Include active and alternate members on your teacher team, and request a signed commitment from each of them.

   Experiences:

All teachers who worked with the 10 agencies were enthusiastic about participating in their respective projects because of what they were able to learn and contribute, and because they were earning a stipend for their efforts. They were willing to share plans and give feedback to each other in controlled settings, especially during face-to-face contacts. A couple of teams discovered that asking the teachers to work with partners or requiring that they reflect on their work in an open forum increased the level involvement and quality of the products.

Every team learned that once school started it was difficult for teachers to find time to write curriculum and practice technology related skills. On nearly every team there were teachers who were unable to fulfill their commitment because of unexpected situations in their professional or personal lives. One team was able to replace teachers that dropped out because of including alternates in the original planning.

   Recommendations:

• Develop a contract for the active members that includes a statement of work outlining your expectations, a proposed timetable, and level of commitment you require of them.
• Develop a different contract for the alternate members that outlines duties they will perform as alternates and under what conditions they might be asked to join the active members.
• Consider using alternates to partner with active members to review and pilot the lessons created by active members.
• Give active and alternate teacher members the opportunity to discuss expectations and the timetable for delivery before signing their contracts.

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