If you’re an educator, chances are you’ve come across this quote by Robert Heinlein: When one teaches, two learn. Hillbrook’s Resident Teacher Program – now in its tenth successful year – is a case study in the truth of Heinlein’s words: the importance of teaching as a community experience. We sat down with Ilsa Dohmen, Hillbrook’s Director of Teaching and Learning – and one of the first Resident Teachers, beginning her life at Hillbrook in tandem with the start of the program – to talk about how she’s watched the program grow and evolve over the last decade, and the five true things she learned along the way.
As the Resident Teacher Program has grown, its positive impact has, too.
“In year one, we just had two Residents in Lower School, and that’s grown to consistently be one Resident in every Lower School grade – we’ve had as many as nine teachers in one Resident cohort. In the beginning, we weren’t exactly sure how to leverage our early-career teachers, but over the years we’ve seen the impact a Resident has on grade-level teams, especially when we’re hiring great people and helping lead teachers figure out how to mentor them in the course of their work.
“Residents Teachers also have a remarkable impact on the faculty and student body at large. We’ve learned to explicitly invite Residents to lead with their own passions and expertise – and as a result, we’ve seen them do everything from coaching sports and creating clubs to running classroom-applied research studies and collecting audit data – and they still manage to find time to lend their expertise in things like jewelry-making, robotics, or dance to Hillbrook’s bespoke after-school programs. Residents also bring ideas they just learned in their graduate studies into the classroom with seasoned practitioners – a collaboration challenge, to be sure, but a combination that is ultimately really great for kids, for adult learning, and for the health of our program.”
We teach better when we’re teaching together.
“I don’t think there is a school leader or teacher on campus this year who doesn’t co-teach – that certainly wasn’t true ten years ago, and it makes Hillbrook a really unusual place to both work and learn. All schools have people who volunteer in a classroom that’s not their own, but Hillbrook’s faculty, staff, and school leaders co-teach routinely all across the school – across disciplines, grade levels, and teams. We’ve built in larger homeroom teams in Lower School, and also many years hired Residents who bridge grade levels within a discipline.
“The fact is, it’s hard to co-teach. Faculty at Hillbrook hone that skill over years, and most of our faculty and school leaders – myself included – co-teach at least once a week, if not every day. We co-teach for performances and events and field trips, for Reach Beyond Blocks, for Math and Reading groups, and for interdisciplinary projects. And the skills it takes are unique – it’s not simply an extension of the same practices you follow when planning, teaching, and reflecting alone. We’ve challenged ourselves to really build a new skill set – and we’ve really seen the benefits that come from consistent, transdisciplinary, trans-generational collaboration. Our students and families benefit as much as our faculty.”
The Resident Teacher Program is a huge head-start for new educators.
“As I’ve met with leaders at other schools who run Associate or Assistant Teaching programs, I see that Hillbrook offers something unusual in the realm of early-career teaching: cohort-based experiences and full integration in the faculty body. As a cohort, Residents meet bi-weekly for Seminar, where we dissect lessons and challenging classroom management moments, and watch expert teacher videos. Often, school leaders and lead teachers join Seminar to share an area of their practice. We also plan and run lesson observations as a cohort, so each Resident is getting regular, written observation from me and from peers in their cohort.
“Residents are also fully enmeshed in a faculty culture while they’re at Hillbrook, and they stay long enough that they can forge deep connections with colleagues, leaders, families, and students. They aren’t just co-teachers in children’s classrooms – they’re coaches, tutors, and facilitators. They join protocol groups, affinity groups, and curriculum audits. They also have access to professional development that’s unmatched at most other teaching prep experiences – if they choose to, Residents can pursue their MAs, certifications, and accrue hours and hours of workshop training in a wide range of topics from foundational literacy to Social Emotional Learning. Our Residents learn so much in their time here – not only from their lead teachers in the classroom, but also from a broader community of educators and professionals. When they leave, they’re ready for lots of next steps in the field of education, whether it’s pursuing a graduate degree full-time, becoming a lead teacher in their own classroom, pursuing a career in speech or occupational therapy or other educational services, or moving into educational leadership positions, Residents go off after their second year to keep making a difference for kids and families around the country.”
Teacher training is just the beginning.
“The Resident Program is an unmatched chance to observe and learn, test out practices, and be a fly on the wall for challenging moments – a gift that gives our teachers the courage to lead a classroom with confidence. Because they occupy that dual role – being a core part of their grade level teams and classrooms, but with significant flexibility – they get to witness and lead in the trickier moments of working in a school community.
“I still remember being a Resident in year one and being part of a difficult Student Progress Conference with a family. I was able to observe how my co-teacher navigated the conference, and also add some things to the conversation, neither of which would have been possible had I not already built this routine of co-presence and trust with my co-teacher or with this family. I learned in one year what it would probably have taken me seven years to figure out on my own.”
The Resident Teacher Program is a great chance to discover who you are – as an educator and an individual.
“Residents have a lot of power and influence at the school, and an amazing opportunity to practice both being a learner and a knower, a listener and a leader. The advice I give to Residents is: learn what values you’re bringing to work each day, figure out what you’re really good at and what your colleagues are really good at. Practice noticing when things go wrong. What happened before that? How can you share what you’re seeing, and get others to help you figure out what you’re missing?
“At the end of the day, good co-teaching is mostly about good observation, humility, a commitment to constant learning, and great communication. If you’re lit up by those things, then you’ll really like it at Hillbrook.”
