Building partnerships among teachers is essential to enhance student learning. The Richardson-Rivers Collaboration Model emphasizes the importance of relationship building and describes procedures for successful classroom collaboration among teachers. The model combines theoretical constructs based on the Johari window and Jung's personality concepts to facilitate collaboration, trust, and respect and to minimize conflict and competition. It uses self-awareness and understanding of others through cognitive type theory to develop interpersonal communication skills. Specific characteristics necessary for successful collaboration include willingness to collaborate, parity, mutual goals, shared decision making, shared resources, and accountability. The development of awareness of self and others can be achieved through personality typing. The Johari window illustrates the importance of appropriate self-disclosure and categorizes degrees of self-awareness, awareness of others, and openness in communication. The Richardson-Rivers Model uses the process of self-awareness and understanding of others to develop strong interpersonal communication skills. The skills involved in sending and receiving communicative messages are critical to successful collaboration. The channels of communication for sending messages are nonverbal, verbal, and written. The channels for receiving messages are listening, observing, and reading. Team members can facilitate cooperation by becoming proficient in all of the communication systems. Collaboration growth can be achieved when team members become informed of skills needed to confront interpersonal differences and accept challenges presented by the intensity of teamwork. (Contains 16 references.) (SM)