I work alone. That has been my mantra since I started teaching senior English selectives like Writing Seminar, Literature Seminar, Dystopian Fiction, and English 4 Hybrid–classes that, for years, no one else in my department taught. Teaching in isolation is a dramatic difference from my experience at my previous two schools, San Juan High School in Carmichael and Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, where I taught English classes within two different academies.

The academies I taught in were smaller learning communities, schools within schools, if you will, with groups of students assigned to specific teachers. Over lunches and shared prep periods, I collaborated with a group of teachers from math, science, history, and art. We took our shared students on field trips together. We planned and executed team building activities together. We created and assessed cross-curricular projects together. At San Juan, we started and ended with the students as freshmen. At Ygnacio, my team welcomed students in as sophomores, helped them through the dreaded junior year, and celebrated their successes at graduation. Educating our students was truly a team effort.

Needless to say, going solo at Carondelet was a culture shock, which I found to be both liberating and lonely. Liberation came first. I didn’t have to keep pace with another teacher. I didn’t have to constantly report in on my progress. And, I didn’t have to compromise. My teaching time was completely under my control. If I wanted to skip teaching the allusion to Ayn’s Rand’s objectivism in the novel, Old School, I could. Who would ever know or care? I could be as creative and inventive as I wanted without a slower moving history teacher holding me back or a faster moving math teacher rushing me through. Even though I had no one with whom to share my trials and tribulations, I convinced myself that I liked it this way, that the freedom was worth the isolation.

This year, all that changed: I was given a sophomore class with a revamped curriculum. Three other teachers and I decided the best plan of attack would be to, you guessed it, collaborate. Since summer,
I have been working with Hayley, Lisa, and Tiz on developing new curriculum in English 2. We have created essential questions, graphic organizers, discussion topics, essay prompts, research projects, and much more. We could have used the “divide and conquer” approach, the strategy that most teachers have to employ due to time constraints, but instead, we have truly collaborated. We have met together a few times over the summer, and by some magical stroke of luck, Lisa, Tiz, and I share a common prep, allowing us to meet four days a week if needed. Right now, we are in lock step, and do I feel rushed, stifled or hampered? No way. I feel rejuvenated. My colleagues inspire, challenge, and support me.

Now, I know that this type of collaboration happens all the time here at CHS in individual departments. The joy I have experienced in working with my colleagues is neither rare nor new. What I believe to be rare, though, is the cross-curricular collaboration that I experienced at other schools. This, it seems to me, will be new territory for Carondelet.

When I heard the announcement of the construction of the STREAM center on our campus and the declaration from our administration that our approach to teaching and learning would undergo radical change, I was nervous, even though I have done something similar before. How would that look in my classroom? How would that change the way I develop curriculum? What would that do to my teaching style? How would that benefit my students?

The positive experiences I have had in collaborating with my peers both here and at my other schools reassures me that I will manage. Not only will I manage; I will thrive. If I learned one thing when I served as academic advisor on this campus, it is this: the teachers at Carondelet are brilliant, professional, and compassionate. Having the opportunity to work closely with any one of them, will benefit both my students and me. Joellen Killion, Senior Advisor to Learning Forward, seems to agree. From a study conducted by the American Educational Research Journal, she discovered, “When teachers engage in high-quality collaboration that they perceive as extensive and helpful, there is both an individual and collective benefit.” (For an in-depth look at the study, check out her article at this link: Killionlearningforward). Her words ring true for me.

Working so closely this year with the sophomore English teachers has made me realize how much I have missed collaborating in an academy model. I have missed the rich discussions that often resulted in innovative ideas. I have missed the support and empathy that only teachers with students in common can give. And, I have missed the joy of shared experiences. While I’m not sure about all the specific changes we will be facing in the future with a new design model, I eagerly await working with and learning from more of my colleagues.