Why teachers should steal from colleagues

Teachers have been sharing programs and assessments for years. Most schools have a shared drive full of units, lesson plans, and rubrics. But the real professional growth happens when teachers go beyond merely sharing resources and start sharing practice.

In my experience, the best teachers are the biggest thieves. They borrow ideas, routines, and strategies from each other, then make them even better.

Sharing Practice, Not Just Documents

Great teaching isn’t hidden in a folder somewhere. It’s in the way teachers question, explain, model, and respond to their students. When we share practice, we are sharing the how, not just the what.

It is one thing to hand over a program. It is another to say, “Here’s how I introduced this concept,” or “Here’s the question that really got them thinking.” That is where professional learning happens.

Why It Matters

Research from AITSL and John Hattie shows that teacher collaboration focused on pedagogy, not paperwork, has one of the strongest impacts on student learning. When teachers talk about what happens in their classrooms, not just what is on paper, collective teacher efficacy grows.

Students benefit too. When a team shares practice, classrooms become more consistent, expectations are clearer, and learning improves across the board.

How to Start Sharing Practice

1. Run Quick “Practice Spotlights”
Use five minutes of a faculty meeting for one teacher to share a small success. It could be a questioning technique, a group routine, or a feedback strategy that worked. Keep it short, real, and practical.

2. Peer Observations
Keep them informal and focused. Ten minutes in a colleague’s room to see one strategy in action is enough. Talk afterwards about what you noticed.

3. Collaborative Lesson Reviews
After teaching the same unit, meet to reflect. What engaged students? What did not? What would you change next time? Capture that insight in the shared program so it is not lost.

4. Make Reflection Visible
Create a culture where teachers feel comfortable being honest. It is okay to have a bad lesson. The best professional conversations often start with, “That didn’t quite work.”

How Planuva Helps

Planuva is designed to make this kind of collaboration easy. Teachers can reflect on lessons, add notes, and feed improvements directly back into shared programs. Over time, every program becomes a living record of what actually works, refined by the people who use it. You can use Planuva to share what worked (and what didn’t) at your faculty meetings and planning days.

Join our movement at https://planuva.com