Synergize

As Covey puts it, "two heads are better than one."  This is the main point of synergy.  When your team is working together and collaborating towards a goal, then the teams synergy takes over and lets the team create multiple ways to teach information.  Synergy is the end goal, it is not easy or quick to achieve.  It is a process where people share openly from their experiences, successes and failures.  By blending the sum of everyone's successes, and mindfully considering the failures, teachers can create amazing lesson plans that students will enjoy and learn from.

The members of Voltron force did not originally get along.  They would fight and bicker, even when engaged in battling agents of the evil Drule Empire, under command of Emperor Zeppo.  After many battles, and letting their individual egos jeopardize galactic safety and security, they realized that by working together, and sharing their individual experience, they would be unstoppable.  They formed synergy to accomplish their common goal, especially when their individual ships joined together to form the giant robot, Voltron.

I have had experience in schools where teachers worked together because they were mandated to.  I've also taught in schools where the teachers created synergy, and brought that synergy into the classroom.  We completed many interdisciplinary projects.  The student learning took off, evidenced by the increase in test scores.  It took time to create, but once it was created and maintained, it was a positive environment for both students and teachers.

I talked about how to work on creating synergy with my colleague.  We are taking a planning day in October to, well, plan, and go to the Mummy exhibit at the science center in Los Angeles.  I proposed that we plan some in the morning, go to the museum at 11, then spend the day in Los Angeles learning about each other.  Most of the teachers have worked together for years, I am the new guy.  We should get to know each other as individuals, and start conversations in a non-threatening environment.  I think that gaining this familiarity with each other will help us move towards collective synergy in our departmental meetings.

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