In the August 19th edition of Edutopia, “3 Habits of Highly Effective Teacher Teams”, Paige Tutt recommend three activities for grade-level and subject-area teams as they try to have productive meetings on jam-packed school days.
- Reading and listening together – Discussing an article, quote, podcast, or video provides “a rich opportunity for team members to broaden their thinking and deepen their understanding of the content as they hear new ideas and challenge their own perspectives.”
- Observing colleagues’ classes –With clear, streamlined goals for peer observations – what to look for, how to take notes and gather data, whether to observe live or via video, and how and when to debrief – teachers feel less nervous about being observed and overwhelmed with feedback and can get valuable insights from having other pairs of eyes in their classrooms.
- Looking together at student work – There’s great value in teacher teams looking at kids’ writing, problem-solving, and common assessments.