Team Teaching

Team teaching is traditionally thought of as when more than one teacher is involved in instruction within a classroom. There are a few different models of team teaching, and more than one model may be carried out within one class period. There are many positive effects associated with team teaching, but there are also many things that need to be considered before jumping into a team teaching approach.

1. Significance

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     Higher expectations are placed on students and teachers of the 21st century than ever before. Different studies have been conducted that address different teaching methods for helping students meet these expectations. Team teaching is just one of the methods that has been explored. Additionally, as more attention is being brought to including special education students into the regular classroom, debates ensue about how that can be done effectively. Often, team teaching is the answer.

   Types

   • Traditional team teaching is a model in which two teachers within a classroom take equal responsibility for teaching the students and are actively involved at all times. One may be teaching while the other is writing notes on the board.

     "Supportive Instruction" is a second model of team teaching in which one teacher teaches the material and the other teacher provides follow-up activities.

     "Parallel Instruction" is a form of team teaching in which students are split into two groups and each teacher is responsible for teaching his group.

     "Differentiated Split Class" team teaching involves splitting students into two groups based on achievement. One teacher provides remedial instruction to students who are struggling on a skill while the other teacher provides enrichment to those who have grasped the skill.

     The "Monitoring Teacher" is another form of team teaching. In this model, one teacher assumes the role of instruction while the other teacher walks around the class and monitors students' behavior and progress. Different types of team teaching may be used within one class period.

   Effects

   • When team teaching is organized and carried out effectively, positive effects are felt by students, parents and school faculty. Research shows that students taught using a team teaching approach have higher levels of achievement. There is also more contact with parents by teachers in a team teaching situation. Additionally, schools that employ team teaching have teachers who are more satisfied with their job, resulting in an improved work climate.

     Team teaching involves a group of instructors working purposefully, regularly, and cooperatively to help a group of students of any age learn. Teachers together set goals for a course, design a syllabus, prepare individual lesson plans, teach students, and evaluate the results. They share insights, argue with one another, and perhaps even challenge students to decide which approach is better.

     Teams can be single-discipline, interdisciplinary, or school-within-a-school teams that meet with a common set of students over an extended period of time. New teachers may be paired with veteran teachers. Innovations are encouraged, and modifications in class size, location, and time are permitted. Different personalities, voices, values, and approaches spark interest, keep attention, and prevent boredom.

     The team-teaching approach allows for more interaction between teachers and students. Faculty evaluate students on their achievement of the learning goals; students evaluate faculty members on their teaching proficiency. Emphasis is on student and faculty growth, balancing initiative and shared responsibility, specialization and broadening horizons, the clear and interesting presentation of content and student development, democratic participation and common expectations, and cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. This combination of analysis, synthesis, critical thinking, and practical applications can be done on all levels of education, from kindergarten through graduate school.

     Working as a team, teachers model respect for differences, interdependence, and conflict-resolution skills. Team members together set the course goals and content, select common materials such as texts and films, and develop tests and final examinations for all students. They set the sequence of topics and supplemental materials. They also give their own interpretations of the materials and use their own teaching styles. The greater the agreement on common objectives and interests, the more likely that teaching will be interdependent and coordinated.

     Teaching periods can be scheduled side by side or consecutively. For example, teachers of two similar classes may team up during the same or adjacent periods so that each teacher may focus on that phase of the course that he or she can best handle. Students can sometimes meet all together, sometimes in small groups supervised by individual teachers or teaching assistants, or they can work singly or together on projects in the library, laboratory, or fieldwork. Teachers can be at different sites, linked by video-conferencing, satellites, or the Internet.

     Breaking out of the taken-for-granted single-subject, single-course, single-teacher pattern encourages other innovations and experiments. For example, students can be split along or across lines of sex, age, culture, or other interests, then recombined to stimulate reflection. Remedial programs and honors sections provide other attractive opportunities to make available appropriate and effective curricula for students with special needs or interests. They can address different study skills and learning techniques. Team teaching can also offset the danger of imposing ideas, values, and mindsets on minorities or less powerful ethnic groups. Teachers of different backgrounds can culturally enrich one another and students.

     Advantages

     Students do not all learn at the same rate. Periods of equal length are not appropriate for all learning situations. Educators are no longer dealing primarily with top-down transmission of the tried and true by the mature and experienced teacher to the young, immature, and inexperienced pupil in the single-subject classroom. Schools are moving toward the inclusion of another whole dimension of learning: the lateral transmission to every sentient member of society of what has just been discovered, invented, created, manufactured, or marketed. For this, team members with different areas of expertise are invaluable.

     
     

     Of course, team teaching is not the only answer to all problems plaguing teachers, students, and administrators. It requires planning, skilled management, willingness to risk change and even failure, humility, open-mindedness, imagination, and creativity. But the results are worth it.