The Teacher Collaborative
The Teacher Collaborative network for Massachusetts teachers that provides them the opportunity to connect, learn, and lead alongside their peers. Originally founded in 2017 by former teacher and current PoP Board member Maria Fenwick, The Teacher Collaborative became part of Power of Place in 2025.
The signature model of The Teacher Collaborative is the Co-Lab, a sustained group where teachers with common interests can collaborate, innovate, and problem-solve together, often creating shareable products to offer to the broader community.
Some Teacher Collaborative programs are selective and application-based. Most offer Professional Development Points (PDPs), many offer honorariums and graduate credit to honor the time and contributions of participants. Our programs are open to educators from across Massachusetts, and are often held online; some are in-person.
Please click through the tabs below to learn more or explore current opportunities.
- We offer several types of Professional Learning. Our signature model is the Co-Lab, which provides participants a safe and supportive space to learn, innovate, and/or lead, joining either as individuals or as part of a school team. Teacher Collaborative’s professional learning programs all center equity and feature a learner-driven and collaborative approach.
- Network Events bring together educators for dialogue, idea-swapping, celebration, and connection. We meet quarterly (sometimes online, and sometimes in person) for Network Summits and offer other special events throughout the year to recognize the hard work of our teachers and to help educators connect to their best resource: each other!
Professional Learning
From Culture to Classroom – A Culturally-Responsive Teaching Co-Lab
- What: 5-part Co-Lab on Culturally Responsive Teaching
- Who: All Massachusetts teachers
- When: 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, and 11/12
- Where: 4:30-6 pm on Zoom
- Register
This Co-Lab will be designed to support teachers in understanding and applying the practices of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT). Drawing from the work of Zaretta Hammond, including Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain and her latest text, Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power: Teaching for Instructional Equity and Cognitive Justice, the Co-Lab is intended as an introduction, refresher, or practical space for teachers who are new to CRT or looking to deepen their practice.
Participating teachers will build a foundational understanding of CRT, reflect on their own identities and experiences, and consider how their instructional practices can create more equitable learning experiences for students. The program will consist of a series of five weekly 90-minute sessions, where teachers will participate in interactive mini-lessons, discussions with other teachers, and work time.
The weekly sessions are designed to move from building the foundations of CRT and reflecting on identity, to exploring culturally responsive practices through the Ready for Rigor framework, examining how teacher actions and instructional choices can support more equitable learning experiences, and applying these ideas to classroom practice. At the end of the Co-Lab, teachers will have the opportunity to reflect on their learning, share their experiences with peers, and identify meaningful next steps to continue growing their practice. All Massachusetts teachers are welcome to participate.
Network Events
Coming Soon!
Teacher Collaborative Network Summit: 10/28 at 4 pm on Zoom. Check back soon for more details.
Opportunities
Please visit our calendar for additional Power of Place programming.
Please bookmark this webpage and check back often!
Our learning agenda is a living document and highly adaptive to the shifting needs of educators in our community, so please check back often as new opportunities are added regularly.
If you have any questions, if you’d like to discuss partnering to leverage the perspective and expertise of teachers in our community, or if you’d like to discuss ways Power of Place® can support your teachers, please contact Diana Lebeaux, Senior Director, Teacher Collaborative, at dlebeaux@powerofplacelc.org.
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