Your First Co-Planning Session
- Angela Langlands
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Teachers who are ready to embark on this journey always want to know “how.” And the how, in my experience, has been different based on the school I’ve worked in and will be different for your school context.
When you’re co-planning, here are some ideas about what to do, what to skip, and where to put things: thinking, notes, and observations.
The first week of school is behind you, and the routines are taking shape. Students know where their home base is; they know they’re sharing teachers and spaces, and they are doing a pretty good job at putting materials away before moving on. Now comes the real work. It’s time to sit down with your co-teacher (or team) and actually plan together. Here are my suggestions about what that session needs— and the four mistakes most teams make before they even start.
Mistake 1: Planning the Way You've Always Planned
Solo planning habits don't transfer. You don't need every question itemized or every pause scripted. When planning in a community, you need a shared answer to two things: what do we want students to know, and what do we want them to do? That's the foundation. The minutiae of how you’ll ask questions (popsicle sticks or turn-and-talk), that’s your art of teaching and not worth the time in this conversation.
Mistake 2: No Debrief After the Lesson
Planning meetings aren’t over when the lesson ends. A 5-minute check-in — how did it go, where do we go next, are we on track — is what turns a one-off experiment into a sustainable practice. Once you get better at these debriefs, they’ll be shorter and more concise. But at the beginning, give the debrief the time it needs: a few minutes during your lunch walk, after school, or before you kick off the team meeting.
Mistake 3: No Role Clarity
If you're co-teaching in the same space, this is a biggie. If you’re not… skip it! You need to know before students arrive: who's leading, who's circulating, who's capturing anecdotal notes, and how students will work independently when both of you are engaged with a group. These decisions made in the room are too late.
Mistake 4: Decisions That Disappear
What you decided last Thursday needs to be findable next Thursday. Create a shared tool to save community decisions. A Google Doc is enough — not because it's the perfect tool, but because it's accessible from anywhere. From your commute. From your couch. From the nail salon on Tuesday night.
What to Walk Away With Every Time
At a minimum, your co-planning session should produce five things:
What we want students to know and do
How long the lesson, or sequence of lessons, will take
Whether we're sharing students, and for what purpose
Who's creating and organizing shared materials
How we’re capturing noticings and where
Here’s an example of a set of planning meeting notes.
Administrative Support
If you're a leader reading this, the single most useful thing you can give your team is a shared digital space and 45 minutes of protected planning time. Not a prescribed agenda, but time and a place to capture the decisions that will work for their community of students.
You Won’t Always Agree
Co-planning isn't about agreeing on everything. It's about crowdsourcing the ideas and the work, then walking out of the room with enough shared understanding that you all can lead any part of what comes next. That's the whole goal. Start there.
Note: This post was edited with AI as an assistant to refine structure and readability. My ideas, voice, and words remain intact.
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