23 FACULTY TEAMwORK
Cohesive Middle School is a school most people would like to attend-or have their children attend. In the eight years since Kathryn Goode has been principal, real estate values in the
attendance zone area have increased dramatically, as well as increased property taxes. The school’s strength and desirability lie in its teaming. Ms. Goode is a firm believer in the philosophy of teamwork for middle schools and has staffed, budgeted, managed, and led her building accordingly. All students and staff are placed on teams at the beginning of the school year, and each team acts as a minischool within its grade level. She ensures that each teacher is granted one period per day for personal planning and one period to plan team activities and interventions. Cohesive Middle School’s reputation has gone beyond its local area. The school has even been recognized at the National Middle School Conference as being extremely effective. Team Wonder is an eighth-grade team and is staffed with science, social studies, math, and language teachers. The teachers, with the exception of the language teacher, have worked together for five years. The team dynamics have been spectacular. Team Wonder, like many of the other teams in the building, has established its own practices and traditions that enhance the education, pride, and sense of belonging experienced by students. This year, a change in the makeup of Team Wonder has introduced some serious problems, and its smooth-working, cooperative spirit is being tested. The problem stems from differences in philosophy that could affect one of Team Wonder’s most cherished traditions-Frontier Day. Each fall on Frontier Day the students rotate among various outdoor activities. A storyteller from the local library dressed in traditional western attire tells the dramatic story of a band of gypsies forging through the frontier. A farrier demonstrates making horseshoes and prope horseback riding technique. A local artist demonstrates candle making and allows the studen to make their own candles. The science teacher has students panning for gold-painted roe in a kiddy pool and measuring the mass of their treasures. The math teacher helpsstudents calculate the value of their findings as though they were living at different times throughout tory and then graph the inflation trends. Parents assist in the preparation of many crock of beanie weenies for lunch on the frontier.
Chapter 11: Administrator-Staff Relationships 299
year Frontier Day has been an overwhelming success and has served as a rite of pas- Each hose eighth graders fortunate enough to be placed on Team Wonder. This year, there sage for rift as the ning gets under way. is a Deior, the language teacher, is new to Team Wonder. She has worked on another eighth- Ms. at Cohesive for three years. Her previous team also had traditions, and she is unwilling grade m D. “] have lots of experience with this,” she insists. “I know how to work on a team to give . C need to do! She would ike Team Wonder to replace Frontier Day with the more tra-
and
onal. elassroom-based Westward Ho activity that her team did last year. Ms. Prior believes that dit arning takes place in a structured classroom setting. She guards her classroom instruc- the best She even expressed distaste for the student orientation assembly presented tional time carefully.. Tade level earlier in the year. “Such things waste valuable instructional time.” she argued. The other teachers on Team Wonder are concerned. Every new suggestion they make is ed by Ms. Prior’s objections. The other teachers have worked together so well for so long. nd they find the resistance frustrating. They have pooled their ideas, and all of them feel that the and ructured approach that Ms. Prior wants will block student creativity and dampen student enthu- struct siasm. The team members have talked about their differences of opinion, but they cannot come to an agreement about what to do-although they all agree that an activity of some sort is needed. As the daily debates about the unit on the American West become more and more heated. Ms. Goode is invited to the team meeting to offer advice. She does not relish her role as the arbiter because she strongly believes in letting the team come to a consensus on the plans for Frontier Day.
Suggested Learning Activities
Analyze the Case
1. How could Ms. Goode have prevented this problem from occurring? Considering her support for the team concept, why do you think she did not take this course of action?
2. How can the principal defuse the emotions of the teachers as she enters the team meeting?
3. What can Ms. Goode do to ensure that the team does not have further decision- making difficulties of this magnitude?
Discuss the Larger Issues
Is team teaching the most effective organization for increasing student achievement? At what grade levels?
. Does the most effective instruction occur in a seated, classroom situation or in a proj- ect such as Frontier Day? AS an administrator, how and to what extent do teacher personality and instructional style affect your staffing decisions?
