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The three people I chose to interview for this assignment were Mrs. H., a special education teacher, Ms. A, an English Language Arts Instructional Coach, and Ms. G, a 3rd grade general education teacher. I chose these three people to interview because they have the expertise and experience as they have been in the education field for a number of years. These are people that I look up to and am able to seek advice when needed because of their education backgrounds.

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All three educators agreed that collaboration is simply working together. Mrs. H stated that it is "working with other teachers to come up with new ways to teach and meet the needs of the students." Some of the characteristics of collaboration they mentioned are teamwork, flexibility, and openness.
Ms. A, Mrs. H and Ms. G, as educators, are all very comfortable with collaboration and collaborate with colleagues on a daily basis.  They felt as if it comes along with the job.
Professional Development would help to better prepare ways to collaborate with colleagues by providing more resources. In regards to preparation, Mrs. H who graduated in 1997 said that none of her college courses prepared her for collaboration. Ms. A and Ms. G felt as though their college courses successfully prepared them for collaboration.

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Ms. A and Mrs. H have taught in a co-teaching classroom before. The definition of co-teaching was just about the same all the way around. Their combined definition is that co-teaching is planning and working together to ensure all students are included. Ms. G went even further as to say, "A general education teaching working along with a special education teacher to meet the needs of all students."
Characteristics needed for a co-teaching classroom include respect, positive attitude, openness and flexibility.
Although only two have co-taught, Ms. G saiid she would be very comfortable with and prepared to co-teach and is hoping for that to happen this school year.  Continuing Professional Development on co-teaching methods and strategies would be beneficial as education is always changing as Ms. A mentioned in the interview.
Mrs. H and Ms. G felt as though none of their college courses have prepared them for co-teaching. Ms. G said she had not even really heard of co-teaching until she started working at our school.  Ms. A has a Masters in Education Leadership and felt as though she was very prepared for co-teaching.  She had presented a lesson on co-teaching for the faculty of our school last summer.

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I noticed that there was a small difference in the definition of consultation. Ms. A, an ELA instructional coach, defined consultation as the opposite of both co-teaching and collaboration and said it was one-way. Both the special education and general education teacher defined it as reflecting on teaching practices and meeting with a team to form a plan for a child. I find this interesting. As an instructional coach, Ms. A's main job is to help the faculty in my school through observation and feedback. She viewed consultation as meeting with a teacher to discuss strengths and weaknesses. Mrs. H., the special education teacher, looked at it as ways consult together with a team to make plans for student's needs. Ms. G., viewed it as looking back at observations from administration and being able to reflect on ways to improve.
As educators, all three agreed that they would be more than likely to participate in consultation. Mrs. H meets with a child study team once a week, whereas Ms. A observes teachers on a daily basis and Ms. G receives consultation on a weekly basis as she is observed by her coaches. Ms. A felt as though a concrete form would be beneficial in helping to prepare her with consulting with the observations of teachers.

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All three educations believed that there are many benefits to collaborating and it is very important in education.  Some of these benefits are reducing the work load, maximizing instruction, sharing ideas and more resources.  However, the biggest barrier to collaborating is the lack of time to do so. All three agreed that prep time sometimes turn into meetings with administration and prevents a team from working together to plan and collaborate in a school setting.

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As Ms. G stated that consultation is a way for her to reflect on her teaching practices the benefits of consultation are being able to receive feedback, get to see your teaching from another person's prespective and using trial and error. All agreed this is to make you a better teacher.
Some barriers to consultation can be the way in which it is presented. Ms. A who writes up observations mentioned that sometimes feedback can be so direct that it can lead to misunderstandings.  Ms. G felt that if one is not open to the feedback they are receiving, it is pointless. Mrs. H felt that if there are different views on the teaching style, there must be room for adjustment. One cannot be close minded.

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The many benefits of co-teaching are similar to collaboration.  Co-teaching allows for  more brainstorming among the two teachers and being able to feed off of each other.  The teachers share ideas and are able to use more strategies in the classroom. Ms. A believed that co-teaching and collaboration work hand in hand.  She stated, "You cannot have co-teaching if you are not collaborating."
Unfortunately, they all did agree there can be barriers with co-teaching if the two co-teaching have very different teaching styles. Some teachers can be very strict and not want to change their style. The teachers must be flexible with each other and open to new ideas and change.