Creating Master Schedules to Facilitate Team Approaches to Instruction: Grades K-12

What is Teaming?

Teaming is an opportunity for groups of teachers to meet at defined times during the regular school day to cooperatively plan the delivery of instruction. These meetings provide an opportunity to address factors that impact student achievement: developmental needs of students, best practices/lesson plans, curriculum, social-emotional learning, and intervention periods. With representatives of Special Education, English-language learners and 504, teaming sets the stage for ownership of an “inclusive school experience” or, in many cases, the “school-within-a-school concept.”

Common planning time should follow a defined agenda: (1) responding to unique student needs and data, (2) curriculum delivery and integration, (3) sharing best instructional practices, and (4) flexible, creative use of instructional time. Teams can develop a self-assessment inventory as needed. Professional development is essential to enhance effective use of common planning time.

When common planning time is built into the master schedule, teaming occurs in elementary, K-8, middle and high schools.

Elementary Opportunities

1. All teachers of a grade level can meet as a team when all students of that grade attend “specials” (art, music, physical education) at the same time. This determination is the initial step in building the school schedule. Ideally, all “specials” teachers are full-time or in the building at the same time. Teachers may focus on horizontal or vertical curriculum issues.
2. In upper elementary grades, teachers may regroup students on a fluid basis for remediation, enrichment, or acceleration in reading/language arts and/or mathematics.
3. In grades 4-6, two-teacher teams can be formed. Two teachers are responsible for the same students at the same time each day. Teacher #1 specializes in reading/language arts plus social studies while Teacher #2 is responsible for mathematics plus science. Teachers integrate concepts and skill development.
4. When there are three sections in a grade, all teachers typically teach reading/language arts. Following the reading/language arts block, teachers specialize in mathematics, social studies, or science. Teachers integrate reading/language arts with specific content areas.
5. For a variety of reasons, K-8 schools exist and are typically a hybrid of elementary and middle school models. Teams consist of 2-6 teachers plus Special Education or ELL. Subject matter specialization is more likely to occur in grades 7 and 8.

Middle School Opportunities

A team approach to instruction was a key component of the middle school concept. Drs. William Alexander, Donald Eichhorn, and John Lounsbury guided the creation of a sense of community that would address the unique needs of early adolescent students. They felt that the “junior version” of American high schools was not the answer. In all options presented, Special Education and English language learner teachers should be an integral part of teaching teams.

1. Teams can consist of 2-6 content-area specialists plus representatives of the Special Education and English language learner faculty.
2. In grades 4-6, two-teacher teams can be formed. Two teachers are responsible for the same students at the same time each day. Teacher #1 specializes in reading/language arts plus social studies while Teacher #2 is responsible for mathematics plus science. Teachers integrate concepts and skill development.
3. When there are three sections in a grade, all teachers typically teach reading/language arts. Following the reading/language arts block, teachers specialize in mathematics, social studies, or science. Teachers integrate reading/language arts with specific content area. Another option is for one teacher to be responsible for reading/language arts. A second teacher can be responsible for mathematics, and the third teacher can be responsible for social studies and science. If there are two three-teacher teams, one could teach social studies and the other teach science to both teams.
4. Four or five-teacher teams contain specialists for reading/language arts, social studies, mathematics, science, and possibly world language. In some cases, one semester of art and one semester of technology can be the fifth team component.
5. In some schools, six-teacher teams provide two periods of reading/language arts and two periods of mathematics daily plus single periods of social studies and science daily. This option presents greater opportunity for skill mastery and concept development.
6. When two or more teams exist at the same grade level, teachers have two non-contact periods, and there are sufficient seats in exploratory classes, the groups of teachers can be scheduled for common planning concurrently. One of the planning periods is labeled TM/DM; the other is usually reserved as a personal planning period. TM refers to interdisciplinary team meetings while DM represents department or subject-centered meetings. Teachers of the same subject of each team focus on content and data analysis. Team and department meetings typically occur on alternating days.
7. Schedules can also accommodate common planning time for exploratory teachers. Art, music, physical education, technology, family and consumer sciences, and world language teachers can plan special events, integrate curriculum, and support project-based learning activities. If the schedule permits, exploratory teachers can arrange double periods and regroup students independent of core placements.

High School Opportunities

1. Research suggests that successful transition to high school greatly increases the likelihood of students graduating within four years. Freshman academy models typically include English, social studies, mathematics, and science plus the possibility of a Special Education and/or ELL teacher. With an intervention period, the academy covers 5 of 7, 5 of 8, or 6 of 8 periods excluding lunch. Students participate in electives and other required courses in remaining periods.
2. Emphasis on college and career readiness has encouraged career pathways which focus on medical, leadership, teaching, technology, or business. In some cases, students select specific courses from pathway offerings throughout the four-year period. Teams, houses, or academies form interdisciplinary cohorts which include teachers representing specific pathways.
3. When multiple sections of a course such as Algebra II exist in the schedule, two sections of that course can be scheduled during the same period of the day. Two mathematics teachers plus a Special Education co-teacher can be assigned the same 45-50 students in the same period of the day. These teachers have opportunities to establish a calendar for the year and regroup students for each unit based on pre-unit assessments, learning styles, interest inventories, and standardized test scores. Following the unit exam, students are regrouped for remediation or enrichment; this process is repeated with each unit.
4. Teachers have unique opportunities for curriculum integration and flexible uses of time when the same 45-50 students are assigned to the same English 11 and United States history sections or the same geometry and physics sections for two consecutive periods in the day. Through effective use of planning time, lessons connect content as well as identify practical applications of the interrelationships between the two courses. In a traditional 7, 8, or 9-period day, teachers have the opportunity to arrange extended time periods, regroup students, and plan for large group instruction.
5. Credit recovery opportunities enhance the possibility of a student graduating within four years even if a student failed one or more courses. While some schools utilize software packages, others provide opportunities for students to enroll in English 9 and 10 in two consecutive periods. Students recover English 9 in semester I and continue with English 10 in semester II.

Students in need of recovering credit in two courses benefit from an academy approach that includes a counseling component. In this situation, one math teacher and one English teacher are  assigned the same 25-30 students for the same four periods of the day. Students are individually scheduled for required or elective courses in the remaining four periods.

Summary

Master schedules provide opportunities for collaboration and team approaches to instruction at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Students benefit when a cohort of teachers focuses on student needs, integrates content and skills, shares successful teaching strategies, manages time creatively. Such provision must be established at the outset of building master schedules.