Common planning time is an integral part of the middle school concept, but this time is not always used effectively. When teaching teams do not effectively collaborate, there are missed opportunities to improve instruction and student achievement. The aim of the study was to improve middle school teachers' level of collaboration during common planning through the use of the Looking At Student Thinking (LAST) protocol.Participants selected a pseudonym and completed a pre- and post-survey aligned to the aspects of the collaborative inquiry cycle: dialogue, decision making, action taking, evaluation. Items included 12 questions from the teacher collaboration rubric (TCAR) and two open-ended questions. Each team participated in seven sessions related to the LAST protocol. Post-survey results showed an increase in the overall rating of each team's collaboration with differences between items per grade-level.The results suggest the use of protocols can improve the instructional focus, impact the level of collaboration, and improve the usefulness of common planning time. Implementing the LAST protocol may provide a structure to help teams navigate the micropolitical aspects of common planning time and use common planning time more effectively. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]