Westport Elementary School Uses Common Planning Time

Educators at the elementary school are excited about a new approach this school year — common planning time for teachers.

With common planning time, days that are teacher in-service days are utilized as a common planning time for teachers. It allows the school to communicate and address problems as a team. Common planning time also includes teachers going to each other for questions about specialties they may not be strong in. Collaboration is the main idea for this new school plan.

According to Wicked Local, elementary School Principal Thomas Gastall said Friday’s early release day was assigned for colleagues in the building to meet and address student weaknesses and plan accordingly. The teachers analyze students weaknesses on standardized testing and develop ways to  more actively addressing it as a team.

Gastall said the common planning time model has been implemented in the past within the middle school as well.

WES teacher and Westport Federation of Teachers president Andrew Cottrill shared his thoughts on the new model.

“Common planning time — I have never had it in my 11-12 years in Westport,” Cottrill said. “It is a phenomenal thing. It is really helping the teachers address targeted concerns with students. ... There are a lot of good things happening at the WES, addressing students’ needs and working collaboratively with other colleagues and I think those things need to be highlighted.

The common planning time doesn’t stop there. Gastall said more teachers are exchanging ideas in the form of in-house professional development opportunities, tapping into the resources within the school’s confines. The teachers will be given time to go and see some of their colleagues who are very strong in certain areas, as opposed to maybe go to a professional development where they are gone all day,” Gastall said. This plan really implements the resources within the school.