Due to the limited amount of classrooms available at Westlake High School, it is expected that most teachers share rooms with coworker Because of this, teachers must figure out how to effectively and efficiently work together. Bill McDonald, an Algebra Two teacher who has taught for 14 years, tells how he believes the collaboration between him and the teacher he shares a room with, Kenzie Sanchez, has numerous advantage 

“We decided that we wanted to be in the same classroom because we taught the same subject and thought we could also do some collaborating,” McDonald said.

Additionally, he believes that working together allows them to learn from each other and improve their teaching method 

“She does present things slightly different from me,” McDonald said. “And sometimes I think to myself, ‘Maybe I should modify the way I approached that,’ because I can see what she’s trying to accomplish.”

Granted, he notes that their goals may not be the same when teaching students, but he trusts that being exposed to other perspectives helps him refine his teaching style. Overall, McDonald views the differences between him and  Sanchez as something that provides major benefits. 

“We both make changes to our teaching based on seeing something other than what we normally would think of,” McDonald said. “[From that, we] try to implement it because we think it’s better to change or augment using that.”

Sanchez, who has been working with McDonald for three years, adds her insight on observing his disparate teaching methods. 

“I watch him teach, and I get lots of ideas [because] he presents things in different ways than I would present them,”  Sanchez said. 

Despite how much collaborating with McDonald improves her own style and technique, however,  Sanchez mentions one downside of having only a single desk space in a classroom. 

“The amount of paper we go through is insane, and we both have that same level of paper,” Sanchez said. “So I think that is forced to be extremely organized with our own stuff.”

Nonetheless, McDonald feels that they compliment each other in teaching. 

“I don’t really see any challenges,” McDonald said. “I think we work well together and it seems to work out pretty seamlessly.”