Hello!
I have a question about teaming for everyone. How long do you think it takes
to build a really "good" team? By good I mean everyone feels comfortable
expressing their opinions, takes on responsibility, and works as one unit.
Are there any tricks to building community with teammates? I know it takes
time, but if any of you have suggestions about how to make the journey a
little smoother, I'd be interested.
Two years ago, all three of my teammates opted out of the new program and
left; last year, two members of my team left to pursue other careers. Now
we have two new members on the team, and we find ourselves starting all
over again.
Thanks in advance for all the advice.
Ellen Berg
Turner M.E.G.A. Magnet Middle School
St. Louis, MO
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Hi, I don't think there's a set amount of time or a particular set of steps
or stages that you must go through to become a team. I do think that it
requires conscious attention to the actual process of building trust and
accountability. Setting norms and honoring them can really facilitate the
team's development.
I used to assume that the trust just evolved over time and that once you
had it, it would remain. Now I think that you must continually nourish the
relationships to keep the energy and spirit flowing in any team.
If I had to say what the prerequisites were for a healthy team, I think
I'd say mutual respect and honesty. If those elements are present, I think
you can work through all the stress and daily wear and tear.
A sense of humor that allows you to laugh together and at yourselves is
very helpful too.
It sounds like you've been through this process quite a bit yourself. What
factors do you think matter most?
Deborah Bambino
Philadelphia
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I think honesty is one of the most important factors in whether a team thrives
or perishes. I'm the type of person who pretty much says what I believe,
and I always assume that others are doing the same. I have no problem with
someone if they disagree with me...after all, there are many different ways
to look at the same problem, and others might have more experience or a
different, more relevant perspective. However, I know that others don't
always speak up when they don't agree with a particular decision the team
has made. In the long run, they either feel resentful or unheard, and it's
harder to collaborate.
I also think that true compromise is important. I once worked with someone
who believed that compromising on anything was doing it her way. I don't
have to tell you that caused a lot of problems!
I sometimes feel very alone in my work. I see too many others who are jockeying
for position and power or looking to do the least amount of work possible.
The idea of a dream school was brought up earlier. My dream school would
include a community of teachers who collaborated to help students reach
their potential. Can you imagine what our schools would be like if all teachers
worked together to focus their efforts on student achievement?
Ellen Berg
St. Louis, MO
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>I have a question about teaming for everyone. How long do you think
it >takes to build a really "good" team? By good I mean everyone
feels >comfortable expressing their opinions, takes on responsibility,
and >works as one unit.
I would have to say that the time thing can really vary. I don't mean to
discourage anyone, but if all the participants don't truly want to build
that team, it isn't going to happen. Everyone has to buy into the concept.
If you've all got the desire, you're halfway home.
>Are there any tricks to building community with
>teammates?
I think the first thing we did was reach general consensus on some basics
about how our meetings were going to be handled. We also talked and talked
to discover similarities and differences in our teaching styles. We decided
how we were going to handle late work and some general discipline policies
that were within everyone's comfort zone.
It really helps if your administration looked at personalities and styles
when putting the teams together. The first year we teamed we did some extensive
personality questionnaires that our principal used, among other things,
to put our teams together. He did a super job of balancing the teams. Since
then, things have been more haphazard. Of course, the bottom line is you've
got to work with what you've got. The very first year our building teamed,
all the teams (just teachers, no kids) visited a challenge course where
we had to complete all sorts of tasks as a team. It was fun and really gave
us a quick insight as to how we could work together.
Rebecca Duncan
7th grade history/English
PS Consider this my introduction to the list.
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Hi,
My name is Naomi Smith and I am an AP at a large middle school in Washington
Heights in New York City. I started as a teacher when the school opened
about 9 years ago.
Teaming is important. Teaming is hard. I have found that teams work best
when people have chosen to work together. However, as an administrator I
can sometimes make a good suggestion that seems unlikely and when people
try the team, it really works. (Sometimes its a flop.) Having someone like
you, who has worked successfully on a team, is really important too. And
of course we face so much teacher turnover that like you, teams have to
keep starting all over!
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Honesty is mega important. it is also very important to give youself tme
to become a team. I t does not happen overnight. That means that you have
to designate time for team building. smeone needs to take the lead. I think
there are lots of team building things you can do as adults that are fun
but also need all of you to be a brilliant success.
My first example is something I learned this summer in Bloomington, Indiana
at the Harmony School where I was trained as a facilitator of a Critical
Friends group.
It is a group juggle. Start with one item, then two and then gradually build
up. Talk about what worked well...what didn't ..what could we do to improve....support
each other...actively listen..
Do give it time
Kathy Renfrew
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Kathy,
You raised a key point about the debriefing of team building activities.
If you just do fun activities without the conscious conversation about the
dynamics and lessons to be learned, you lose the real long term value of
the activities.
Having the conversations, coupled with the fun and linked to the investment
in the work that a Critical Friends Group represents, is a winning combination.
Deborah Bambino
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The debriefing in any activity such as the group juggle or a CFG meeting
is crucial. It doesn't always go as you want or expect but the feedback
and discussion is a necessary part of the process.
Interestingly enough we had our first whole staff CFG yesterday which I
facilitated. I was nervous even thought are whole teaching staff is 7. So
as we went through one of the protocols, someone spoke out of turn. I reminded
them that it was not their turn to speak. I knew I was too abrupt by the
response I got. Anyway the point I am trying to make is that the discussion
that followed was almost as /if not as valuable as the original topic for
discussion.
Sorry for the rambling. I am just agreeing again with Deb on the need for
debriefing.
Kathy
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My experience with building a great team -- be forced to rely on each other.
More specifically, the best team relationship I have had in my career developed
in less than one school year. After spending some time together after school
hours and after finding a need to lean on each other for support, we began
to build a professional relationship that has come to mean a great deal
to me professionally.
We spent time with students building their team skills (in a forest) and
this required the teachers to be solid & secure in each other. We also
spent time with the students whitewater rafting... we all had to rely on
each other. It was a great experience and it affected our professional relationship
more than I thought it would!
Greta Heady
Louisville
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Regarding the "building of teams," one of the most important aspects
of this is continual communication with the team leaders from the administration
of the building. There has to be an open trust and the administration has
to be willing to listen to all, while the team leaders have to be willing
to provide solutions and suggestions along with their "venting."
Three years ago, we made the conscious decision to look to our team leaders
as instructional leaders, and we modeled for them at our team leader meetings
open dialogue around instructional issues, not business issues. We then
asked them to do this twice a week with their teams. We provided them support
by listening, giving them training, and listening some more. We also shared
this expectation with all the team members. It seemed to work, and our school
now uses e-mail for MOST of the "busy conversations" to sometimes
cause team members not to want to attend team meetings.
The down side of a team is when a group of teachers form a team of friends,
but not a team of professionals. Then, they seem to band together around
petty issues, instead of the real issues. When we have this happen, we struggle
with whether to disband the team or teams that are doing this. Will they
have an adverse affect on the other teams? Thoughts?
Michelle Pedigo
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A good team is one that is supportive of each other. It is one where all
the teachers feel free to give suggestions. I think one can have a good
team from the very first year that they are together if they are willing
to collaborate, support, and be honest with each other. We have potluck
meals once a month in order to build relationships---those who are not cooks
bring in cups, etc.
Sue Chanda
Louisville
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As regards adding an extra teacher, why not add something different. Middle
school philosophy suggests reducing the number of groups of students teachers
teach and therefore reducing the number of teachers, students see. At our
school we combine English and Social Studies into a single class called
humanities. Our students have humanities class about 11 or 12 periods a
week. Our teachers also teach 25 periods a week. So, combined with 2 periods
of advisory, that all teachers have, humanities teachers teach two sections
11 or 12 periods each, and that makes 25 periods.
Naomi Smith,
New York City
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Greetings to all with my belated introduction. I teach Family & Consumer
Science in a small district just outside Phila. We are actually a junior
high but this year we changed to 3 small learning communities of 7th and
8th graders as well as the group of 9th graders. I see all the 7th &
8th graders for 22 days/year. We have no bells either--a surprisingly pleasant
change.
I taught for several years then stayed home with my 5 kids for 15 years,
worked a variety of part time and temp jobs and just went back to teaching
@ 5 years ago. The students are certainly different than they were.
My concern is that teams very rarely include the related arts personnel.
We teach when you all have prep, yet our subject areas overlap yours in
many ways. We are an academic area, yet thought of only when you are in
need of food, laundry or a safety pin.
I just finished a lesson on food labels from the consumer and nutrition
aspects and that very day the science teacher gave them an assignment about
additives and preservatives found on food labels. If she had talked about
what she was doing I could have worked in tandem with her. Pet peeve, sorry.
Looking forward to all the input on this list,
Elaine Kaskela
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Welcome Elaine,
You've struck a nerve! Last year I was supposed to teach tech in support
of student projects in their other subjects. I was very excited about this
new class until I got my roster...I did not attend any team meetings because
I was the prep teacher. I was constantly chasing folks down to try and find
out how I could support them by doing more than babysitting or playing games
on the computers.
I was very frustrated in this position and recognized that neither the students
nor my colleagues took my class seriously.
After I got over my initial shock, I realized that it was the way preps
are organized that institutionalizes their second class status. I pressed
our administration to roster specials so that I/we would see less kids more
frequently this year. My hope was that I'd have a better chance to really
connect with kids with this type of schedule. I'm not sure how to get the
teaming going since the other teachers are so busy.
How does your roster look? I taught 310 kids a week : (
How do other schools deal with this issue?
Deborah Bambino
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Deb,
Our district has 2 junior highs whose schedules were identical--6 day cycles.
All the 7th and 8th graders took FCS (Family & Consumer Science--Home
Ec) for 2 days/cycle for a marking period. We backed up with shop, art,
music. This year we went to a non cyclic schedule where we see all the kids
for a marking period (I have them 22 days, the other 22 are in a different
room and subject areas within FCS). Because of this change, and because
our 7th grade is the largest in our history (by over 50 kids) my classes
are much larger.
By June I will have seen @475 kids plus my 9th grade majors that I have
every day for a period. This gives me an advantage in some ways, though.
I know every student in the building. I know their friends, families, strengths,
senses of humor, facial expressions. I also am one of the few that are asked
to attend IEPs. (We have @22% SpEd)
This year I am having a problem with a few boys in one particularly large
class that are so immature it is off the register. By the time they start
to come around to my style of classroom management, they leave me for the
next class in rotation.
Elaine Kaskela
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Deb,
This year our related arts classes reorganized. We have a four block day:
three blocks for core, one block for related arts. Each homeroom has one
related art per quarter, so each of our related arts teachers is only seeing
75 students a day each quarter. So far they are much happier, and the kids
are getting more out of their related arts classes. Last year they had all
350 of the kids for the whole school year.
We haven't quite figured out how to plan together, but one possible solution
might be to take a part of the monthly staff meeting to work in teams with
the related arts staff or even to have each team give a report about what
they're doing at the moment. It's a little easier for us to do that since
(at least the sixth grade...) we are working on interdisciplinary thematic
inquiry-based units. Anyone who sees our hallway or talks to our kids would
have to be blind or deaf not to know what's going on.
We do try to give the related arts teachers copies of our completed units
so they can see what specific skills we're covering.
Ellen Berg
St. Louis, MO
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Hi, I liked knowing everyone too, but I didn't feel I knew them well, until
the year was half way over. I only saw half of my kids two times a week.
My biggest concern was the lack of collaborative teaming with other teachers.
In another posting, a teacher said that the major subject teachers' projects
were overflowing into the halls so anyone could see them. I like the sound
of this level of work, but picking up themes and following up on them is
not the same as actually being part of the team planning.
I taught major subjects for 11 years before switching to a tech prep position.
I really felt like I was chasing down my colleagues in my efforts to support
their work. Students were often sent late or removed from my "prep"
class. During report card conferences, very few parents wanted to speak
to me. The overall message was that my class didn't really matter because
it was a minor.
In all fairness, I'd have to say that there wasn't very much collaboration
going on between the other teachers either, but as a prep teacher, I was
shut out completely.
Are other folks experiencing success with full team collaboration? How are
you organized to keep the lines of communication open?
Deb
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I'd like to mention one thing that worked in my school last year for teaming.
The whole faculty examined student data and identified the most important
needs - reading and writing. Teams met as study group once a week for an
hour. They researched and hammered out strategies to address these student
needs. Mostly, they grew and developed as teachers as they learned from
current research and from each other. Each team kept a log of every meeting
and these were shared.
The student writing scores showed a phenomenal rise on the state test -
this single school had more students scoring in the highest category (22)
than the entire system of 17 middle schools did in the previous year! Teacher
collaboration works when structured.
Anne Jolly
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For the past 5 years,I taught at a school that had very successful teams
across 3 grade levels. Of course, there were personality differences and
some teams worked better than others, but I attribute their general success
to the fact that there was a substantial amount of standardization developed
by the building's academic achievement committee.
For example, graphic organizers and critical thinking skills were introduced
and reinforced at certain times to establish consistency across all grade
levels. The Teams voted on names which geve them an identity. There was
little competition between the teams but on occasion that would occur. The
Team became a family. Field trips were easier to plan, student support was
readily available because of the communication afforded by the teaming.
The drawback were the teachers who just wanted to put in their 6 hours and
not be emotionally or intellectually involved. That meant that the other
team members had to pull a bigger weight.
Sharon Greenberg in Seattle
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Sharon Greenberg mentioned her school's academic achievement committee in
her last posting (about Teaming). I'm wondering how that committee was set
up, how it arrived at its decisions, and how staff responded to its recommendations
(for instance, the graphic organizers).
thanks,
Alayne Armstrong
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In response to the question RE: academic achievement committee... I had
a very savvy principal who recognized the movers and shakers in the building.
We all have to be on some committee but she invited certain people to be
on the ac. achev. committee and anyone else who wanted to join was invited.
The principal also spent quite a bit of money on prof. development. We had
training from the "Teaching for Understanding" group out of Harvard
and from a regional trainer, Nancy Skerritt, on graphic organizers and thinking
skills. The training sold most people on the skills ideas. The TFU throughlines
did not generalize in the building but the training was not thorough.
The committee worked long and hard and with the silent directive from the
principal, the building accepted the plan without challenge. All the standardization
that occurred only seemed to benefit the curriculum and the school in general.
Our syllabi were similar, the skills were mapped, the standardized assessments
in place, even the emergency evacuation plans were practiced to ad nauseum.
It was all a lot of work and buy in but in the long run it allowed for innovative
curriculum to be developed.
During my time there a service learning program was put in place, the student
organization was humming, the teaching teams were firmly in place, and the
building's motto was "Together We're Better." The principal the
key but the teachers did all the work. The teams voted on all the changes
and there was concensus.
Hope that wasn't too long of an explanation.
Sharon in Seattle
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Ellen,
I too am in a new team this year after being with my previous team for 8
years. We were so successful that we could read each other without speaking.
Those were the days. Anyway, my new team is going great. I think the key
to success is to be honest,fair, and for goodness sake-no dictators.
I was selected team leader, but we all usually agree on most issues. We
decided that a two-thirds majority would prevail and even though we laughed
about it, we have stuck to it. So far we have had no conflicts. On the duties
we must perform such as phone calls for detention, calling the teacher hot
line and others; we just compromised. I hate calling the hot line so my
language arts teammate volunteered to call for the team. She is not able
to stay for detention due to tennis (coaching), so the social studies teacher
and I pick up the slack.
The bottom line is to come to some sort of agreement and not agree to something
and then resent the others for having to do it. We are very honest with
each other. I hope this helps.
Melba Smithwick
Corpus Christi, TX
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hi..I love teaming. My first 3 years of teaming were perfect. We had a 3
woman team, all dedicated to teaming and our students. The first year we
learned a lot about each other. Had a few tears. But it is like a marriage.
It does take time and work. Give and take. That is the important thing.
You do have to give up a few things that you may be used to doing....this
year I gave up my homework contract (I've used the same one for 10 years)
but my new teammate wanted to use hers. I really think it takes a real desire
to team. to work together. No magic words.
I've started over many times as we had a lot of turn over at my school for
several years. It always worked but sometimes certain personalities don't
mix. Starting over isn't so bad....maybe you'll find that magic team this
time!!!good luck.
jeanne phillips
San Diego
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I'd love to share some of the team-building ideas my principal, a colleague,
and I came up with at a Young Adolescents Seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville
this summer. Listed below are a few, quite painless ways to bring staff
closer together:
#1 Create a "You Deserve A Pat On the Back" board/ wall display
in the Teachers Lounge. Cut out hand shapes w/ positive comments regarding
colleagues efforts and accomplishmens are placed on the board/ wall display
anonymously. It's a great way to publically show appreciation of colleagues!
#2 Create Display Areas for "Quotes of the Week" and "Special
Persons." The quotes & persons recognized should be changed frequently.
Displays should be in a place for ALL to see & MANY staff/ students
should be recognized.
#3 Recognize "milestone" events such as birthdays, etc. We just
had a "Birthday Bash" for a staff member who just turned 50 which
included: MANY treats in the lounge, balloons & streamers in the teachers
lounge, many staff members wearing black clothing, etc. Lots of laughs wee
had by many that day (including th "Birthday Gal!").
We have a bunch more activities we plan on "plugging into" our
school year, so feel free to e-mail me personally & I'll share more
ways to get your staff to knw each other better.
Ralph A. Thiel
Carl Traeger MS
Oshosh, WI
rattchr@webtv.net
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Regarding teaming, I would contend that we have several "teams"
in a middle school.
1. The interdisciplinary team within which teachers plan. It should be the
mission of the school to put systems in place to perpetuate dialogue around
broad concepts so that interdisciplinary connects are made around concepts
for kids. This creates some "velcro" for their learning.
2. Content area teams. It is imperative that there is time allotted for
people who teach the same content area to discuss issues commmon to the
area in which they teach. We have substituted these meetings in place of
our faculty meetings and used e-mail for the "business stuff".
We've also developed a form that encourages insight by them established
around the goals that were established within their content for long-term
student achievement. This form is forwarded to our School-Based Decision-Making
Council.
3. Finally, teachers serve on "teams" when they serve on committees
for school improvement. This continues at our school always. We also have
parent and student representatives on these "teams".
It is the administration's responsibility to support and develop relationships
on each of these teams so that people will fill comfortable enough to "group
think" and accomplish a lot.
Michelle Pedigo
Glasgow, KY
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Hello all,
I am a middle school principal in California in what is known as an "unteamed"
school! We are looking for a teaming model that will include all teachers
- probably closer to some type of block scheduling. Jerry Rottier describes
one in his book on Teaming, called the Humanities/ Technology Team. Also,
I just read the digest collection of emails on Teaming from all of you,
but did not find much detail on team configurations school-wide except for
Michelle Pedigo's "several teams" entry. So, I decided to put
my questions to all of you!
My questions to any and all (and there are certainly alot of you as evidenced
by my active email which I haven't gotten around to digest-ing!) of you
are these:
1. Has anyone tried the Humanities/Tech model described by Rottier?
a. if so, how has it worked, any suggestions??
2. What is your favorite model of teaming which includes all teachers? The
more detail the better - if it is long, send it to me only!
3. Best steps to take in moving from unteamed to teamed from personal points
of view - I have read the literature and would enjoy knowing the personal
experiences from teachers and principals who have successfully made the
transition from "un" to teamed!
By the way, I have enjoyed this group so far - very thoughtful and committed
to middle school kids. I will try to find the time to contribute instead
of just enjoy your great discussions.
Thanks for any information and/or advice you all can offer.
Betsy Burch
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Welcome Aboard, Betsy!
I'm glad you're reviving the teaming conversation as I think there are still
lots of aspects that we haven't discussed.
I am a middle school principal in California in what is known as an "unteamed"
school! We are looking for a teaming model that will include all teachers
- probably closer to some type of block scheduling.
You mentioned a book by Rottier a few times in your posting, what's the
title, please?
John Lounsbury of NMSA steered me toward a book called The Camel Makers
at last year's convention. It's a parable about team building that you might
find useful.
What's the climate like at your school? Are people interested in forming
teams? Are some people already collaborating and or sharing students?
I'm coming from a District where teams were mandated a few years back and
I rarely see any evidence of teaming in more than name only. Teams seem
to be folks who may teach the same kids and have a common meeting time.
In their meeting time they receive a regular dose of announcements and administrivia
as reported by their "team leader".
One of my goals this year is to work on actual team building and leadership
training in the twelve schools in our Cluster.
Deb
------------------------------------------------------
Hi Deb,
Thanks for your response. First, the book title, etc. Implementing and
Improving Teaming: A Handbook for Middle Level Leaders (1996), Columbus,
Ohio: NMSA the author is Jerry Rottier. Thanks for your suggestion of The
Camel Makers. Is it an NMSA publication? (See
this website. Daniel Kain is the author and it IS an NMSA
publication.
My faculty does a lot of collaborating in various groups which you so aptly
called "teams". However, their perception of "teaming"
is fairly negative as a result of mandated teaming at the other 3 middle
schools in my district. My faculty objected to the kind of teaming that
was mandated, ie, PE and Exploratory teachers have the kids while the academic
teams have their 75 minute planning time, because some of my strongest teacher/leaders
are PE and Exploratory teachers and felt very strongly that their role in
the school would be demeaned in that model of teaming. I agree with your
observation, which my faculty also made, that few teams really operated
like teams, but were simply teachers in each core area who taught the same
kids.
As for small pockets of teaming at my school, my ELL teachers team and some
of my Language Arts and History teachers work together to parallel one another's
content area - ie, novels that match a period in time, etc. But, without
common planning time, those efforts at collaboration are fairly superficial.
Some of my math teachers who do math journals have worked with my Language
Arts teachers on writing skills. In addition, we are on year-round-education
and each of our tracks are really "schools within a school" and
meet to discuss and plan for the support of our at-risk kids.
Currently we are exploring ways to bank time to create a Common Planning
time that could be used in a variety of ways. With all of the demands of
rapidly increasing accountability in California, my teachers agree that
they need more than an hour or so in the late afternoon to work together
on the various aspects of accountability, teaching to the standards, etc.
The Humanities/Technology Team model that Rottier presents in the book I
mentioned is intriguing to a number of my teachers who see it as a way to
create time to work together without excluding one group of teachers. Hence,
my question to the listserve group as to whether or not anyone has actually
tried it or a similar model.
I would love to continue the dialogue with you and others who have tried
or thought about teams which include all content area teachers and a structure
which builds in common planning time for the teams.
Betsy Burch
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I'd like to suggest that unless you and I create a classroom culture that
merges performance, achievement, discovery, exploration and curiosity, the
business world will still be sitting with only 5% of their workers offering
innovative solutions in shaping the world of the 21st century. This is no
small task for teachers.
Some eductors have a natural affinity to one side of this (performance/achievement)
or another (discovery, exploration, curiosity). That is where the power
of "teaming" comes in -- each of us taking our strengths and collaborating
to produce a classroom environment that will eductate the thinking and learning
of the whole child.
Brenda Dyck
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Betsy Burch wrote: "I would love to continue the dialogue with you
and others who have tried or thought about teams which include all content
area teachers and a structure which builds in common planning time for the
teams."
Betsy,
If I am reading the above correctly, (after all, it is morning!), you are
asking about teams that include a member from each core content area with
a common planning time. If so, I am working on a team like that now.
We are on a block schedule. All of the sixth graders go to related arts
during second block, and we meet during that block at least three days a
week, sometimes more if we have parent conferences to do. It is heaven.
We plan activities, work on discipline issues, complete district paperwork,
and examine student work together. We use the time to call students with
"personal issues" in to a meeting with all four of us to discuss
what the problem is and how we can help that student choose more appropriate
behavior. The students quickly learn that we work together.
My brain is a little fuzzy right now, but if you have specific questions,
I'd be happy to answer them!
Ellen Berg Turner
M.E.G.A. Magnet Middle School
St. Louis, MO
PS--We're trying to set up monthly content-area team meetings at least once
a month. I think it's important to meet more often than that...do others
have a good plan?
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[Posted by John Norton]
I saw this on another listserv and thought of the discussions here about
teacher teaming and collaboration. This is quoted from the October 9, 2000
issue of The New Yorker:
There's an old (business) school stunt, in which a professor presents his students with a jar full of jelly beans and asks them to guess how many there are. Their answers are always wildly inaccurate, but the average of those guesses the class's collective guess is invariably within three per cent of the correct number.
A couple of years ago, Norman Johnson, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, sought to quantify this phenomenon in an experiment of his own. Using a computer simulation, Johnson built a maze that could be navigated via many paths some shorter, some longer. He had a group of individuals wander through the maze one by one, trying to find their way out in the least number of steps. The first time through, it took the average person 34.3 steps to get out. The second time through, it took the average person only 12.8 steps.
Johnson then took all the choices each person had made at every turn in the maze and went with the majority vote, to arrive at what he called the group's "collective solution." That path was just nine steps long. In subsequent trials, Johnson found that the bigger and more diverse the group, the smarter the collective solution was. In groups with more than twenty individuals, in fact, the collective solution was the best one possible.
James Surowiecki