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Evaluating the relative effectiveness of a variety of collaborative approaches.
Write an abstract of one scholarly research source on an argument that collaboration time is available without impinging on classroom or other activity time is present, distinctive, and compelling. Personal experience, observation, and scholarly research are provided but may not support claims. Research is authoritative. Clearly identify the abstract as a separate section of the paper entitled “Literature Abstract.”
Use the following guidelines to write the abstract:
Scholarly research sources attached.
theme /TIME
4 places to dig deep
TO FIND MORE TIME FOR TEACHER COLLABORATION
BY KRISTI KHORSHEED
he idea of
teachers work-
ing together to
improve teach-
ing and learning
seems so sensi-
ble that few
would argue against it. So why don’t
schools provide regular and ample
opportunities for teachers to collabo-
rate 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 envi-
sion 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 created time to work collab-
oratively.
“MAKING” TIME
The rationale for teacher collabo-
ration has been stated in literature
(Darling-Hammond, 1998; Darling-
Hammond & Ifill-Lynch, 2006;
Little, 1999), is promoted in NSDC’s
NANIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL 800-727-7288 VOL. 28, NO. 2 SPRING 2007 JSD 43
E
W)
One benefit of
working during
the school day is
that having
students present
allows teachers
to engage in
practice-based
learning, such as
peer
observations or
using running
records.
their existing time and
resources more creatively
to allow teachers to maxi-
mize their professional
learning through team
meetings. First, teachers
determined how much
time teams needed to
examine student work,
analyze assessment data,
and plan common les-
sons.
William Green,
Garfield’s principal, said
that teachers find 60 to
90 minutes of uninter-
rupted time works well.
That is long enough to accomplish
critical tasks and still hold team mem-
bers’ attention. In addition, he said,
balancing teachers’ time with time
away from students is important.
Garfield’s teachers also found that this
time needed to be in addition to regu-
lar teacher preparation periods.
At some elementary schools,
KRISTI KHORSHEED is a researcher on the
study of instructional improvement and an
instructor in the educational administration
program at the University of Michigan and a
former Garfield teacher. You can contact her
at 5148 Arbor Valley, Ann Arbor, M1, 48105,
734-769-7714, e-mail: kkhorshe@umich.edu.
Standards for Staff Development
(2001), and is a common element of
whole school reform programs. And
the professional learning communities
movement rests on the belief that col-
lective effort is better than
autonomous and isolated arrange-
ments traditionally found in schools
(DuFour & Eaker, 1998).
In a study of five high-performing
schools, Karen Hawley Miles and
Linda Darling-Hammond (1997)
concluded that “the biggest constraint
(to restructuring schools) may be a
limited vision of the changes in school
organization that can create a more
professional organization and improve
student achievement” (p.42).
In 1998, the principal and staff at
Garfield set out to find ways to use
44 JSD SPRING 2007 VOL. 28, NO. 2
teacher teams meet during a common
45-minute planning time to collabo-
rate (Choy, Chen, & Bugarin, 2006).
But when one considers that elemen-
tary teachers may spend a couple of
minutes walking their classes to and
from the special where students will
go while the teachers meet, 45 min-
utes may be reduced to 35 – not
enough time for substantive work.
And teachers need those time slots for
tasks such as planning, copying, grad-
ing, and assembling materials for their
next lesson.
“When teachers at Garfield meet,
Green says, “it is not planning time.
They are not making phone calls or
running things off at the copy
machine.” Setting aside regular time
for collaborative professional learning
requires thinking outside the box, he
said.
Some schools schedule students to
arrive late or leave early, but time for
collaboration can be created without
modifying the school day schedule.
One benefit of working during the
school day is that having students
present allows teachers to engage in
practice-based learning, such as peer
observations or modeling. For teach-
ers to work collaboratively, the focus
must be on ongoing, targeted activi-
ties that involve engaging in practice
with students and consulting with fel-
low teachers (Ball & Cohen, 1999;
Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, &
Birman, 2002). School leaders’ goal,
therefore, should be to build 60 to 90
minutes for professional learning into
teachers’ normal work day. At
Garfield, teams accomplished the goal
and allow teachers at least 90 minutes
for professional learning every week
by combining several strategies.
RETHINKING TIME, STAFF,
AND STUDENT GROUPINGS
Use specials. For teachers to
have 90 minutes during the school
day, Michigan law requires that stu-
dents be placed with another certified
Garfield Elementary School
Livonia, Mich.
Grades: K-6
Enrollment- 454
Staff. 30
Racial/ethnic mix:
White: 65%
Black: 31%
Hispanic: 1%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 3%
Native American: 0%
Other: 0%
Limited English proficient: 6%
Languages spoken: Five to six
Free/reduced lunch: 31%
Special education: 10%
Contact: William Green, principal
10218 Arthur
Livonia, MI 48150
Phone: 734-744-2715
Fax: 734-744-2717
E-mail: wgreen4@livonia.k12.mi.us
staff member. Art, music, or physical
education teachers’ schedules are valu-
able resources. Once special teachers
have fulfilled their meeting time with
each class, there may be another class
time available in their schedules that
principals traditionally might have
used to assign these teachers other
tasks or to allow a class an extra music
period. Principals may consider addi-
tional staff members’ time, as well. By
carefully reviewing the schedules of all
personnel, principals may uncover
opportunities to reorganize time.
Consider recess. Creatively shuf-
fling, stretching, and pairing time
slots can result in a longer time period
that might have been buried in a
school’s elaborate spreadsheet of
teachers’ schedules. Most elementary
students have recess periods.
Coupling recess time with that extra
art or music class time may create 60-
plus minutes for a collaboration team
if the same time is available for other
members of a grade-level team.
Review funding sources. Title I
schools may be able to rethink how
they use their additional funds or per-
NATIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL)WWWNSDC.ORG
Organizing schools for professional learning: Traditional and reformed
Traditional Reformed How collaboration was arranged
weekly schedule weekly schedule for four teachers at a time
“* Teachers have • Teachers have • Two half-time teachers teach two
five prep one half-day for classes and two art, music, library,
periods, collaboration, or physical education teachers
“• Teachers work • Teachers have teach two classes.
mostly alone, four prep
“* Collaboration periods.
occurs by • Collaboration
chance or occurs by
among friends, design.
Allocating teachers to cover classes CD
during collaboration B
“* Use Title I funds, if available, to pay (D
for two half-time teachers.
“* Find one FTE in the teaching roster by
balancing class sizes through multiage
groupings.
“• Make a case to the district for extra
personnel.
“• Use surplus special periods.
“• Combine three classes into two for
special periods.
“* Use a prep period combined with
recess or lunch.
sonnel to support student learning.
One year, Garfield’s principal used
Title I funds to hire two part-time
teachers. The two managed two class-
es, providing additional literacy
instruction and enabling two regular
classroom teachers to collaborate. The
part-time teachers provided this sup-
port for multiple classes throughout
the week, supporting different teams
of teachers and providing students
with additional academic support.
Think about student grouping.
Principals can more efficiently group
students if they rethink how to do so.
For example, music and physical edu-
cation classes do not have to be limit-
ed to the same number of students as
the homeroom class. At Garfield, for
example, three 1st-grade classes of 20
were reconfigured into two groups of
30 students for their music and gym
periods, followed by a recess, without
exceeding the contractual maximum.
In this way, three classes were covered
by two specialist teachers, and three
classroom teachers were able to col-
laborate for at least an hour.
Although specialist teachers might
resist this arrangement, principals and
teachers must acknowledge the need
for changes in work arrangements to
make policies driven by the priority to
improve teaching and learning in the
NATIONAL SIAFF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
core academic areas.
Rethinking how specials, person-
nel, and Title I funds are used and
how students are grouped may help
principals create time for teachers to
work collaboratively on improving
instruction. Then, when adequate
time has been carved
out, the hard
work begins. Like any
educational
resource, the value of time depends
on how
it is used.
REFERENCES
Ball, D. & Cohen, D.K. (1999).
Developing practice, developing prac-
titioners: Toward a practice-based the-
ory of professional education. In L.
Darling-Hammond and G. Sykes
(Eds.), Teaching as a learning profes-
sion: Handbook ofpolicy and practice.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Choy, S., Chen, X., & Bugarin,
R. (2006). Teacher professional devel-
opment in 1999-2000.” What teachers,
principals, and district staff report.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department
of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1998,
February). Teacher learning that sup-
ports student learning. Educational
Leadership, 55(5), 6-11.
Darling-Hammond, L. & Ifill-
Lynch, 0. (2006, February). If
they’d only do their work.
Educational Leadership, 63(5), 8-13.
Desimone, L.A., Porter, A.,
Garet, M., Yoon, K., & Birman, B.
(2002, Summer). Effects of profes-
sional development on teachers’
instruction: Results from a three-year
longitudinal study.
Educational Evaluation
and Policy Analysis, 24(2),
81-112.
DuFour, R. & Eaker,
R. (1998). Professional
learning communities at
work: Best practices for
enhancing student achieve-
ment. Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree.
Little, J.W. (1999).
Organizing schools for
teacher learning. In L.
Darling-Hammond and
Then, when
adequate time
has been carved
out, the hard
work begins.
Like any
educational
resource, the
value of time
depends on how
it is used.
G. Sykes (Eds.), Teaching as a learning
profession: Handbook ofpolicy and
practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Miles, K.H. & Darling-
Hammond, L. (1997). Rethinking the
allocation of teaching resources: Some
lessons from high-performing schools.
Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for
Policy Research in Education.
National Staff Development
Council. (2001). Standards for staff
development (revised). Oxford, OH:
Author.
VOL. 28, NO. 2 SPRING 2007800-727-7288 JSD 45
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
TITLE: 4 places to dig deep to find more time for teacher
collaboration
SOURCE: Journal of Staff Development 28 no2 Spr 2007
PAGE(S): 43-5
The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it
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