Shared-Content Teaching Teams: Best Practices Template
April 21, 2016
Effective shared-content teams reduce teacher workload, lowering the planning burden on any individual. They also reduce the expertise burden on each individual: every teacher’s plan should represent the shared expertise among the group and any expert supporting the group. Additionally, these teams are a highly effective and efficient venue for experts to deliver contentbased, job-embedded professional development (PD). When these teams are structured effectively, they become the primary way that both planning and PD takes place in the school.
Shared-content teaching teams are comprised of teachers who share a common grade and subject (or, at the high school level, course). Their collaboration typically includes the following objectives:
- Develop lesson plans focused on a common curriculum or text as well as long-term unit plans
- Develop common formative assessments and analyze results
- Determine how to adjust instruction in response to student progress
- Participate in training on common areas for development
Depending on how a shared-content team is structured in a given school, teachers may also collaborate on how to regroup students for targeted, small-group support and work together to develop individualized interventions.
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