The 4 P’s of Effective Collaborative Planning

Collaborative planning is a strategy whereby teachers sit together to develop cohesive, aligned lesson plans for all subject areas. Schools utilize this process in various ways which impacts the results. When expectations differ among school sites, the effectiveness of the developed lesson plans differ within the same district. Over time, poor collaborative planning habits create ineffective lesson design and delivery. As a result, the learning experience for students is shortchanged. The ceiling on academic potential and development begins to lower. When schools can streamline high quality collaborative planning protocols, student achievement and teacher capacity increase.

This post will outline strategies for creating a consistent and effective collaborative planning system. The four P’s will help all schools develop and maintain collaborative planning meetings with teachers.

Purpose

Setting the intention for collaborating planning provides clarity for everyone involved. Pondering the purpose as a leadership team allows for multiple perspectives to be shared. This ensures the purpose is intentional and clear which makes way for impactful results.

Questions to consider are:

• Why do we want teachers to plan together?
• What is the outcome we desire?
• How can teachers effectively plan on a consistent basis?

Promise

Including teachers in the development of collaborative planning increases the chances they engage fully in the process. When fully invested, teachers will experience the power of collaboration in enhancing their ideas for instruction. Asking teachers to make a pledge, or promise, for how they will engage ensures commitment to the goal and adhesion to the plan. Teachers can develop the promise together and then all sign it.

Examples of characteristics teachers should display during collaborative planning are:

• being honest and vulnerable
• including all voices
• showing up prepared and on time.

Protocol

Writing down the plan teachers must follow for collaborative planning keeps clarity front-and-center. It helps teachers develop the intended habits and holds them accountable for engaging at high levels during every planning meeting.

Aspects that should be included in the protocol are:

• Team announcements
• Daily goal
• Reference pacing guide, curriculum, standards, and backwards planning documents
• Hash out content, questioning, differentiation, instructional strategies
• Develop informal assessments
• Reflect on previous lessons to implement changes for subsequent lessons

Productivity check

Although many planning meetings tend to divide up duties to save time, they do not create effective instruction in every classroom. That’s because each teacher is only planning a portion of a lesson without discussing the lesson in detail together with peers. Inadequate planning creates inadequate instructional delivery. As a result, students are unable to master lesson objectives and skills. We must revise our collaborative planning structures so that they remain productive (ie. save time and produce outcomes) without sacrificing content understanding. Taking time every month to conduct a productivity check will keep planning meetings on track.

Questions to ask ourselves:

• Are we following the protocol as intended?
• Are we able to thoroughly plan during our meetings?
• Is everyone pulling their weight?
• Is everyone clearly understanding lesson material prior to teaching?
• Are discussions leading to idea development that is rigorous and aligned?

Additional Resources

If you are in need of additional materials to help you revise your collaborative planning process, consider these resources listed below:

• Professional Learning Community [PLC] printables 
• Lesson Planning printables

If you are looking for other blog posts and podcast episodes about planning, scan these options. Additional planning resources can also be found here. If you’d like to continue to reinvent your instructional effectiveness, read my latest book “Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.”

GO BE GREAT!