Possibilities unfold when we work closely with colleges. This point was driven home by editors Gail Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe in their 2014 CCCC Exemplar Award acceptance speech (reprinted in the September College Composition and Communication):
One of the things Gail and I are proudest of—in receiving this award—is the way in which it foregrounds the practice of collaboration. In the early 1980s, we worked together because we wanted to accomplish certain things in and for the profession: opening a broader range of publication spaces to a wider range of academic voices; getting the field to think in creative and productive ways about the challenges posed by computers; exploring new approaches and environments for composing and circulating communications that escape the gravity of the printed word. We couldn’t accomplish these goals individually—there were times when one of us had access to scarce resources and the other did not, when one of us had the opportunity to write and the other did not, when one of us had the expertise needed for composing a certain kind of text or mastering a new technology and the other did not. We learned, in short, that collaboration was less a choice for us than a necessity, and we learned, like so many of you, that we were much better as a team than we were as individuals, that we could accomplish so much more cooperatively than we could alone. I suppose that’s true of almost everyone in this profession, isn’t it?
For more on the value of collaboration, be sure to read:
Well-Designed Conversations –how to design conversations that build collaborative relationships.
The Power of Teacher Collaboration – three more tips for successful teacher collaboration.
Research as a Turning Point – a math learning team finds positive growth through the sharing of research-based journal articles.
Teacher Collaboration: Keys to Common Core Success – coming together to make Common Core work.
Collaboration Takes New Knowledge Into Action – Liane Ramirez discusses building a community of practice.