A good and dedicated colleague was unready for a specific expectation. This colleague was not ready because she was so busy taking good care of students that she didn't have time to do the extraneous task asked of her. The colleague was stressed.
This is when helping one another comes in--who does have a few minutes available to pitch in when a colleague is wholly busy with student needs, the first priority for every teacher? How should expectations be re-looked at in situations like this?
One great aspect of our shared teaching model is that we work so closely together that an issue like the one described above rarely happens as we're always pitching in to help each other--the stress is far reduced in comparison to the one-teacher-one-classroom model. In so many ways we can bring our individual expertise, interest, and time to help the whole team.
Also, as educators, it's important to re-look at expectations over time and streamline those expectations so that most time is spent on teaching students well. Recently an administrator streamlined expectations to allow educators more time for tasks that serve students well--this was a welcome effort.
In good, strong teaching/learning environments discussion and debate is ongoing, communication about what has happened, is happening, and will happen is ready and regular, and people work as a team with respect and care for one another--all positions are valued and all are seen as vital team members.
It's critical that we build communities of care in schools, and those are communities are places where people help one another in ways that matter.
