SPED - 18

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS WITH PROFFESIONALS AND

FAMILIES

COLLABORATION, can be defined as People who Work hand in hand

in one goal, Together with other teachers involved voluntarily to show their
skills and innate Leadership abilities to achieve the optimum Learning
outcome from students with or without disabilities within an inclusive setting.

Characteristics of Collaboration

Collaboration in schools must have these sets of characteristics to

in order for them to succeed. There are seven Characteristics of Collaboration
given below with their descriptions as follows.

 Voluntary Participation

First characteristic, one's own free will, no one will be forced not
even the principal can dictate to a teacher to join specific group. In a
collaboration it must be done with his or her on willingness to join a team in a
specific purpose, it is their personal choice to belong in such group and by this
the teacher will give its best.

 Parity in Relationships

Second characteristic and another important aspect in having a

good set of group or a collaboration team. This means that it is a state or
condition of being equal to each other, treating your colleagues equally, should
believe in each other’s inputs or ideas, and valuing each and everyone’s
participations or contribution in the team this is highly recognized and
practiced.

 Shared Goals

Educators need to collaborate for a specific purpose, they should be

able to have a clear understanding of what they are working on and other
necessary information they need to be in one page and so as be united in their
goal. They should focuse in their specific target to give the LSENs the proper
and accurate needed intervention.

 Shared Responsibility for Decision Making

 Sharing responsibility and work division are common in a
collaborative team, it is the core to finish the job. The members of the team
have their own responsibilities and specific work areas, all agrees by the plan
and the decisions made by the team. This is just in comparable to a common
family, that have members and each one knows the rules of their home and the
work they do. the father has to work, the mother has to take care of the family,
sister has to assist and brother will to do the errands, with shared
responsibility, this family will be productive and will definitely reach their
goal. They share and respect the decisions made by everyone to have a smooth
relationship. This applies also in the corporate world where as everyone has
their own job description that will focus on meeting their specific target goal.

 Shared accountability

Carrying on the shared responsibility will also lead to shared

accountability by each member of the collaboration team. The key here is that
nobody will get more credits and nobody will get the blame. The team will bear
the success or failure of the program that they are working on and if that
happens the teachers share the need to create another plan and use other
working strategies to achieve their common goal.

 Shared Resources

The sixth characteristic is Shared Resources between members of

the collaboration team should meet to plan and work on their strategies,
programs and share their resources. Material things are the first but sometimes
the only thing that gets into our mind when we say resources and this is the
common misconception, you can also give your time, space, expertise and
knowledge to share with your collaborative team, both material and non-
tangible things are recognized contribution and appreciated. This only shows
that your team is committed in achieving the target goal.

 Trust and Respect

The last characteristic. A team collaboration is emergent, since

they already share information, decision, accountability and even resources it
is proper to have built and value trust and respect among each other, even when
having criticism to one another it still done with respect and courtesy. When
the team becomes mature they start to share more freely and participate
actively they even rely on each other’s opinions, suggestion and values trust
and respect.

The new normal is testing all our patience, expertise and our
resources, but one thing is for sure learning will never stop and collaboration
with others is more sought after since we have limited access to different
resources and It’s very hard to travel because of our current situation.
Technology will now take place, we need to have access through variety of
information channels. In this time of pandemic we need to have new skills in
utilizing our tools to be able to get in touch with a lot of person safe in our
respective homes. Educators should also bear in mind that even at home we
need to have a time management system without it we will not reach our
maximum productivity level. Teacher uses different communication platform
like the Zoom and Google Meet to be able to talk, exchange ideas, thoughts and
recommendations with their colleges or co-teachers. Another aspect of
collaboration is dealing with the parents, we should always have a positive
Interaction and active communication between the parents. Set time and
communication platform where they can contact you to avoid misunderstanding
and help them when they need advice or guide on how to teach their children at
home. Let us continue to learn together and be more resourceful in each
situation we have. This pandemic is not going to be a hindrance for us to
achieve our targeted goals.

The role of the parents in the teaching and learning process in this new
normal?

The parents involvement always mattered, even before this

pandemic started however cooperation and support coming from parents will be
very important as the entire basic education system braces for the so-called
“new normal.” As a parent myself, I can say that our role in this new norm is
very huge and relevant especially on an online platform. We should be open to
suggestions, trainings and seminars conducted by the DepEd to be fully aware
and equipped on what is going to happen and how to properly teach our
children is an entirely significant but different matter.

Online class, blended learning and modular are the most popular
mode of learning now a days, As a mother it is a burden to think that you need
to work to get by and focus on your child in their studies, right? but we love
our children the most and we want the best for them so we will do our part as
their first source of information by giving our most precious- time, support,
extra guidance in their work specially when they are having hard time in a
specific area. We should remind ourselves that it is our children that will
learn, by that I think every parent will be more than motivated and excited to
help their kids at home with their school works. It is also time for us to be
more hands on to our young ones, to know first-hand their weaknesses and
strengths it is also another way for us to know more about our kids.

Teachers, parents and students in this new era should have a change
of mental models and do paradigm-shift. We as parents should accept the
changes and understand that education has to continue for it is our right and
when we accept the fact and face the challenges head on and continue to
support education we can reach quality education, every parent should care
because it is really possible to have excellent education if we put our hands
together and I truly believe that nothing beasts proper information and of
course collaboration.