Interdisciplinary Teaming has been used at the middle level in Fremont for many years. Student learning is the key component of scheduling. A discussion must be considered about the effectiveness of common plan time and teaming.
Transition from elementary to secondary schedule
In the elementary schools, students largely are with one teacher throughout the day with the obvious exception of music, PE, art, media, etc. In the high school, students all have different schedules and have many different teachers who do not share them in common. Where do we go in the middle?Questions to consider
- Q1: What impact does interdisciplinary teams have on student learning? Student behavior? High expectations?
- Q2: Does teaming improve instructional quality? How does teaming effect communication/feedback between teachers and students?
- Q3: Do we have a better understanding of students because of teaming? Do we better understand prior cognitive ability? students disposition to learn? Does teaming improve our ability to intervene and/or enrich curriculum based on student needs?
- Q4: What advantages does interdisciplinary teaming have when compared to departmental teaming? What are advantages departmental teaming?
- Q5: Can we use teams to increase parent involvement? In what ways do we communicate with parents through teams?
- Q6: How important is teaming in our future schedule? What other factors are important?
Use twitter to discuss. Use the hashtag #58connect . Use Q1/A1 format to answer questions from this blog.
Brent's Blog
Schedule:
- December 8: Time to Talk Teaming Blog
- December 8: The Case for Teaming Blog
- December 8-December 20-Twitter Conversation: tweet anything then put #58connect at the end.
- December 14 Coffee with Colleagues-7:00 am
- December 20 Coffee with Colleagues (Hold the Coffee-bring a lunch) 11:45 a.m.
Feel free to participate in any portion you would like. You can come to coffee with colleagues and lunch on Dec 20.
A1: Interdisciplinary teams are a great way to uphold universal expectations, because you've created an environment where the 100 of us are "all in this together". When teachers agree to standards for their team of students and consistently uphold those standards, the students want to please and work with you to reach the bar you've set for them.
ReplyDeleteA2: Teaming really helps with communication, because of the common plan time and common student body that you're working with. It's an accessible way to organize cross-curricular lessons as well. In terms of improving teacher quality, the door is wide open, but at the end of the day it's up to the individual educator to strive to improve their quality of instruction. Those invested in the job will strive to improve regardless if they're in a team situation or not.
Q3: Teaming definitely prevents students from getting lost in the shuffle or just being a number. The close proximity of classes and team meetings that allow for problem-solving with struggling students is very helpful.
Q4: If Smart Goals are what's directing/leading "How We Do Business" then Departmental teaming might be the way to go, allowing for common planning with the colleagues who are trying to achieve the same SMART GOAL as you. Or if classrooms were grouped together by department like you see in many high school settings, this could also be helpful.
Q5: Teaming makes communication with parents very easy. With powerschool, one teacher can relay the information to a parent about all the student's classes and with the common plan time, the team can discuss what the focus of the phone call should be prior to the contact. Teaming also makes Parent-Teacher Conference much more effective and time-efficient.
Q6: If maintaining teams is going to be difficult due to certain factors (student numbers, budget, schedule, etc.) then please consider giving grade level departments common plan time. It doesn't replace the benefits of teaming, but it's certainly better than having a potpourri of random planning periods throughout the building without the ability to collaborate with others.