Teacher’s View on Collaborative Teaching Technique

Topic: Teacher’s View on Collaborative Teaching Technique

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Teaching at times just like in law enforcement has two sides. Detectives are often torn between good-cop or bad-cop method of interrogation. Teachers are often caught with the same predicament where they are torn between adopting collaborative or non-collaborative teaching techniques ("pros and cons of teaching schools," 2011). This often leads to differences in teaching habits, varying from one teacher to another. Some teachers find the role of collaborative teaching as sometimes either important or extensive and at other times helpful than other methods. ("Positive Teaching, Positive Learning," 1999). This often results from teachers’ perception of the method or their personality traits. The opinions indicate the positive side of collaborative teaching or the negative side. These opinions are what render some teachers’ perception important, extensive and helpful than others as it will be discussed below.

        Collaborative teaching is sometimes known as the social teaching technique. This is a system of teaching where the students are highly engaged in the learning process. The method seeks to help students gain more by employing teachers and students to help learn from each other. It is an integrated approach where the burden of teaching is relegated to all parties in the learning environment. Students who learn fast get the chance to teach other students in an interactive way, the teacher being the reference to the study ("Figure 4.16 Teaching practices and students' mathematics self-concept, by students' level of familiarity with mathematics,").  In the event much more is learnt and the students’ comprehension is increased. This mode of learning is highly motivating. ("Collaborative Teaching in Elementary Schools: Making the Co-Teaching Marriage Work!," 2010)

Cooperative approach can assist learners develop relevant oral communication skills. This implies that education achieves its true purpose whereby education is not only meant for acquisition of knowledge, but also its meant to create an all round student who can use the knowledge acquired to promote their welfare. ("Positive Teaching, Positive Learning," 1999). Cooperative learning methodology encourages students to ask questions and in so doing learn through reason rather than dictation. In life, this empowers and promotes the students adoption of critical thinking and decision making skills.

It is said that knowledge is what is left after what is learnt is long forgotten. Teacher based teaching techniques teaches a few skills compared to what is learnt in an open environment. Interpersonal skills which are core in life’s endeavors are more highly enhanced in a collaborative approach than when a teacher does all the work. ("I Like Some Teachers More Than Others,") The teacher may teach the content of the syllabus, but this does little to develop a student’s character.

The collaborative approach is encouraged in many institutions for its endless benefits. This goes a long way to help neutralize classes or groups amongst students and in so doing, interaction is then made easy (Baloğlu, 2003). Positive interdependence is also achieved when learners learn how to work as a team and appreciate that true success is achieved when everyone involved succeeds (Lever & Smith, 2013).