COLLABORATIVE THINKING ABOUT TEACHING ? A MATTER OF TIME
Adapted from a presentation for the NATIONAL MIDDLE SCHOOL ASSOCIATION,
29th Annual Conference & Exhibit Portland, Oregon, Oct. 31?Nov. 2, 2002.

GOALS: This session presents a school-based project that
? Examines good middle school teaching,
? Aligns with current middle school research, and
? Benefits both inservice and preservice teachers? without added costs and without after-school meetings.

? Time to consistently plan and deliver good teaching,
? Time to continuously learn emerging "best practices,"
? Time to collaborate with new teachers and existing colleagues to study results and explore alternatives.

Middle schools and local teacher education programs collaborated to provide more than 25,000 hours of in-school assistance to teachers interested in improving teaching and student gains. More than sixty preservice teachers analyzed teachers and students in action to complete teacher-directed tasks related to middle school reform priorities such as teaming, parent/community involvement, climate/community building, teaching for thinking, and meeting diverse student needs.
The results? An additional 500 hours of professional development and preparation time per teacher.

DEVELOPERS: Dr. Marilyn Olson is the coordinator of the graduate middle/secondary Program at the University of Oregon and president of the local Phi Delta Kappa chapter that sponsored this project. She is joined by representatives from Pacific University-Eugene and Northwest Christian College as well as several middle school inservice and preservice teachers who benefited from the collaborative project.

? Preservice / Inservice Teacher Planning ii
? End of Term Inservice Teacher Report/Feedback iii
? Time-Saving Tasks That Help Middle Schools Improve (Matrix) iv
? Sample Tasks
? Collect Academic and Attitude Information for Teaching Team 1A
? Develop a Set of Brief Lessons on a Social Skill 2C
? Revise a Unit to Include More Options for Low/High Learners 3E
? Research Findings / Strategies on Climate and Community-Building 4C
? Review a Video and Prepare a Parent Study Guide 5B
? Observe Teaching to Document Levels of Thinking 6D
? Develop and Teach an Activity for All Team Classes 7A
? Observe Student Behavior in Preparation for Parent Meeting 8B
? Organize and Analyze Data for Thinking Patterns 9D
? Monitor an Activity 10E

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The materials included in this section may be copied or adapted for local use as long as they are credited to the UO/Lane County Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa where this work was developed.