Today, I read an article from the Harvard Graduate School of Education newsletter that made me think...and wonder. The topic of the article was the effectiveness of teacher teams with regards to improvement of teaching and learning. We all know that our focus for most meetings should center primarily on teaching and learning and that we should all be lifelong learners, willing to learn more and share our knowledge with others. However, the article was generally an indictment of teacher teams, because they often fall into "predictable pitfalls" when it comes to promoting our most important objective. The reasons are (as indicated in this article): poor use of common planning time, failure to pursue expert advice, a focus on issues that are peripheral to learning, absence of clear goals, or lack of team accountability for the success of their students."
In contrast, they described the five conditions that good teacher teams exhibit as follows:
* Task Focus- primarily on teaching and learning
* Leadership- all members are leaders. Instructional expertise, no matter how experienced, is valued and utilized.
* Collaborative Climate- Trust, communication (two-way) and synergy is always there. Conflict is welcomed and handled professionally and collegially.
* Personal Accountability- the primary goal is performance improvement for the members and for the group. Expectations are clearly articulated and shared.
* Structures & Processes- Are goals clearly defined and does the team adapt the processes for meeting these goals based upon student needs?
You can read the entire article by using the link below:
http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/519#home
My feeling is that there are many teacher teams at Ashbury College that meet these criteria and maybe even exceed them. How does your team stack up?
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