I'm using our shared teaching model at fifth grade as the focus of my Teacher Leadership Initiative capstone project. This is a good focus as it's something that the teaching/learning team is working on daily to impact student learning.
Much has been done so far to make the model succeed. We've embedded planning meetings, good scheduling, shared teaching with respect to RTI blocks, sensitive grouping related to students' needs and interests, and theme days to create community and expand creative, collaborative learning.
What's next?
Survey
We'll survey the teaching/learning team and we'll analyze the data to determine next steps based on the data.
Shared Leadership
We'll look for ways to extend our leadership to each other and others on the team--how can we lead this wonderful group of fifth graders together while also making time and place for student leadership too.
Targeted Learning
We have many data meetings coming up, and we'll use those meetings to target our time and effort towards best learning for every child.
Communication Protocols
When people work with the students on our team it's important that they send communication to all of us. Also it's probably important to share notes from planning meetings with the whole team. We also coordinate a weekly newsletter for the entire learning team to update everyone on what we've done and what we will do.
I'm sure there's more I can think of at this time, but this is a start, and the survey will inspire greater thought and response.
