A)
Chapter 11 discusses teaming within middle level schools. Wormelli explains the importance of teams in helping to make large schools feel smaller and more personal and to provide support and encouragement. In this sense, teams operate like the pit crew for race car drivers. In the chapter, Wormelli outlines several components to developing successful teams such as: subject integration, communication between members, planning periods and a common set of core values. By incorporating teams, students develop closer relationships with their teachers and peers, are not loaded down with major assignments at the same time, and are able to understand the correlation between the curriculum of other classes and the potential for real life applications. Also, teams are helpful to students because they establish similar rules and beliefs between all of the teachers so that the students are working with a similar set of guidelines in all of their classes. As he points out, it is critical that each team have a set of core values to "gain a sense of balance and direction." (139) Some important things to remember about successful teams is that each team should not have more than five teachers and that there should be a highly qualified teacher for each major academic subject. As a team, the number one priority should always be the students and how to effectively and successfully educate them.
B)
There were several things that many of us commented on from this chapter. For one, even though not everyone had teams at their middle school, the majority of the class agreed that structuring middle level schools into teams is important and can be extremely beneficial. Not only does it make students feel more connected to the faculty and the school, it puts everyone on the same page in regards to rules, beliefs, attitudes, etc. Another part that many people commented on was the section of the chapter that gave advice on how to successfully resolve conflicts between teachers. If the teachers are fighting with one another and not communicating, it is ultimately the students who suffer most. The third major benefit of having teams is that the school is structured in a way that makes communication easier. Not only is student-teacher and teacher-teacher communication increased, but so is parent-teacher communication. This can make a world of difference for student success and motivation.
Finally, many people in the class liked the idea of subject integration. They felt that the learning done in one class could help a student in another class that they are taking. As someone mentioned, the world is not compartmentalized so school shouldn't be either.
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15 comments:
This blog describes the chapter quite well and picks up on the important points. The First link leads to three interesting articles with useful information, such as the daily common time and team teaching allows teachers to design and plan their curriculum to connect with others. It also discusses Teacher empowerment, Interdisciplinary courses and group identity. I gained some insight by reading these segments as the examples were easy to understand.
The second link leads to the NMSA web site this I find personally helpful as I will be joining this organization at some point in the near future. I liked how the article mentioned Turning Points 2000 and reinforced some of the ideas that we have been learning about. In an adjoining link I found references to the book In This We Believe.
You did a great job in the reflection of outlining and summarizing the benefits of teams, as we all saw them. Also, your link on subject integration is a great resource; it addresses other pertinent areas of concern in other parts of the site.
Great work the links are very interesting to look at i specifically like the case study, because it shows that teaming is effective.
I like both links they really help to prove your point.
I liked the first link because it shows that teaming works. I like hearing that because that is how we are being taught to teach. I think that teaming can really make teachers feel more included and not alone in the school. I liked the second link because i never really had any inegrated learning in middle school or high school so i could definitly use a website like this to see how some teacher can really integrate other subjects into my own.
by: Angela L.
The first link about teaming discusses the story of one teacher who was at the end of his rope from teaching without teams. His school began using team teaching and his whole outlook on teaching changed. This website is a good real life example on how powerful team teaching can be in middle school. Anything in life is made easier when you have a group of people in the same situation who will help you in achieving similar goals. With team teaching, you can all work together planning a curriculum that will be affective for every student.
The teams link is awesome. It is a case study and provides an example of the things we are reading and how it works in real life. It takes the reading off of the paper and makes it real life. The subject integration link is a good one as well. It provides information about how we have created a school environment that places all of its emphasis on this high stakes testing and we lose sight of what the ultimate goal is, which is providing students with a real education that stops focusing on memorization for tests.
I thought that the links were extremely interesting, especially the piece about Thurgood Marshall Middle School and the team restructuring that occurred there. It seems that teaming provides both a better education for the students and better working environment for the teachers; this was reflective in the increases in attendance at the school. The NMSA link was also helpful because it reinforced core beliefs that we have been reading about in all three of our texts.
I like the subject integration link a lot. It is great for those who do not know a lot about subject integration and for those who want to continue it. I am a fan of subject integration and the site definitely appealed to me.
I like the first website about teaming. We hear so much about the effects of teaming, but it is certainly nice to see how teaming can work for schools. It is also nice to hear about schools improving.
I thought the first article was a classic example of how teachers can get rejuvenated when they start doing activities outside of their comfort zone. Team teaching allows the teachers work together and form the ultimate lesson for the students. It's so much better for the teachers when they challenge themselves, as well as the students. They surpass the burnout/boredom stage and enjoy seeing their hard work come together for the students.
I liked the link on integration. One thing I learned was that integration involves bringing the students into the panning process and asking hem what they'd like to learn. I think we could find something to teach in all of our subjects in any topic if we looked at it.
I really like your first link. I also like to see examples. This is a really good example of how teams can turn a school around. I like your second link because it makes up think because it points out several different views. It shows us different perspectives and lets us think for ourselves. Great job!
I like the article about team teaching and how much it can affect how a teacher feels about his/her job. It shows how important collaboration with other teachers is. It's good that the article shows how much the teacher's life changed after his school decided to use team teaching.
I really liked the example of the middle school in the first link. It went straight to the point and showed evidence of how teaming can help all middle schools, especially those who are having problems. Good job!
The article on teaming, like Audra said, was a good example for me about teaming and how it works. I think the biggest thing that makes teaming work is communication and teamwork. When I become a first year teacher, I know that I am going to need that extra support from the people on my team. One part in the article that I hope will happen when I am teaching is having guest speakers during team meetings. I don’t want to just have a meeting where we sit down and discuss things that are going on. I want to have team meetings where if we do sit down and discuss problems we look at different web articles about the problems or different PowerPoints on ideas that could help with our problems.
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