New York State Teacher Summer Institute
Understanding the Collaborative Process Workshop
In August 2007, Adolescent Literacy staff and United Federation of Teachers—Teacher Center (UFTTC) staff presented a workshop entitled Understanding the Collaborative Process at the New York State Teacher Center Summer Institute in Syracuse, New York. The workshop presented the collaboration between two organizations, the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) and UFTTC, and its impact on three audiences: administration, teachers, and coaches.
NYCC and UFTTC staff discussed how they worked together to expand knowledge about research-based literacy practices that improve adolescent student achievement. The participants reviewed the strategies for targeting administration, teachers, and coaches, the method of delivery, and the expected outcomes of the collaborative initiative. At the same time, participants gained a greater understanding of resources to use when addressing literacy needs in their respective districts, including Reading Next, Writing Next, and resources on the Center on Instruction (COI) website. At the conclusion of the event, the participants were presented with a graphic organizer entitled How to Build a Collaborative Community Around Content.
It outlined these steps:
- Identifying an instructional initiative that your center can develop
- Identifying key people and/or teams that must be included to achieve success
- Determining how to establish rapport and trust among administrators, teachers, and coaches
- Determining the method of delivery for each group
- Creating an implementation timeline for reaching their goals
Participant goals included:
- Understanding the importance of establishing collaboration among stakeholders.
- Examining the Reading Next recommendations.
- Exploring differentiated strategies for implementing recommendations made in Reading Next.
- Thinking about how to use the collaborative process to launch an educational initiative.
This workshop is part of an on-going partnership between NYCC and the UFTTC in New York City.