Teacher collaboration leads to student success in Trussville

Why Collaborate?

Professional Learning Communities co-creators Rick DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Robert Eaker define collaboration, “As teams of teachers who work interdependently to achieve common goals — goals linked to the purpose of learning for all — for which members are held mutually accountable.” In Trussville City Schools, our collaboration is focused, and the accountability is evident in our K-12 progress.

Early Career

When I reflect on my early years of teaching, as many of my fellow veteran teachers may also do, I can draw a distinct “then” vs. “now” image. “Collaboration” wasn’t the word used when teachers congregated, but rather “faculty meeting,” which consisted of a smorgasbord of information that needed to be disseminated to the teachers. Sometimes, there was a mandatory training here or there. We now affectionately refer to that model of meetings as a “sit and get.” Other than these meetings, teachers worked in isolation, although many did so with some level of success. Teachers had a teacher edition as a resource – no Internet then — what more was needed? By flipping through its pages, teachers could extract necessary materials needed to teach a unit. However, the “then” model had no focus on collaboration, no focus on student growth, and certainly no concerns about students who were in other teachers’ classrooms.

Today’s Classrooms

Fast forward to today’s classrooms. Teachers use the textbook as a resource, but their teaching materials come from a variety of places, which takes hours to sift through research and available resources to present the most current and most effective lessons. This is one reason why our weekly collaboration is so important, and why research supports a collaborative environment:

It is very easy to get caught in the trap of walking into a classroom, shutting the door, and tending to your own students. This is how man schools function, with educators sharing nothing more than a parking lot. Some people like it this way, but an effective teacher is someone who wants to grow in the profession. An effective teacher wants collaboration

(http://www.hotchalkeducationnetwork.com/collaboration-with-purpose/ ).

Purpose of Collaboration

Collaboration has provided teacher growth. Teachers work together to create their lessons, choose their activities, teach their content, and then return to evaluate the cycle, providing and receiving necessary feedback to improve the process.

Leigh Stovall, HTMS Social Studies teacher adds, “I think my favorite part of the professional development time has to be sitting with my colleagues and learning from their experiences.    We all have something to share and having this embedded time allows us, as a group, to work together to make HTMS great.”

Teachers are more knowledgeable about their standards, as well as their own profession, due to the conversations they have with their colleagues each week.

We also value the collaborative model because it supports student growth. Many afternoons are spent looking through various data, including standardized tests, classroom averages, common assessments, surveys, formative assessment, etc., to ensure our students are being challenged in a well-balanced learning environment.

Catherine Finkley, who recently became an assistant principal at Paine Elementary after being a classroom teacher, adds, “Collaboration is vital to achieving academic success for ALL students by engaging in rich dialogue with other colleagues that will foster new ideas, concepts, and strategies which can effectively be implemented in the classroom. Collaboration allows teachers to grow professionally and students to increase their academic achievement.”

Multiple studies have shown that collaboration is key to student growth, including one by Carrie Leana who found that, “Students showed higher gains in math achievement when their teachers reported frequent conversations with their peers that centered on math, and when there was a feeling of trust or closeness among teachers” (www.theteachingchannel.org). Our academic coaches recently celebrated student growth with some of our recent student data, and they attribute that growth to the time it provides for analysis of student data with teachers, as well as working with teachers to create strategies for improvement in certain areas. These instructional partners value Monday afternoon collaboration which provides meaningful time for conversations among all staff.

Dr. Tim Stull, HTHS history teacher, agrees, “Embedded professional development and collegial collaboration provide much needed opportunities for educators to improve their practice. Because of these opportunities, educators are introduced to new strategies, concepts, and technologies that directly impact student learning and achievement.”

Trussville City Schools is seeing gains in all subject areas, including math, through a collaboration effort K-12.

Value of Collaboration

Collaboration is valued because it provides a preserved hour each week for teachers to meet with colleagues and have vertical conversations. Even though some variables have not changed much over the past couple of decades, the time teachers must invest in their professional responsibilities has increased exponentially. They spend countless hours after the school day ends answering emails, sending Remind texts, grading papers, sponsoring clubs, hosting parent conferences and chat nights, coaching sports, etc. There are many demands on our teachers. By providing an hour each week for teachers to collaborate, Trussville City Schools creates opportunities for teachers to share their knowledge with each other that is focused around a single topic. The value of this time is well-spent, as all of the schools in the system look at data, work with grade-level colleagues on content-area lessons, research best-practices for lesson creation, share lesson designs and model that work for all of their colleagues, as well as reflect on and revise lesson strategies based on student needs. Their collaboration has resulted in great growth system-wide.

Secondary English teacher Lacey DeShazo agrees, “I appreciate having paid time to do the important work of collaborating with my colleagues. It makes me feel as though the work I do is valued and valuable.”

Professional educators are mindful of the investment in this protected time for collaboration, and schools honor this with intentional professional learning opportunities that focus on our students.

Trussville is not alone in recognizing the benefits of district collaboration time. Most effective school systems see the value in collaboration and provide this time for their faculties, although some structure their time differently. Some choose to give teachers multiple prep periods instead of just one, providing weekly agendas for their teachers. This model sometimes requires additional teacher units to still effectively educate students. Some systems provide a day each nine weeks for teacher collaboration, deeming them an “online learning day” for students, where the students can work from home so teachers can work together at school to discuss, plan, and reflect on best practices. When we have teachers come to us from school systems that did not provide collaborative time, they recognize the benefits:

“Common planning time among educators is a crucial element in the success of a school. This is something that has never been offered to me in previous school systems, and I find it very beneficial,” according to Nicole Jenkins, fourth grade teacher at Paine Elementary.

While not everyone collaborates in the same manner, many school districts value and provide time for collaboration.

With Gratitude

Professional Educators in Trussville City Schools are thankful for the collaboration hour each week. As Harry Wong, renowned educational author reminds us, “The trademark of effective schools is a culture where all teachers take responsibility for the learning of all students. The key to strong collaboration is recognizing that a student shouldn’t be the responsibility of only one teacher, but of all teachers” (www.newteacher.com).

One of our 4th grade elementary teachers at Paine Elementary, Beth McKinley echoes this, “TCS Early Dismissal is a benefit for both teachers and students. Teachers are allowed collaborative planning time with grade level teachers so that we can ensure that all students are receiving the same level of instruction regardless of who their teacher is.”

Our teachers work to provide every student in our district an optimum learning experience because they share, support, and create together. And for that, we are thankful: Thankful for teachers who take this hour each week to engage in meaningful discourse with their colleagues for purposeful school-wide growth and thankful for a community who supports their work.

For list of resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YblbBOuD6K4uN-N91VIXFYVsLSBW9cqjDTAj0RZfGSg/edit?usp=sharing