Notes from Teaming 4/14/04 Panel

Suzanne Solomon, Principal, Jordan
Amy Stock, 7th grade Math team teacher, JLS
Jan Prehn, 8th grade Social Studies teacher, Jordan
Kristen Missett, 6th grade Language Arts/Social Studies teacher, Jordan
Jeannie Forte, Drama teacher, Jordan
Julie Reis, parent, Jordan

Suzanne began by talking about her 20 years of experience in middle schools with teaming. She outlined how currently at Jordan there is "pure teaming" with "blocked periods" in 6th grade vs. very limited two-person teaming in 7th and 8th grades.

Suzanne shared the advantages of teaming from her perspective. Teaming creates connections between students, teachers, and parents. It allows students to feel connected to each other and to the teachers. Teaming allows teachers to meet regularly to discuss curriculum and student performance. They can also work together to set common classroom practices and coordinate assignments. Parents can more easily meet with all of their student's core teachers at one time.

She then described some of the challenges and trade offs. A "pure team" is made up of the same students and teachers. Given the current Class Size Reduction of math and English classes (24 students) and the District average class size for history and science (28.5 students), it has been impossible to have a pure team in 7th or 8th grade. However, if math and English were increased slightly and history and science were decreased slightly, a pure team could be created.

Suzanne explained some trade offs. "Blocked periods" mean that all students on a team attend team classes at the same time. Often the periods are arranged contiguously (e.g., the first four periods as in 6th grade). This has many advantages including flexibility for teachers to plan field trips, create longer lessons, bring the whole team together, and teachers have more common prep time together. The trade off is that it can limit the choice of electives students have. In order to provide the widest range of elective choices, teams can't have blocked periods.

Suzanne announced that there will be a pilot team in 8th grade next year. The team will be made up of four core teachers teaching five periods of 26 students per class. With this arrangement the teams will be pure but the periods will not be blocked and there will always be times when students are attending non-team classes. In order not to increase class sizes in other classes, an additional period of science and history will be created using Site Council and All Schools Funds. 8th grade parents will receive a letter in early May explaining the program and asking parents to indicate whether they want their child to be or not to be in the pilot program.

Amy Stock shared her experiences as the leader of a 7th grade team at JLS. She talked about how the teachers meet once a week to talk about curriculum, student performance, field trips, etc. They enjoy it because it gives them someone to talk to, someone to share resources with. They have done some things to establish team spirit e.g., the team has a name, the teachers wear team tee shirts, the students have team pencils, and have created a banner for their team. They have done some fun things like having a "no backpack" day where the teachers planned a day of activities that didn't require anything from a backpack.

The disadvantages Amy noted were that her team isn't "pure," that is, there are students who take core classes from teachers who are not part of the team. This means the teachers can't ever plan something for the whole team because there are students who can't attend. They also don't have a "block" schedule. This type of schedule means that the students attend the same classes at the same times and go to other classes (e.g., PE or electives) at the same times. This would give the teachers more flexibility to plan activities that take longer than one period. It would also give them more periods of common prep time. Even with these limitations, Amy said she would never want to go back to teaching outside of a team.

Jan Prehn related that she had been on a successful team when Jordan first reopened. She has continued to be teamed but only with one other teacher because of class size reduction. She is looking forward to being on a larger team at Jordan.

Kristen Missett talked about what she is able to do as a 6th grade teacher. Because 6th grade teachers can teach two subjects, there are only two teachers on a team. She and her teammate can discuss and agree on common philosophies on a variety of topics - from what headings should look like on all homework assignments, to how to handle late work, to what kind of rewards to offer. She feels with the additional time she and her teammate spend reviewing student work, fewer students "slip through the cracks" in 6th grade. Because 6th grade has a block schedule, they can plan field trips, they can extend lessons, and the teachers can meet as a team, they can meet as departments (math with math, English with English, etc.), and they can meet as an entire 6th grade. She feels blessed to have this option in 6th grade.

Jeannie Forte spoke about her support of teaming. She is currently serving on the District's Middle School Advisory Team (MSAT). This group is looking at a variety of models for teaming. She is very interested in finding ways to include the elective teachers in teaming. In some models, teams are part of houses where students take the same electives. For example, an Arts House might include Drama, Art, and Music classes. In other models, elective teachers are teamed together.

Julie Reis shared her older son's experience in Paly's TEAM. She also was a student on a team in high school. This team included English, Social Studies, Art, and PE. It took an interdisciplinary approach to history. When the students studied Ancient Greece they learned about the history, studied the art and architecture, read plays, and danced. Interdisciplinary themes, where subjects are linked, are another benefit of teams.

If parents are interested in learning more about teaming (or other middle school principles), they can borrow a book called, Turning Points, from the office. This book describes how ideas, taken from the original report from the Carnegie Corporation in 1989, have been applied and refined at model middle schools across the nation. There is a very good chapter which describes teaming and sites research that has been done.

Questions and Answers

1. Will math lanes be maintained on teams?
Both levels of math will be taught on a team. Currently individual math teachers teach both levels, so this is not a problem.

2. Can students take a higher grade of math and still be on a team?
Yes, as now, a 7th student will be able to take an 8th grade math class and an 8th grade student will be able to take a class at Paly. This applies to very few students.

3. Will there be electives that students won't be able to take if they are on the team next year?
Students on the team will be able to sign up for any elective they choose. As is currently true, there may be scheduling conflicts, which means the student may get their second or third choice. In this case, the parents would be offered the option of withdrawing from the team if the elective is a priority.

4. Will all 131 students mix with each other or will they stay in groups of 26?
Students will mix with each other and they will also be in other classes with students not on the team (e.g., PE, electives).

5. If every student on the team can take whatever elective they want, what is the trade off?
With this arrangement, there cannot be blocked periods. Teachers can't plan events that involve the entire team because there will always be students from the team attending other classes. Teachers will be limited to a single period instead of being able to do an extended lesson (e.g., longer science lab).

6. Will this arrangement [students being able to take any electives] continue beyond the pilot?
We don't know what teaming will look like beyond next year. We want to find ways to align elective teachers with teams. This might mean teams meet periodically with elective teachers or that an elective teacher is a member of a particular team. MSAT is exploring a variety of teaming models. Some form "houses" which include certain electives.

7. Why isn't there a pilot team in 7th grade next year?
Currently, there are 7th grade teachers who have expressed an interest in being on a team however not one from each of the four core subjects. There still may be a team in 7th grade if one can be formed soon.

8. What will teaming do for teacher retention?
It should improve it. Experienced teachers will appreciate the creativity that teaming promotes and new teachers will benefit from the mentoring that is available on a team.

9. Will there be consistency between teams?
A big advantage of teaming is that there is consistency within a team (much more than exists between classes now). Sometimes parents worry that there will be competition between teams. Suzanne said that in all her years of teaming that has never been a problem. There will be differences between teams but these are only in small things.

10. What will it be like for students who aren't on the team next year?
The team teachers have already talked about how they can share some of their ideas and resources with other teachers next year. Suzanne is arranging for someone to come to do team building activities. She has offered this to all departments as well as the team teachers.

11. How will students be selected for the team?
The teams will be heterogeneous (e.g., both high and low math students) with an equal number of boys and girls. Parents will receive a letter in early May describing the pilot. They will be able to respond that they would like their student to be on the team. If there are more students than team slots, there will likely be a lottery.

12. How does teaming save money?
It doesn't, it costs a bit more. Next year we are taking the first step and using outside funds to support teaming.

13. In the future, will students who are on a 7th grade team be on the same 8th grade team?
That hasn't been decided. There are advantages to having students "loop," that is, staying with the same group from 6th grade through 8th. This is something that we will be talking about as we go forward with teaming.

14. How does teaming differ from the Connections program at JLS?
Connections has fewer teachers, they do more project-type work, the students do not receive letter grades, and they do lots of interdisciplinary teaching.

15. What is the difference between "blocked periods" and "blocked days" (as they have at Paly)?
"Blocked days," at least at Paly, mean that students have 7 50-minute periods 3 days and 2 days they have 3 90-minute periods (and 1 55-minute both days). This allows teachers to have extended lessons. "Blocked periods," are like what the 6th grade has at Jordan. In this case, all 6th graders have their core classes during the first four periods of the day and then they all have PE, music, etc. during the last periods. In addition to allowing teachers to plan extended lessons, it gives teachers much greater flexibility to plan events (e.g., field trips) and it means that all 6th grade teachers have two common prep periods.

16. Will teachers on the team still be able to collaborate with their departments?
While it is important for team members to meet to talk about student and team issues, it is also very important for teachers who teach the same subject to be able to meet to talk about subject issues. This will most definitely still happen for team teachers.

17. Will new teachers receive mentoring?
Teaming actually makes mentoring a new teacher easier. A new teacher will have team members available to answer questions and provide support. In addition, they will still receive help from their department.

18. How will schedule conflicts be handled?
In most cases, students will get their first or second choice for electives so there shouldn't be any conflicts. If a problem does arise and the elective is a priority, the parents will be given the option of removing their student from the team.

19. Have you looked at other ways for students to make connections? What about Advisory?
The staff has discussed ways to improve the connections made in Advisory. They have talked about looping students in Advisory. This has the advantage of having the same students with the same teacher over 3 years. Currently, the students' Advisory teacher is one of their regular teachers. This means that they see this person everyday. If we changed to looping, they would only see their Advisory teacher once a week.

20. Why do students read in Advisory? They could be doing that at home.
Students actually read during SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) not during Advisory. Although some students probably do read at home, many don't. SSR is meant to model a behavior that we hope students carry on throughout their lives.

21. If we aren't going to create block periods, are there other ways to gain that benefit?
The team teachers have discussed the possibility of "sharing" periods. For example, one day students could have two periods of science and none of English and the next day have the reverse. It will take some creativity in scheduling this.

22. When will we get specifics about what will happen with teaming beyond this coming year?
MSAT is planning to visit some schools and make some recommendations. By next October, we hope to know enough to schedule another meeting to talk to parents. By next spring, we should have a big picture of where the District is going and where Jordan is going as well.

23. Can you briefly discuss the difference between our current "elective" program and an "exploratory" program?
When a school has blocked periods, they often offer an exploratory program. In some cases this means that students take classes in a pre-determined schedule - something like the 6th grade wheel of 6 classes that last 6 weeks. Often there are fewer classes for a longer period. For example, 3 classes that last 12 weeks instead of 2 classes that last 20 weeks. In other cases, students have some choice of which classes they take.

24. If the number of electives must be reduced, how will they be evaluated?
As the number of students decreases, we will have to begin looking at reducing the number of classes that are being offered. We have not begun the discussion about how this will happen. However, the reduction in electives has nothing to do with teaming. It will happen because of population, not teaming.

25. It seems like there are many issues that still need to be worked out. Would you be interested in putting together a group of parents interested in grappling with these issues?
That is a good idea. If you are interested in being involved in the discussions about teaming and how Jordan moves forward, please contact Suzanne Solomon.