“None of us is as smart as us all.” That concept has worked for business for many years, but is not yet the norm in education. In many cases, teachers work alone in their classroom, delivering the lesson plans that they created, and assessing student learning to the standards they have developed. But with the inception of new programs such as PLC’s and RTI, educators are somewhat forced to work with one another for the sake of student achievement. I had great experiences working in a school that did all school thematic units. The themes were very large units with very large very public assessments. These could not have been successful with only one or two teachers developing the concept.
Each teacher in the theme had a specific role, upon which all of the others relied upon. Not only did it create a great learning experience, but it also created a tight knit, efficient team that carried this “group think” over to our other classes. We really never did anything in our individual classes without bouncing the idea off of a colleague. We basically had PLC’s before it was given a label.
When I moved, and worked at a place without much group support, I realized the importance of positive group processes. Although it seems foreign to many teachers, who feel comfortable in the classroom controlling their classroom, if given the opportunity to experience a positive team teaching unit, they may change their mind. It is difficult to schedule time for all staff to get together, but it can be accomplished. It takes some creative thinking on the part of the administrator to create time in the day to allow teachers to come together as a team to discuss student learning.
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