1. Multi-Classroom Leadership
Finding Time for Collaborative Learning
Notes about this session:
This session will give MCLs the opportunity to think about how they can use their daily schedule to achieve their goals for working collaboratively with their team members.
Ideally, a school administrator will attend this session to work with the MCLs.
Schedules are presented for both elementary and secondary levels, but the facilitator should select the schedules that are most appropriate for the audience.
Note about the handout called “Self-Assessment: Multi-Classroom Leader Training”
This optional handout is intended to help MCLs reflect on their knowledge and skills as they progress through the three days of training. It should be completed before the training starts, at the end of each session or day, and at the end of the full 3 days of training.
Preparation needed:
Please print out or make electronically available:
Handout—Self-Assessment: Multi-Classroom Leader Training [optional]
Handout—Collaborative Learning Experiences
Handout—Sample schedules, available at
Please ask participants to bring their school’s master schedule, if one is available. Alternatively, if they do not have the new schedule but have used a similar schedule for several years, they should bring that.
Estimated time: 1 minute
Facilitator says (throughout the slides, put this in your own words):
To be successful as an MCL, you’ll need to work closely with your team, which means you’ll need to deliberately schedule time for collaborative learning.
During this session, we’ll examine ways you might want to collaborate with your team, and begin planning how to schedule collaboration time.
[Optional]: First, please take out the handout called “Self-Assessment: Multi-Classroom Leader Training.” Please put a rating for yourself in the “initial rating” column for the “Finding Time for Collaborative Learning” rows.

2. Learning Objectives During this session, participants will…
Analyze current state of collaborative work time at school.
Explore new ways to collaborate with team teachers.
Draft an initial schedule that includes the collaborative time needed to ensure a strong start of the school year.
Define a process and timeline to analyze the impact of the schedule and make necessary adjustments.
Objective of this slide: provide the learning objectives for the session.
Estimated time: 1 minute
Facilitator says:
We’ve all had a variety of experiences, some good and some less so, with working collaboratively in schools. This session will focus on how to develop strong collaborative structures for your team so it can function more effectively.
During this session, we will:
[click to animate] Take a look at the schedules you brought with you and analyze the current state of collaborative work time at your school.
[click to animate] Explore new ways to collaborate with your team teachers within your existing schedules.
[click to animate] Draft an initial schedule so that you, as the MCL, can plan collaborative time with your team right from the beginning of the school year.
Creating an MCL schedule is not a one-time event. You’ll need to revisit it and adjust it as the needs of your team change. We’ll define a process and timeline to analyze the impact of your schedule and make necessary adjustments.
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

3. Do Now In your teams, discuss experiences with team collaboration:
The good
The bad
The ugly
Objective of this slide: to have participants reflect on their previous experiences working in teams (so they can better understand why they need to establish norms in later slides).
Estimated time: 4 minutes
For our “do now,” please take three minutes to reflect upon your past experiences working in teams. On your own, please use the chart on the handout to describe some specific collaboration, or attempted collaboration experiences you have had. Please categorize them into:
[click to animate] the good
[click to animate] the bad
[click to animate] and the really, really bad, also known as the ugly.
[click to begin blue circle timer]
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

4. Reflection Collaboration in the Past: What were your experiences?
What were the conditions leading to the good, bad, or ugly?
How can you avoid the bad and ugly in the future?
How can you establish strong collaborative experiences?
Objective of this slide: for participants to dig deeper into their Do Now and determine root causes for the bad and ugly situations so they can prevent them in the future.
Estimated time: 5 minutes
Facilitator says:
[click to animate] As an MCL, how do you plan to collaborate effectively with your team teachers?
Please take four minutes to reflect on the charts you created and think more critically about the collaborative moments you highlighted. Think about:
[click to animate] What were these experiences?
[click to animate] Why were the bad and the ugly ones so bad and ugly?
[click to animate] How can you prevent these types of experiences from happening in the future?
[click to animate] How can you have more good collaborative experiences?
[click to begin red circle timer]
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

5. Five Key Characteristics
Collaboration:
is a style of interaction
is voluntary
occurs around a common goal
Objective of this slide: to provide keys to good collaboration.
Estimated time: 1 minute
Facilitator says:
Now that you’ve had a chance to reflect on what may have gone wrong previously, let’s look at the key characteristics of good collaboration.
[click to animate] Collaboration is not a one-time action—it’s a style and a mindset.
[click to animate] It occurs when team members come together voluntarily. Forced participation usually doesn’t lead to good collaborative behaviors.
[click to animate] Collaborations are usually more successful when they are focused on reaching a common goal.
[click to animate] A sign of successful collaboration is that responsibility for the decisions and outcomes are shared by all team members.
[click to animate] Finally, in a strong collaboration, each team member is willing and able to share resources with other team members.
includes shared responsibility for key decisions and outcomes
implies that participants offer shared resources
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

6. MCL Collaborative Actions
8 Key MCL Collaborative Actions
Reviewing instructional practices
Coaching conversations
Modeling
Co-Teaching
Pushing in
Small-group/individual pull out
Data analysis
Co-planning
Objective of this slide: to present the menu of collaborative actions an MCL can take in their role.
Estimated time: 2 minutes
Facilitator says:
So what are some of the collaborative activities you could engage in this year as an MCL that would embody some of the positive characteristics just mentioned?
[click to animate] One of the key things you will do is review the instructional practices of your team teacher(s). These reviews are very different from observations because they are not high-stakes events. The goal is to help develop each team teacher’s skills. [If you will be presenting the session on reviewing instructional practices later, you can state that here].
[click to animate] After reviewing instructional practices, you should follow up by having a coaching conversation in which you provide feedback on the review. Note that these are conversations—both people speak—that should be done collaboratively. [If you will be presenting the sessions on effective feedback and coaching later, you can state that here].
[click to animate] To help support a team teacher, you may model a skill for them and then have them practice it with you in a safe space.
[click to animate] You may also co-teach with a team teacher. [If you will be presenting the session on modeling and co-teaching later, you can state that here].
[click to animate] MCLs can also push into the classroom and teach students directly….
[click to animate] or do small-group or individual pull-outs. All these actions must be done collaboratively with the team teacher.
[click to animate] You and your team should also be involved in regular data analysis to understand what is working and what is not.
[click to animate] And you should co-plan together based on student performance data to ensure that your instruction is designed to meet individual student needs.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it provides some clarity on the many ways that you can work with your team teachers, either individually or during the times when you meet as a team.
Remember that you’re going to support your team teachers and administrators by using combinations of these actions.
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

7. Scheduling for an MCL The schedule is a tool for…
Influencing teacher practice
Impacting student achievement
Managing additional responsibilities
Objective of this slide: explain the importance of a strong MCL schedule for success of the new school model.
Estimated time: 1 minute
Facilitator says:
How can you ensure that you are able to engage in all these collaborative practices, provide individual time to your team teachers based on their needs, and manage your other responsibilities as an MCL?
Your schedule is your most critical tool for managing your many responsibilities. Your schedule is a tool for:
[click to animate] getting the most out of your teachers’ talents and experiences and ensuring that you are able to influence your team’s practices,
[click to animate] positively affecting student achievement
[click to animate] and managing additional responsibilities.
Scheduling is a crucial determinant of whether an MCL is likely to succeed or fail to meet their responsibilities.
Before we dive into your MCL schedule, let’s first take a look at your school schedule and see what opportunities already exist for collaboration.
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

8. Team Time: Scheduling
Creating a strong schedule for collaborative learning:
Frequency of current team collaborative time?
Sufficient one-on-one collaborative time?
Any threats to collaboration? Other challenges?
Objective of this slide: to review schedules and determine the opportunities for collaboration that currently exist.
Note about this slide: Participants should analyze the master schedules for their schools that they brought with them.
Estimated time: 17 minutes
Facilitator says:
Please take out your school’s master schedule and the MCL schedule you created during the design process, if you have both. Remember that creating your MCL schedule will be very different from creating a master schedule—you have many more things to consider.
In reviewing your current schedule, determine the opportunities that have already been created for collaborative work between MCLs and teams. As you look, ask questions such as:
[click to animate] How often is the team meeting together? Is this enough? Too much?
[click to animate] Will there be enough team collaboration? What does the group time look like? What does work with individual team teachers look like?
[click to animate] What are the biggest threats to this collaborative time?
[click to animate] What are going to be other challenges with the schedule? (for example, lunch duty, field trips, coverage for MCLs, coverage for TAs, admin meetings, etc.)
Please take 10 minutes to answer these questions about your current schedule with your school teams, and then some teams will share.
[click to begin hourglass timer]
[While teams are working, facilitator should walk around the room looking for exemplar schedules to showcase
Look for schedules that have:
Dynamic time for multiple types of collaboration with team members
Time for team meetings and work with individual teachers
Discretionary time
Flexibility from week to week]
[After time expires, select a team to present their schedule, highlighting the strengths, opportunities, and threats to collaboration.]
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

9. Sample MCL Schedule: Elementary
Note: Provide participants with a print out of the sample elementary schedule.
Objective of this slide: to present a sample elementary school MCL schedule and highlight the key collaborative actions the MCL is taking.
Estimated time: 7 minutes
Facilitator says:
Here is a sample elementary school MCL schedule. This schedule allows the MCL to engage in many of the collaborative activities we discussed earlier, within the parameters of the existing school master schedule.
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

10. Sample MCL Schedule: Middle
Note: Provide participants with a print out of the sample middle school schedule.
Objective of this slide: to present a sample middle school MCL schedule and highlight the key collaborative actions the MCL is taking.
Estimated time: 7 minutes
Notes about this slide:
If there are no middle school participants, this slide may be omitted.
Additional sample schedules can be located at
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

11. Sample MCL Schedule: High
MCL Schedule: Math
Math Master HR
Planning
2nd
Period
3rd L
4th Period
5th Period
6th Period
Math MCL
Team planning
Flexible
Math I
Monday
(A day)
Team planning + data analysis
Observes and supports RA
(with RA)
Math I (with RA)
Co-teaches with Teacher 3
Tuesday
(B day)
Team planning + Teacher 3 debrief
Observes Teacher 1
Wednesday
Math I and Algebra I planning with RA and EIT
Co-teaches with Teacher 2
Meets with AP
Thursday
Team planning + Teacher 2 debrief
Models lesson for Teacher 3
Observes Teacher 2
Friday
Plans solo + analyzes data
Note: Provide participants with a print out of the sample high school schedule.
Objective of this slide: to present a sample high school MCL schedule and highlight the key collaborative actions the MCL is taking.
Estimated time: 7 minutes
Facilitator says:
Here is a sample high school MCL schedule for a single week. This schedule allows the MCL to work with her team and complete many of the collaborative activities—all within the parameters of the current master schedule.
[CLICK TO ANIMATE ARROW] At the top of this schedule, you’ll see the strand of the master schedule for math team and the MCL’s master schedule. [CLICK TO DISAPPEAR]
[CLICK TO ANIMATE] During 3rd, 4th, and 5th periods, the MCL is always teaching the large Math 1 class. Note that the MCL does not have reach associate push-in support on B days because the RA is in the lab with the EIT’s class. [CLICK TO DISAPPEAR]
[CLICK TO ANIMATE] Flex time varies throughout the week. You can see the MCL supports all members of the team, including supporting the RA, when he is working with students. [CLICK TO DISAPPEAR AND ANIMATE] Some time, however, is held sacred for the MCL and does not change week-to-week. Every Wednesday during 6th period, the MCL meets with the AP to discuss challenges and success, brainstorm next steps, and discuss progress toward goals. [CLICK TO DISAPPEAR AND ANIMATE]. Another time held sacred is data analysis and team reflection time on Friday afternoons. This time is crucial for the MCL to look at the team’s student performance and prioritize which teachers to see the following week. [CLICK TO DISAPPEAR]
[CLICK TO ANIMATE] You can see here that the MCL also makes a plan for the team’s common planning period each week. [walk through this sample week.] [CLICK TO DISAPPEAR]
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

12. Creating a Typical Schedule
Are there blocks of time that cannot be shifted or changed, including daily classroom instruction?
What are the key collaborative activities you want to engage in with your team?
How will you organize the time you schedule with your team teachers?
Objective of this slide: to provide time for participants to reflect on the schedules they have seen and complete an initial draft of their schedule.
Estimated time: 20 minutes work time
Facilitator says:
Now that you have a better idea of how MCLs use time, let’s think about your school context and plan a typical schedule. Once you have completed a typical schedule, you will be able to use that as a template to build out subsequent weeks.
20 mins
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
End
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

13. Scheduling Your First Week
Do I have enough time built in to collect information about each of my team teachers?
Do I have enough time built in to establish team norms around collaboration and team functioning?
Does the schedule reflect my (and the team’s) priorities?
Objective of this slide: to provide time for participants to reflect on the schedules they have seen and complete an initial draft of their first week’s schedule.
Estimated time: 20 minutes work time
Facilitator says:
Now that you have scheduled a typical week, let’s backtrack a bit and think about what your schedule will look like for the first week of school.
20 mins
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
End
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

14. Reflection: Potential Pitfalls
Consider three questions:
What are going to be challenges to my collaborative time?
Is the schedule too flexible? Too inflexible?
Have I built in enough time for myself?
Objective of this slide: to have participants think about the things that can go wrong with their schedule and how to avoid the pitfalls.
Notes about this slide: this slide is optional but recommended if time allows.
Estimated time: 6 minutes
Facilitator says:
Looking at the draft of your schedule, what are some of its weaknesses? What are some of the potential pitfalls?
[click to animate] What are going to be challenges to the collaborative time you have built in?
[Look for:
Interruptions and disruptions in school operations (assemblies, absences, conferences, etc.)
Urgent need to address major development areas for some team teachers]
[click to animate] Do you think your schedule is too flexible or too inflexible? Why or why not?
[click to animate] Do you have enough time for yourself? Why or why not?
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org

15. Future Schedule Planning
Thinking about your schedule beyond the first week, ask yourself:
Does this schedule justify the importance of how I use my time to improve student learning?
Will this schedule help keep me accountable to my most critical responsibilities?
How will I react to possible disruptions?
Objective of this slide: to provide structures for thinking about how to extend the first week’s schedule into future weeks.
Estimated time: 1 minute
Facilitator says:
Keep in mind that your schedule is a tool.
[click to animate] Use your schedule to protect your most important time from other duties or distractions. If you value your coaching time, this is where you show its importance to your school leadership, your team, and even the district.
[click to animate] Your schedule is also a way to hold yourself accountable. MCLs are often the hardest-working, most team-oriented people in the building and want to help out wherever it is needed, but sometimes, you need to say “no” so that you aren’t overcommitting yourself.
[click to animate] Interruptions will absolutely happen during the course of the school day and year. How will you build your future schedules so that you can react to disruptions?
These are questions that you should ask yourself periodically through the school year to ensure that your schedule is still working for you.
[Optional] Finally, please pull out the handout on “Self-Assessment: Multi-Classroom Leader Training,” and add a rating to the “post-session rating” column.
© 2016 Public Impact OpportunityCulture.org