4 Places To Dig Deep

4 places to dig deep

To find more time for teacher collaboration

Vol. 28 No. 2

The idea of teachers working together to improve teaching and learning seems so sensible that few would argue against it. So why don’t schools provide regular and ample opportunities for teachers to collaborate on their practice? Some schools are hampered by the limitations of union contracts and limited resources. However, the most basic problem is that many have difficulty finding new ways of using existing resources, such as time and personnel. When principals can envision a schedule with unequal time slots or music or physical education classes with fluid sizes, they can rearrange and reallocate limited resources to allow for new concepts of professional learning. For the last eight years, teachers at Garfield Elementary School in Livonia, Mich., have organized themselves into teams and have

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