Videotape Reflection
Name
Institution
Introduction
Collaboration and teamwork have proved to be the best way forward that can help different individuals to solve some the social, economic, academic and political problems among others. In special education, collaboration so far has stood out to be the best way of curbing some of the evident problems facing students in all the levels of education, in school life. This paper is a reflective essay of the first step that I took by inviting Ms.
Shorts, Chris parents, to the school, so that we can hold the first meeting towards assisting Chris. I am going to write the reflective essay of the events at the first meeting that took place between me and the Ms. Shorts aiming to improve on Chriss reading abilities.
Event of Selection
For this particular reflective essay, I have settled down for the event taking place at my office when I invited Ms. Shorts, Chriss mother. Chris is one of my students, for whom I am the class teacher, and I had discovered some reading disabilities in him and therefore decided to form a collaborative teamwork to assist him.
In the formed collaborative teamwork, his mother is the one representing the family, and in the school, we have other members of the teaching staffs who are also members of this particular team.
The action of inviting Ms. Shorts was very relevant to the whole process since it helped me to get the experiences and the reasoning that the parents are having towards Chriss reading capabilities. This particular event was a pioneer for the other steps that are to take in the future by all the team members. For collaboration to be effective, all the paper work ideas have to be put into action, where each member is held accountable and responsible to the duties delegated to him/her by the group. However, in taking any action, all the members have to be informed and give out their individual ideas and reasoning concerning the next action to be adopted.
Description
The situation around this particular event that I have chosen came along as a result of the teaching staffs, me inclusive, noted some reading disabilities in Chris. I the class teacher, in consultation with the other teaching staffs, realized that it was high time we help the boy from his academic disabilities. The best action was to form a teamwork incorporating all the relevant members, who were ready to work together and share opinions, his family being inclusive. Therefore, the teaching staff concluded that I, the class teacher, should invite his mum so that we can share our opinions and later trace the best way forward.
In this particular event, Ms. Shorts, emerged as a parent who was ready to work with the other relevant members to help his son improve on his academic capabilities. I asked her if she has noted any abnormality when it comes to his sons academics, and openly she said that the boy never does his homework not unless some follow ups are made. She revealed that while at home, the boy like playing video games, watching TV, and he doesnt like doing his homework, therefore she has to come in to make Chris do homework.
She also revealed that, while reading at home, the boy gets frustrated and according to her, she thinks that the boy has not been getting enough instructions at school to help him read better. He proposed that the Chriss reading skills can be improved if the teachers improved and puts more effort in giving the boy more and relevant instruction when it comes to reading skills. I later introduced to her a strategy that we can use and can aid in the process of improving the boys reading skills.
I explained to her how the Response to Intervention Strategys work and how it can be applicable in the case of his son, towards providing a high-quality instruction/intervention matched to student needs. I asked for permission from her if we could take the boy through the test so as to identify the position where he is lying in the triangle of the RIS. She promised to talk to the boy and his father, and later give us me the feedback and take the next step.
Analysis
This particular event has demonstrated the aspects of exchanging ideas and views towards improving on the output of the product that is intended to come out of the collaboration partnership. When collaborating in teamwork, each and every member of the team is delegated some duties that he/she has to ensure that he/she delivers to the level of her best. . To be more precise and objective oriented, each member of the group has to meet the set goals for each set of job, despite delivering his/her level of best (Friend & Cook, 2009). As the class teacher, I had to play my role; invite Ms. Shorts to school and explained to her the my view and other teachers view concerning his cons academic reading skills.
During this particular moment, I realized that the parents had noticed the same problem with the boy while at home, and this proved that really there was a problem to be tackled. The responses from Ms. Shorts side were very relevant and this gave me the familys position concerning their sons academic disabilities. I made a relevant step by introducing the RIS to her and later asked her if she could allow us use this strategy in identifying Chriss exact position in the RIS triangle. Therefore, I had exercised one of the major fundamentals of collaboration; every member of the team must be responsible and offer his/her support to the level of his/her best (Friend & Cook, 2010).
By seeking for the permission from the boys mum, has shown that indeed I have respected the position held by other members of the collaborative partnership and involved the other in decision making. Inclusiveness and ideas seeking is a major important aspect in collaboration in teamwork since every member, feel appreciated and respected by the other members (Friend & Cook, 2009).
Appraisal
When one shows the reasons and importance of being accountable on a collaborative teamwork to the other members, then others are likely to follow the same suit. By installing this factor among the group members, then it means that it can be part of the group culture and an overall accepted idea. By the end of this meeting, Ms. Shorts appreciated the fact that the teaching staff had noted the problem with his son and became accountable towards helping him. She later realized that even the family has to be more accountable so that Chris can get a lot of support from all the relevant parties to the formed team.
This approach eventually leads to an overall improvement in the standards of the produced results from the teamwork and work engagements made between all the members of the team (Friend & Cook, 2009). She promised to communicate this at home, with Chriss father among other family members and this raise the level of accountability from the familys side. Therefore, all the loopholes and gaps form the familys side that can lead to the failure of the group to its objectivity will be taken care of.
Transformation
I learnt a lot from this particular action that I took by inviting the students mother, and would like to bring a lot of transformation to this action, in the future. In future, when the same issue is identified among one of the students, I will invite all the parents instead of one parent alone that is if all the parents are alive. This will help in getting the response from the parents, father and mother, since they may be having different interactions with their child as well as having different opinions and ideas.
This will help to create a poll of ideas from the familys side that will help us in tracing the best step and procedures towards achieving our set objectives, aims and goals. This will also help in saving time since I will be able to get immediate feedback from all the parents, and well be able to make an immediate decision. Each individuals idea will be circulated and shared among the other group members and this will create an ample time and duration of the collaborative partnership to conduct research and establish the best procedures.
Conclusion
Inclusiveness has been a major contributory factor when it comes to issues of collaboration and teamwork, as shown in the meeting that I conducted with Ms. Shorts. Members of a formed team have to embrace the aspect of inclusiveness towards their assigned roles and duties since this has proved to improve the quality of the groups services and output. The group leaders have to assist their group members in achieving this since some of them may not be aware of the overall significance and impacts it has on the groups performances and interactions.
References
Friend, M. & Cook. (2009). Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals. 6th Edition. Pearson.