Finding Time for Collaboration and Using it Well

The frustration regarding limited time for collaborative teaching partners to meet and plan instruction is high on most co-teachers’ lists. Over the past five years, many articles have emphasized the necessity of quality planning time. As a result, many principals have ensured that grade-level teams or department/subject area teams have designated planning opportunities built into the master schedule. They also recognize that co-teachers must have dedicated time to prepare their lessons, determine what materials are needed, and decide on their respective instructional roles.

We will address two key questions related to planning:

1. How do we find the time to meet for lesson planning and instructional delivery?
2. How can we use the planning time we do have to our best advantage?

To answer the first question, let us begin with a basic understanding of the complexity of finding quality time for joint planning. This decision:

• Rests with the principal or their administrative designee.
• Involves the master schedule, which must accommodate a mind-boggling number of details and often very inflexible conditions.

For example, master schedules are often dictated by:

• The limited availability of a specialized science lab.
• An elective course taught by an itinerant teacher who shares their time across multiple schools.
• The necessity of flexibility and creativity on the part of collaborative teachers to find planning time that meets their needs.

As challenging as securing quality planning time can be, there are creative options to consider—and, where appropriate, to share with your principal or assistant principal. In other words, you can influence the decision regarding planning time, and we will provide the information you need to do so.

For those of you who already have sufficient collaborative planning time, celebrate! If you are in need of additional planning time, continue on this path with us.

The Challenge of Insufficient Planning Time

If you are among those lacking sufficient planning time to regularly meet with your teaching partner, this may affect you in several ways:

• For special education teachers: If you are entering the general education classroom to co-teach a lesson, a lack of planning time may leave you unprepared when you arrive. You may find yourself seeking direction in the middle of instruction, reducing your ability to provide meaningful support. As a result, many co-teachers end up assuming roles similar to paraprofessionals, offering individual or small-group support rather than engaging as equal instructional partners.
• For general education teachers: Without prior planning, co-teaching partnerships can feel unstructured, with unclear roles, inequitable instruction, and lost classroom time. This is why planning time is one of the most frequently cited concerns among co-teaching teams when evaluating the effectiveness of their collaboration.

Common Planning Time

Common planning time is pre-scheduled planning time that occurs at the same time each day or week. It is built into the master schedule, ensuring that co-teaching partners have consistent opportunities to plan together.

Example:

• Sue, a special education teacher, co-teaches 7th-grade math with Mary for three periods daily. Their principal wisely scheduled Sue’s planning time to align with the 7th-grade math team’s common planning period.
• Monday-Thursday: Sue and Mary meet with the entire team to plan weekly instructional lessons.
• Friday: Sue and Mary meet separately to assign specific instructional roles and review progress and challenges from the past week.

Encouraging Best Practices for Common Planning Time

• Advocate for special education teachers to be assigned to grade-level or subject-area teams rather than a “special education team.”
• If full integration into one team’s planning time is not possible, propose a rotating schedule (e.g., meeting with one team every other week).
• Ensure that teams recognize the importance of using designated planning time exclusively for co-teaching discussions to maximize its impact.

If common planning time is not feasible, then Protected Planning Time becomes necessary.

Protected Planning Time

Protected planning time is intentionally carved out from existing resources. It may not be as predictable as common planning time, but it ensures dedicated opportunities for co-teachers to meet and plan together.

Example:

• Jim, a special education teacher, co-teaches across three different subjects with three different teachers. Since aligning his schedule with a single grade-level or subject-area team is impossible, he and his co-teachers must find creative solutions beyond accidental hallway conversations.

Creative Options for Protected Planning Time

1. Using Substitute Teacher Planning Time
   • Schools often have substitute teachers who do not need the planning period assigned to the teacher they are covering.
   • If a substitute is available, co-teachers can request that time for planning (e.g., swapping a teacher’s planning period for dedicated co-teaching time).
2. Scheduling a Regular Substitute for Planning
   • If common planning time is not feasible, a predictable solution is to schedule a substitute teacher weekly or biweekly to cover classes while co-teachers plan.
3. Reallocating Teacher Assignments
   • If some students do not require daily in-class support, special education teachers may rotate their planning time to meet with multiple general education partners.
4. Leveraging School Staff for Coverage
   • Assistant principals, department chairs, curriculum coaches, or other certified educators may cover a class to allow co-teachers to schedule a recurring planning session.

These out-of-the-box solutions create planning time for co-teaching partners who do not have common planning periods assigned each day.

Using Planning Time Well

Once time is secured, the next challenge is using it wisely. Many co-teachers struggle to make the most of their planning time, often finding that by the time they identify topics to discuss, the bell rings!

Strategies for Effective Planning

• Schedule planning at a high-energy time of day (avoid the last period if possible).
• Ensure meetings are a minimum of 25 minutes to allow for meaningful discussion.
• Train teachers in collaborative meeting strategies (suggest PD on effective team meetings).
• Establish and review group norms to maintain focus and accountability.

Example of Effective Planning Norms

• Be on time.
• Bring necessary materials.
• Use an agenda and stick to it.
• No side conversations.
• Be fully present.
• Keep cell phones off.
• End meetings 5-10 minutes early to allow for personal breaks.

Using an Agenda for Focused Planning

One effective strategy is to follow a set list of questions during each planning session.

• What are we teaching next week?
• Who will do what? (Define instructional roles).
• Which students need additional support, and how will we address their needs?

By following a structured agenda, co-teachers can maximize their time, strengthen collaboration, and improve instructional planning.

The reality is that planning time for co-teachers is often limited—but intentional strategies can help create, protect, and maximize this time. Whether through common planning time or protected planning time, co-teachers must advocate for structured planning opportunities and use them effectively to improve student outcomes.

“The quality of a collaborative teaching partnership is in direct relationship to the quality of the collaborative planning that preceded it.”

–Stetson & Associates, Inc.