Getting Started

Early last year, our State Support Team support person and I discussed professional development available for our staff. She said that she would be glad to do a presentation for us on Teacher Based Teams (TBT) at an upcoming professional development day.

Her presentation was great; and before I knew it, our teachers were discussing how we could make the time for Teacher Based Teams. It is challenging to change a schedule in the middle of the school year, but it was clear our teachers wanted this to happen.

Urbana East Elementary is a third and fourth grade building; so, two groups began to come up with two different sets of solutions. I attended many of these meetings and often found myself bouncing back and forth to let the other grade level know what the other grade level was thinking. Our initial training took place mid-fall, but we weren’t able to come up with a solid plan until much later.

Teachers decided to start TBTs in January. The solution that our teachers came up with wasn’t the ideal, but it showed that our teachers were already a team ready to compromise and collaborate to make things happen. The fourth grade teachers would take the third grade students at the end of the day during third grade TBT meetings, and the third grade teachers reciprocated when the fourth grade teachers were having their TBT meetings. The teachers who were in charge of two sets of classes decided to do some independent and/or buddy reading. Independent reading was already a component of our reading program. This became a schedule adjustment for many teachers.  In addition, teachers in charge also saw the students off at the end of the day. This required a lot of organization and classroom management, but our teachers handled it like pros. Teachers met every other week sometimes adding additional time for Teacher Based Teams.

In my next blog, I will begin to talk about how our teachers got started having TBT meetings.

What Sparked my Interest in Teacher Based Teams

My initial interest in Teacher Based Teams (a.k.a. Professional Learning Communities) was spurred when reading the book, Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year (Graham, P. & Ferriter, W., 2010). This book is a great resource for schools whose teachers work in isolation but are ready or are interesting in moving to a collaborative approach. Readers will be able to answer the question, "Why should we have a Teacher Based Team?" It is a practical guide to what can be expected during the first year.
As a teacher, I loved working collaboratively with my partner teacher. We worked together to plan units and talked about how things were going in an informal way. To me, this made sense. I knew I didn't have all the answers, but I knew I had a better shot at getting it right if I worked with another teacher. When I read Graham and Ferriter's book (2010), I saw that whole schools were working collaboratively to improve student learning. I wanted to learn more, and I wanted my school to begin to explore what this idea could do for us.
While reading Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year, I was the principal at New Knoxville Local Schools. Teachers at New Knoxville began a process of working together through book studies and discussions about what works best for students. During this experience, we worked on helping groups mesh and helping develop group communication. A standout in this experience was our work with protocols. These protocols gave group leaders ideas on how to tackle data, plan, document, and facilitate a group.  ***A great website to look to for group protocols is www.schoolreforminitiative.org
During my tenure at New Knoxville, Teacher Based Teams had not begun reviewing student data. I hoped at my new position in Urbana City Schools teachers would be ready to dive into this forum. I was right.
Read the next blog to see how Urbana East Elementary began its process of diving into Teacher Based Teams.

References

Graham, P. & Ferriter, W. M. (2010). Building a professional learning community at work: A guide to the first year.  Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Website: www.schoolreforminitiative.org

What are Teacher Based Teams

Teacher Based Teams also know as Professional Learning Communities are groups of teachers working together to look at student data and making teaching decisions from that data. Sounds simple enough, right?
Traditionally, teachers have worked by themselves figuring out what works best for the students that have been delivered to them. Changing from this culture to a culture where teachers come together to figure out what works best for all of the kids who come to us is a big shift in thinking. Schools have moved from isolation to teamwork, and they will never be the same.
This has not only forever changed the work of teachers. It has forever changed the work of principals. Traditionally, principals have worked in a decision making role. It was the principal's job to look and see how the school was doing, and tell everyone what they ought to do to get better. Now principals work to give teachers the information they need to make collaborative decisions to help the school keep moving forward.
Teacher Based Teams have moved education from I and me to us and we.
This blog will focus on the growth our school's Teacher Based Teams. In my next blog, I will begin to share a summary of year one. My hope is to continue to share how we are growing as a Teacher Based Team as we continue to move forward for our students.