DOCUMENT LIBRARY
Professional Considerations:
Team Teaching
Adapted from: Taking Center Stage, Sacramento: California Department of Education (2001), pages 136 and 137.
- Teaming is considered one of the most important organizational characteristics of middle schools.
Is teaming a regular practice in your school? Is it helping students make progress toward grade-level proficiency? How do you know? What might help you and your team colleagues do a better job? If team teaching has worked well in your situation, describe the most important factors in the success. Work to share the information with teams in your school that may be struggling. (See next page for types of team structures.)
- How do your teams include “traveling” colleagues such as Resource Teachers, EL specialists, coaches, music teachers and art specialists?
Do you regularly collaborate with the EL specialists and resource teachers to examine instructional practices and how to better support the learning of struggling students? Does your team schedule rotate between days of the week or times so that roving teachers have a regular space on the agenda at least once a quarter? Does your team structure allow adjunct faculty to participate in discussions about benchmark assessments and celebration event planning so that they have an equal stake in the success of the learning experiences?
- How consistently are all members of the teaching staff supporting students in learning the standards?
Are you and your team partners collaborating in designing student assessments based on standards and performance levels? Have you engaged in planning thematic units? What accomplishments are giving you the most professional satisfaction as you have sought to incorporate the elements of standards-based education into your team teaching? How might you do more? What kinds of assistance do you need? Who can provide it? Will you try to obtain the necessary resources?
- How well has your school dealt with turnover among teachers and principals?
How has turnover affected efforts to implement a successful middle grades program? Are you facing personal challenges to your own team-teaching assignment and the ability to do your best work? If so, seek out a colleague with whom you can share your concerns. Become a catalyst in helping to resolve existing challenges so that your school’s teaching teams will become stronger.
- Are interdisciplinary teams a reality in your school?
Do teams organize content standards from several different subject areas according to important themes? Are students’ assignments and benchmark assessments reflective of this integrative approach? Can you assess student work by using rubrics aligned with your instructional strategies? If you have experienced success, find ways to share your work with other teaching teams. If any of your answers are qualified, what kinds of assistance would benefit you and your team colleagues? Share this need with your principal.