Culture of Collaboration

“One aspect of the joy of learning is addressing this concept of humility. As human beings, we are limited, frail and fallible. Frequently we attempt to cover this up, to hide what we truly are behind the smoke and mirrors of our expertise and accomplishments. True human growth, though, only occurs when we uncover our true nature and deal with it. As an individual confronts an area of lack, there is a transformation that can occur, whereby something about us becomes strengthened.”

— Educational Renaissance, June 16, 2020

Upon first reading, perhaps you thought that it was addressing the attitude which should be held by students. However, you are encouraged to read the quote a second time with the perspective of a teacher in mind. This quote highlights one of the goals we have at North Star Classical Christian School, which is to establish a culture of collaboration between teachers.

In addition to teaching evaluations and classroom visits by an administrator, teachers at North Star are encouraged to visit colleagues and offer “warm” and “cool” feedback. The visit can be to a teacher in the same field of study as the visiting teacher, or, it can be in a totally different field of study. For example, in recent weeks, a Latin teacher and a music teacher both visited math classes. Opening our classrooms up, allowing ourselves to be observed, and being receptive to warm and cool feedback, takes a lot of humility, but it helps us all grow in the intellectual virtues of humility and broad thinking.

Going a step further, throughout the year, faculty members at North Star have taken this practice of collaboration on the road and visited several mentoring classical Christian schools in the area that have opened their doors to us. Most recently, a team of five teachers and a board member attended an Auxilium in Maryland, visiting a well-established classical Christian school on the cusp of completing its 29th year of operation. These are all opportunities, for us, as teachers, to learn from others, grow in the art of teaching and leading our students well, and ask the question, “Is there a different way or better way to do this?”

Our hope is that all of these practices would establish a culture of collaboration at North Star. We, teachers, have a lot to learn, and much to offer one another as we all grow in our vocation. If this is established as the culture at North Star, this disposition will inevitably trickle down to the varying ranks of our students. Perhaps this may offer a guard from all of us thinking that we are ever above learning and growing more in our area or field of study.