How a Learning Community Shares the Load

The Weight of Teaching Alone

Early in my career, I had 35 students and no team. Just me, in my classroom, trying to be everything for everyone.

One weekend, I organized my husband and my parents to cover the kids at home so I could “catch up.” I spent nearly 15 hours across two days lesson planning, marking, and writing anecdotal records. I didn’t even put in an appearance at family time.

That was teaching in a silo: exhausting, unsustainable, and lonely.

Now, years later, I’ve experienced the opposite: working in a Learning Community where the load is shared. The difference is night and day.

Trust: The Foundation of Sharing the Load

No team can share the load without trust. Trust is what allows us to be honest about our limits and lean on one another for strength.

I remember confiding in a colleague that one student in my homebase drained me every morning. She came in like Eeyore and within minutes the whole room’s energy dropped. I felt guilty for even saying it, but my teammate listened without judgment.

Together, we brainstormed: what if she started her day in a different homebase for 30 minutes, giving both of us a fresh start? We tried it and it worked. She was happier, I was lighter, the students had a more constructive Morning Meeting, and eventually, I had the confidence and data to advocate for a permanent change with our principal.

That experience taught me something I’ll never forget: no single teacher can be everything for every student. A Learning Community makes it safe to admit that—and to find a better way forward.

Alignment: Staying on the Same Page

In a strong Learning Community, daily and weekly meetings keep us aligned.

I know what you're thinking... another meeting?! But meeting with your team is key. It ensures that learning for the students is always with them at the center. Not about me and what I want to do... but about students and what's best for all of them! Sometimes that means we throw out everything and start again because the plan doesn’t match where the students are. Other times, it means a Tier 2 intervention created by support services sparks new strategies for multiple kids, or a counselor’s insight about grief opens a conversation that benefits the whole grade.

Alignment doesn’t mean sameness. It means we know what matters most and we carry that clarity together.

Agreements: Clarity for Collaboration

Without agreements, collaboration can slide into chaos or uneven workloads. Agreements are what keep us grounded and human.

For example, my team committed to norms like:

these are some of the "NormGreements" I've used in various learning communities

On the practical side, we also agreed to simple systems:

• Meet daily for alignment

• Rotate facilitation roles

• Update student notes in a timely way

  
  

These practices may look small, but together they’re transformative. They ensure we don’t just divide the tasks—we also share the responsibility, the relationships, and the care that make the work sustainable. And when the adults trust and collaborate with one another, the students notice. They follow our lead—building trust, listening well, and learning how to collaborate in a community too.

Shared Load in Action: Trust in Hard Times

The true power of a Learning Community hit me most deeply in a personal crisis.

Just over a year ago, I got a call from my mom: her death was imminent. I got on a plane in Abu Dhabi and left before the school year ended.

For seven weeks, my team carried everything—lessons, parent communication, and student wellbeing. And it wasn’t just “coverage.” The students already trusted every teacher in our community, the parents did too, and the learning kept moving forward.

When I returned the next year and looped with those same students, we were thrilled to see each other again. But they had also learned a bigger lesson: no single teacher is ever the start and end of a child’s school experience.

We are just human, after all. And in a true Learning Community, that’s more than enough.

A Hive Mentality

Teaching in a silo nearly broke me. Teaching in a hive saved me.

Teaching doesn’t have to mean carrying the weight alone. In a Learning Community, the load is shared, trust is built, and both students and teachers are supported to grow.

When we trust one another enough to lean in, divide tasks, and collaborate openly, we create the conditions for students to thrive. And just as importantly—they see us doing it. They watch how adults navigate challenges, honor each other’s strengths, and support one another. In turn, they learn to do the same.

That’s the beauty of the hive: no one carries everything alone, and together we create something greater than any of us could on our own.

Join the Hive.