively involved, engaged, and committed to a common goal. Collaboration stimulates the sharing of ideas, supports a variety of viewpoints, and enables the co-creation of original solutions.

In my experience as a teacher, I have seen that encouraging student participation improves their critical thinking abilities, promotes teamwork, and fosters a sense of ownership in their learning process. Students get an understanding of the significance of teamwork and the advantages of working toward a common objective by fostering an environment where collaboration is valued.

Collaboration ultimately helps teams to reach their full potential by utilizing the intelligence and creativity of all of its members. We can promote a culture of cooperation that goes beyond individual desires and produce more significant and long-lasting results by embracing collaboration.

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Collaboration and Collective Inquiry in a PLC

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Collaboration and Collective Inquiry in a PLC

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This article by Alexa Adams explores the benefits and strategies of fostering collaboration and collective inquiry within a Professional Learning Community (PLC).

Adams emphasizes the importance of creating a culture of trust and shared responsibility within the PLC, where educators can engage in open dialogue, share ideas, and collectively problem-solve.

It discusses the role of collective inquiry, which involves teachers collaboratively examining student data, analyzing instructional practices, and making informed decisions to improve teaching and learning. Collaboration and collective inquiry in a PLC can enhance professional growth, instructional effectiveness, and student achievement.

I am a member of the Japanese Teacher's in Australia Facebook group and although it's not as formal as the PLC mentioned in this article, it's still a great community to be a part of. It has a great mix of personal/professional content and the group definitely feels like a safe space to ask for advice or seek help with problems. Most schools in Australia only have one or two language teachers, so groups like these play a crucial role.

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A Strategy for Effective Student Collaboration

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A Strategy for Effective Student Collaboration

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I chose this article because I have recently been more interested in trying to get students to collaborate together. During my first year of teaching, group work has not been the most successful because I had a little idea how to properly set them up to be successful. A valuable take away from the article is the teacher should try their best to not solve the group's problems for them, even when the teacher knows how to. It can be tempting sometimes, especially when a teacher and the group are all becoming frustrated with the lack of progress within the group. With elementary school children, this frustration becomes agitation, which finally manifests in behaviours that distract other groups. In my own class, I think I will start group work small with students working in pairs instead of students working in groups of more than two. The article then says that teachers should take the role of a mediator instead of a problem solver. As a mediator, teachers have to be ready to patiently listen to students' concerns and Guide each member to patiently resolve the kinks within the dynamics of the group and identify productive ways to improve their group work. This of course is much easier said than done, but I think it gives me good pointers on the better way of how to handle student dynamics in cases when group work has not turned out so well. The article is correct in assuming that it is tempting for teachers to come in and save the day for students. But in the end, we are there to help them learn, not solve the problems for them.

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How to improve collaboration with teachers

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How to improve collaboration with teachers

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The article talks about how the teacher team at a school can collaborate well together in order to create an environment with a cohesive learning goal. Some of the takeaways that I remember the most is having every single teacher understand their role and what their plan is to successfully implement the role. Another thing that sticks out for me is having an agreement/protocols for every day things so that the expectations for etiquette at work becomes clear and everybody agrees on what to do in certain situations. Another idea from the article is the possible need of a process observer. The processor observer reminds me of a person who reflects on how the agreed norms of the group are observed to play out during meetings. At the end of the meeting, the process observer guides to reflection on what the members can do in future meetings to continuously improve. I actually like this idea a lot more than the suggestion of self reflection. Often times in the teachers busy schedule, we simply lack the mental awareness to continuously reflect on ourselves even though we ask our students to do this every single day. Having a formal role of a process observer keeps everyone reasonably accountable.

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Collaborative Learning Leads to a Deeper Understanding

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Collaborative Learning Leads to a Deeper Understanding

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This video explains how collaborative learning works at The College Preparatory School in Oakland, California. Some of the collaborative strategies used at this school include:

- Math students start class by going over homework answers in groups. If all group members struggled with a certain problem, the teacher will go over it with the while class.

- Homework problems are more straightforward, classwork problems are "meatier" and require collaboration to solve.

- Students collaborate both in the classroom and outside for hands-on problems. (Someone needs to hold a rope to measure, someone needs to trace with chalk etc.)

- Before beginning group discussions, students write a list of values they need to have during this discussion (respect, listening, etc.). Students are arranged in a way where they can all see each other and make eye contact.

- Teachers tell students that it's all right to share ideas that aren't fully formed yet. They also help students let out anxiety by taking two minutes to have a "reflective" or meditative moment.

- Students have roles that they need to fill in group work. After group discussions, the teacher asks, "How did you do?" to prompt reflection on how the discussion went.

What struck me about this video was the different routines that different subjects applied to collaborative learning. The English class shown was more based in discussion while the math class was more based in problem-solving. As an English teacher, I wonder how problem-solving could be applied to language classes?

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Collaborative Teaching and Learning Part 1

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Collaborative Teaching and Learning Part 1

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In this video, Dr. Julia Atkin explains how parents and teachers can know if students are learning well: if students can tell you or want to tell you what they are learning, then they are learning well. An example Dr. Atkin uses to explain this is when parents ask their kids, "What did you learn in school today?" If students say, "Nothing," then they aren't learning well. But if students can explain what they are learning and also start applying it to their own lives, then you know that they are learning what they need to.

Dr. Atkin mentioned that reflection is an important part of students learning well, but I wonder how this relates to collaboration. Perhaps reflecting on actions relates to approaches to learning such as self-management skills, which is essential for collaboration. I'm going to watch the next video in Dr. Atkins' series to see if she addresses this.

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Wakelet - Save, organize and share content

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Save, organize and share content from across the web with Wakelet. Save articles, videos, images, Tweets and more, organize them into stunning collections, and revisit them anywhere, anytime.