'Treasure Hunt' builds collegiality and collaboration

The teaching profession can be an isolating one, especially in a school culture where collaboration among teachers is not encouraged or supported.  I have often heard such school cultures described as 'silos,' with each teacher reigning over their own isolated realm.  Fortunately, AEACMS teachers have worked collaboratively since our inception as a school, whether creating and refining curriculum, analyzing student performance data, or brainstorming ways to meet the social/emotional needs of all students.

Recently, we have developed and inaugurated an exciting process that groups teachers to observe other AEACMS teachers in action in the classroom.  We have dubbed this process the "Inquiry Treasure Hunt," in reference to the IB focus on inquiry-based instruction.  Teams of teachers, who have given up a portion of their preparation periods to participate, use a checklist of inquiry indicators when observing a lesson.  The observation is followed up with a note to the teacher, a subsequent team debriefing, and finally, an email to the entire teaching staff that highlights the various 'treasures' that were discovered during the classroom visit.

Our school-wide goal is to have every teacher participate in this process as a visitor as well as a host.  Several teachers have shown interest in evolving the Inquiry Treasure Hunt to include unannounced visits and constructive criticism targeted at improving student achievement.  As a recent visitor to our campus noted when he learned of this process, "It would be great if you could now move from 'Open Doors' to 'Open Mouths', from congeniality to collegiality."  I agree with this sentiment, as do our teachers.  I will report back in the future as this powerful process evolves.