The Principal’s Office

Is teaching the loneliest profession? Part Two

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In the previous column, I discussed the way schools used to operate: Teachers entered their classrooms at the beginning of the day, and except for lunch, didn’t surface until the end. There was minimal contact among colleagues. We’ve come a long way since then! Last time, I discussed teachers’ participation in regional conferences, workshops on the district level, as well as connections between schools and within schools. This time, I want to talk about team teaching, which I deem an invaluable way for educators to share, collaborate, and grow.

The first is interdisciplinary teaming. I’ve championed this instructional methodology throughout the years. I’ll use the example I’ve relied on in the past to illustrate precisely how this works. To have students study the French Revolution in ninth grade Social Studies, and then read Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” (which takes place during the French Revolution) in tenth-grade English is nothing short of ridiculous. Instead, two teachers should be paired for a double period with a large group of students and the two subjects should be aligned on one grade and taught in an interdisciplinary fashion. Yes, on some days, the two will want to teach their classes separately. However, when the subject matter lends itself to being integrated, the classes should be taught in tandem.

Another example I like to use: The Social Studies teacher may want to show a film, which takes two full periods. Both classes are brought together. While the film is shown, the English teacher may use this time for brief composition conferences with individual students. I must stress that interdisciplinary teaming is a scheduling phenomenon and doesn’t cost a penny more; yet the benefits it yields are priceless.

There are two fringe benefits of this form of teaming. First, this interdisciplinary approach lends itself to heterogeneous grouping; it’s not solely for honors students. Second, on occasion, an art or music teacher can “push in” occasionally to discuss the respective art or music of the historical period under study.

The second type of teaming I want to promote is for middle schools. I’ve mentioned this option before in previous columns. The major concern is that it is very easy for middle school students (as well as ninth graders in high school) to get lost in the shuffle and fall between the cracks. Instead of the old-fashioned “junior” high school schedule whereby all students have different, individual schedules, students are placed on teams of anywhere from 80-120 students. The size is a function of the number of the students on the grade and the staffing budget. A four- or five- member teacher team works with these students. It includes the core subjects (English, Social Studies, Math, and Science) and ideally a World Language (Spanish, French, etc.) teacher as well. The teachers “share” their students and communicate with one another. The gold standard is to include a reading teacher as a sixth member, although this addition has a price tag.

A third form of teaching is relatively new: Special Ed/Regular Ed teams, part  of inclusion scheduling in Special Education whereby some classified students are placed in mainstream classes — with two teachers co-teaching. Obviously, regular-ed students benefit as well by having two staff members in the class.

A fourth type is the non-special education extra support team. I observed this model in a Westchester school. In this enlightened district, four core teachers on each middle school grade were assigned one of their teaching periods in a “learning lab.” Teachers on the grade were able to assign struggling students to the learning lab where four core teachers serve as gatekeepers, did an intake on students who were referred, and determined a remedial “prescription” for each one. 

Fifth and finally, are intradepartmental teams. This one has a pitfall — but the dividends pay off. Suppose there are six math teachers in the high school. All six have their preparation (unassigned) period at the same time so they can work together. Of course the one negative of this arrangement is obvious; it takes one scheduling period out of circulation. Thus, no math classes are available on a certain period, making student scheduling a bit more difficult. Each of the core departments would have a different common planning period. For example, Math first, English second, Social Studies third, et c.

So we have come a long way from the time when teachers were alone and isolated. However, there is one common denominator for all of this collaboration and teaming to work: Teachers must have what’s called “common planning time” when they can discuss their students’ progress and  prepare lessons together. I hope that school leaders, shared decision making teams and scheduling committees in our schools will investigate these trends and determine which, if any, work for their respective schools.

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Dr. Steven Kussin was a high school principal for 21 years. You can hear his “CBS on Education” reports three times a day weekdays on WCBS Newsradio 880. He is also an adjunct professor at Hofstra University and an educational consultant for school districts around the country.  Contact him at sk3015@aol.com.