Collaborative teams are a part of any school that embraces the professional learning community model. These teams of teachers, teaching the same grade or course, work together to plan, instruct, assess and take actions based on student results. The efficient and targeted conduct of these collaborative team meetings is essential to effectively performing these tasks and achieving the  ultimate goal of student learning. What should a collaborative team meeting look like? Let's look at a basic model of an effective and efficient team meeting. This model works by itself or could be modified as needed, but the final product should…

Obviously as teachers, a great deal of time and thought goes into lesson planning, content creation, and student assessment, but what does planning and collaboration look like when it is student centered? In order to keep the focus on students, there are certain things that need to be done during planning and team collaboration time to ensure student-centered instruction during lesson delivery time. Any planning session or collaboration time must start with a clear understanding of not only what will be accomplished but also how the result will benefit students. Clear expectations from everyone on the focus of the time…