Areas of Impact
Age Group
High school and middle school
Length
N/A
Frequency
Daily, weekly
Type
Practices for Team Collaboration
Just because people are given time together to plan doesn’t mean that collaboration will happen. Teams need tools and habits to support successful collaboration.
Overview
This document outlines practices by co-planning and co-teaching teams to support their successful collaboration.
Context
Teachers, administrators and teacher-trainers might use this resource as a guide for collaborative teams. It first lists key practices and examples of those practices for team collaboration on page 1. Examples of those practices will vary at each school site. On page 2 there is a planning template to support daily and weekly team curriculum planning. This weekly template is used after teams have created long-term curriculum plans.
At Gateway Middle School, teachers share common planning time to co-plan with others in their grade level subject area as well as Resource Service Providers and paraprofessionals that work in their classes. When used as a shared digital document, this template supports all team members’ successfully contributing to the shared goal of educating common students. It also reminds teams of the dual learning goals they have each day: to teach both subject area content as well as student agency in the classroom.
Related content:
Year-Long Backwards Planning Curriculum Template
"Reflectiveness, Adaptivity, and Support: How Teacher Agency Promotes Student Engagement" by Kristy Cooper, Tara Kintz, and Andrew Miness in American Journal of Education, November 2016 (Vol. 123, #1, p. 109-136).
Show moreImplementation
While this document is self-explanatory, as a school community its introduction needs to be supported by discussion and practices that support collaboration.
If you are a teacher trying to initiate more collaboration at your school site, this document could help you strategize how to make those collaborative meetings more effective.