Team teaching

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2002 : March : 9

Team teaching
By Casey

I am a second year teacher, and I have team-taught both years. It's awful! I would not recommend it to anyone.

The worst parts about it are:
1) Keeping up with 44 kids instead of 22.
2) Kids with pull-outs have
to be worked around with a double schedule.
3) If there is an assembly or a test or something else that shortens the day, a whole new schedule has to be figured out.
4) The amount of time wasted switching back and forth is absolutely incredible.
5) If you do something for one class, you have to do it for the other. Like for Valentine's day, I had to bake 50 cupcakes and fill

out 44 cards instead of 25 cupckaes and 22 cards. Same for art project materials, etc.
6) One teacher always gets stuck with a more stressful load. For instance, I teach all language arts and my coworker teaches math, science, and social studies. In this state, reading is tested every six weeks, and there is a HUGE writing test in March. math is only tested every nine weeks and social studies and science are not tested at all. So, every six weeks, I have to worry about 44 kids' reading test scores. I'm also stressing over 44 kids writing test scores. I also had to teach 44 kids writing...which meant I had to read stories, comment on them, help revise, conference, etc. with all those kids...it was EXHAUSTING. My teammate only has to worry about test scores every nine weeks.
7) I like to integrate the subject areas.
8) I love teaching all subject areas, and I'm missing out on three of them! I'm not even a language arts person...I'm more of a math and science person, but I got stuck with language arts.
9) If one class gets behind another in the lesson plans, it's hell trying to keep up with where everyone is.