Academic Teams are a unique part of the middle school experience for every student. They allow students the opportunity to grow physically and mature academically under the caring and watchful eyes of not just one teacher, as in the elementary school experience, but under the professional eyes of a team of several teachers.
Other elements of the teaming experience include the following points:
- Teaming is an instructional organization in which two or more teachers pool their resources, interests, expertise, and knowledge of students, and jointly take responsibility for meeting a significant part of the instructional needs of the same group of students.
- Teaming offers support and aid in attempts to provide better instruction and classroom management.
- Teaming allows for wider use of expertise and the special talents of different teachers.
- Teaming gives students and teachers the feeling of belonging to a small group of teachers who have common goals and whose members are supportive of each other.
- Teaming requires a common group of students who are assigned to a common group of teachers who share a common planning time.
- Teaming improves school discipline and student behavior.
- Teaming holds the instructional program together on a day-to-day operational basis. It is not the elimination of departments. Departments are needed to assure that there is a consistency in the curriculum.
- Teaming results in a more productive classroom/school environment. It has a potential for dealing with effective areas (human relations, responsibility, citizenship, etc.) in which middle school students have needs.
- Teaming permits the correlation of subject matter content and concepts through planned repetition and reinforcement.
- Teaming provides the opportunity to share ideas, plans, student information, and classroom observations.