Principal: Teacher teams lead to success
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Foster Middle School's principal on Wednesday said he plans to keep using a teaching model designed to create smaller classes into the 2010-11 school year.
Teaming, or pairing core academic teachers so they have the same students throughout the day, has been in place for the school's gifted and talented students since the 1990s, Principal Sedric Clark said. The school expanded the concept this year to all students.
Based on the "middle school concept," teaming helps schools seem more intimate and helps teachers and students develop a strong sense of identity and builds relationships, according to research by the National Middle School Association.
There are four teams at each grade level: one pre-Advanced Placement, one gifted and talented and two traditional teams. Each team has 75 or fewer students, making class sizes smaller, Clark said.
"Limiting teachers with a certain number of students ... it tends to help student success," Clark said. "The teachers have the same planning period. They can schedule parent conferences together and meetings with students. They work together to identify student strengths and weaknesses. The students are more focused because the teachers are more focused."
Janice Royal, a sixth-grade history teacher, said teaming also helps the teachers coordinate classroom lessons.
"If I'm teaching a lesson on Egypt, then the language arts class can have the students write a paper about Egypt, and the science class can do a lesson on mummification," she said. "The kids start to understand that it's not just about history; the lesson is important in all areas. It makes the concept easier to grasp."
Pine Tree Independent School District uses teaming at the middle school in its fifth- and sixth-grade classes.
"It really creates a smaller learning community where the teachers get to know the students very well," said Vickie Echols, district spokeswoman. "The students get to know each other better, and there's a rapport and camaraderie as far as relationships go."
Pine Tree's teams of teachers meet after school to share ideas and discuss specific student problems. Teachers also meet with others in their subject area daily to share ideas, Echols said.
"There's a subject focus, and there's a student focus," Echols said. "Teaming is very positive. It's a good model for schools."
Foster Middle School teams meet during conference periods and after school. Subject area teachers also meet once a week, Clark said.
"It really makes us a school within a school," he said. "When you have 75 students or less in each team that teachers are responsible for, it really improves your success."
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