Hennessy Paper - Ashland University

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Ulysses S. Grant Middle School 8 Teaming Among many other things, Jackson and Davis (2000) claim teaching teams “provide a psychological home within the school that helps reduce the stress of isolation and anonymity.” (p. 125) Teams provide middle grade students with additional teacher attention (Jackson and Davis, 2000), and a sense to students that they are “an important part of an important group.” (George and Lounsbury, 2000, p. 14) Teaming also helps teachers develop, implement and monitor educational goals for their students (Rottier, 2000). As many teachers know, teaming is a process that takes time and patience to develop. There are stages that teams experience which begin with “teaming in name only” and progress toward full curriculum integration. In-between newly formed teams and long established teams there are a variety of issues. Successful teams function as teams, not as a group of individuals working in close proximity. Teams are not several teachers that share space, time, and students (Mizell, 2000), but share a mindset of ideas to best educate middle school students by increasing learning opportunities (Trimble, 2002). The teachers at Grant Middle School will be a collection of teachers from all three middle schools intertwined into fresh teams. The Transition Team proposed that teams have common instructional planning time, rules, procedures and space in the new building (Draft, 2001). Through creative scheduling, they will be able to interact with their colleagues to cultivate curriculum integration and build a sense of community (NMSA, 1995). They will have time together to coordinate activities, and to “select ideas for in-depth study from a vast range of information and materials that are genuinely important and worth knowing.” (NMSA, 1995,
Ulysses S. Grant Middle School 9 p.21) Since all of the teachers will be members of new teams, they will have work to do in establishing trust between each other, and a commitment to student needs. Curriculum and Instruction While curriculum for 6 th , 7 th, and 8 th graders in Ohio is, for the most part, predetermined by the State Department of Education, instruction is still the heart of every teacher. Instruction is not only what we do, it determines what kind of teacher we are, how we interact with students, if we love our job and if students remember us long after we’re gone. Instruction is the reason why many of us chose teaching as our career in the first place. The Transition Team proposed that instruction be authentic (Draft, 2001). If students don’t value the information or are unable to apply it to their life, it will have little real meaning to them and consequently, their efforts will be minimal. The way we instruct is “only limited by our imaginations.” (Clark, 2004, p. 4) Student-centered instruction, instruction that allows students to explore, discuss, and decide create opportunities for all willing students to succeed. Project options which allow students to develop their own way to display their knowledge gives students choices in their learning which allows them to become more vested in their own education (VanHoose, Strahan & L’Esperance, 2001). Technology will compliment instruction at Grant Middle School. New computers have been added in an expanded Technology room and in-class computers will be available in all 6 th grade rooms. The district began using an on-line attendance, grade book, and lesson plan program last year. At the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year it will be mandatory for all teachers to use the new system. The district has provided teaches with continued support and
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Hennessy Paper - Ashland University

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