TeamWork

While reading TeamWork: Setting the Standard for Collaborative Teaching, Grades 5-9 it hit me that this year will be my first year working on a cross-content area team. Previously I have always been on a team with the other teachers who taught the same curriculum as I did, such as ESL or reading. This year I am excited to work with a partner teacher with whom I will share students, and we will be able to collaborate together in order to create a more positive experience for our middle schoolers. I enjoyed reading TeamWork as I am getting ready for this new venture because it reminded me of certain concepts to discuss with my teaching partner.

From the beginning of the book they emphasized the importance of building relationships as a key to making collaboration work. They suggested meeting together to determine the team's core beliefs based on each member's non-negotiables, listening to each other's perspective when there was a conflict (p. 13). They listed their core beliefs that were pertinent to middle school in general, rather than content specific (pp. 14-16).

I especially liked how the team looked at each grade level and set goals for the year, depending on the strengths and needs of the specific group (p. 12). They did not just think of it in terms of 7th grade goals, but rather the current 7th grade class goals. Because each class is different, I appreciated how they not only considered state standards, but also what each group needed to succeed.

Another section of the book that I loved and marked to remind myself to discuss as a team was about establishing team classroom procedures (p. 23). When I started at my school last year I met with a couple of the teachers to see what their current procedures were in order to continue successful procedures that the students were used to. My new teaching partner and I have already started our dialogue about common procedures that we want to have. We can skim the list together and make sure that we have not forgotten anything.

They also provide forms and examples that will be especially helpful, such as making sure that they stayed on task to best-utilize the time they had to meet as a team (pp. 26-27) and inspiring students to set goals and be reflective of their learning (pp. 76-77).

A large portion of the book focused on collaborative units to help students make connections across content areas and to build anticipation, as well as the importance of reflective teaching. I loved how the book was full of collaboration in various forms specific to a middle school level, while also reflecting on how they were helping their students be prepared for a smooth transition to high school.