Are two teachers better than one?

More planning time for teachers will mean changes to the length of the school day for middle-schoolers in neighboring Jordan and Canyons districts.

Beginning next year, all Jordan middle schools will start two hours later on Fridays to give teachers paid time for team planning. Canyons middle schools will have the option of starting 60 to 90 minutes late or ending early one day a week, pending board approval.

The change in pickup and drop-off times will be an adjustment for busy families. For the districts, it means tweaking bus schedules.

But team-teaching isn't new. Other states have long cultivated so-called Professional Learning Communities. Utah's own Granite District has been doing it for eight years.

Elsewhere in Utah, though, teachers have pow-wowed on their own time and their own dime, said Michael Sirois, student achievement director at Canyons. "This is our way of formalizing and encouraging more collaboration. Teachers are accustomed to working in isolation. That's not the model we want here. We want teamwork."

Teachers at Crescent View Middle School are already believers.

The Sandy school adopted the "two-heads-are-better-than-one" approach in 2007, using trust lands money to pay teachers for an extra hour after school.

The program is voluntary, but most teachers participate, which "speaks to their commitment," said the school's principal, Greg Leavitt.


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After presenting a workshop with a fellow teacher, this writer can say that he surely discussed the notion of team teaching with his colleague. The concept is one that can take the students to the next level, as well as energize the teacher as they team up to present a topic, a lesson, or a unit.

Try it, link up with someone, tell us what your experience was like.