2 For 1 Day
(50% of Faculty Teach 100% of Students)
Several schools have used a temporary approach to finding time for study groups. Teachers from two study groups take each other's classes for the first or the last 30 minutes of a day. Since teachers arrive at least 30 minutes before students arrive and stay 30 minutes after students leave, an hour block is created.
Under that plan, Teachers A, B, C, and D are one study group. Teacher E, F, G, and H are one study group. Teacher A combines Teacher E's class with her class; Teacher B does the same with Teacher F; Teacher C does the same with Teacher G; and Teacher D does the same with Teacher H. This allows Teachers E, F, G, and H to meet for one hour once a week.
On another day, Teachers E, F, G, and H combine classes for Teachers A, B, C, and D to meet. In the combined classes, students have individual study, reading, and journal writing time; students work one-on-one with each other; clubs meet; and other types of student-planned activities are initiated.
Linda Darling-Hammond, from Stanford University, talks about one strategy for finding time for teachers to work together. [ 609k audio comment ]
Excerpted from the video series Restructuring to Promote Learning in America's Schools, videoconference #8, The Meaning of Professional Development in the 21st Century (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1991).