A year-long case study was made of an elementary school teacher and her first and second grade students in a classroom considered typical of a learning community, an environment that emphasizes collaborative planning between teacher and students. Three aspects of planning were found directly related to this sort of collaboration. First, the teacher reflected upon what she knew about her students, individual and group responsibility objectives, content objectives, and resources. Second, the teacher and pupils planned objectives and activities together. Third, the teacher considered the probability of individual student success. Other key learning community characteristics identified from this study were task and objective monitoring systems, heterogeneous grouping, individual responsibility, and group responsibility for learning. The teacher was conscious of her belief that the primary function of schooling was personal responsibility (evidenced by academic learning) and social responsibility (evidenced by students helping others to learn). The teacher used information gained during collaborative planning sessions to help determine actual objectives for individual pupils. A description is presented of the teacher's mental assessment and planning prior to the collaborative planning sessions, the teacher and pupil collaborative planning sessions, and a study episode which resulted from the planning. Implications of and suggestions from this study for teacher educations are discussed. (JD)