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Successful Middle School Teaming schedule?Date: March 5, 2010 by chris ILG
 Our middle school went to a teaming schedule. As a result, there are 5 periods for "Core" courses and 2 periods for "Activities." Choir, Band, and orchestra are "activities" and are scheduled at the same time. Membership numbers are actually great. The problem is this - the high number of students taking music during the 1st activity period of the day means that all these music students have to be put somewhere in the second aactivity period of the day. The only choices are Art, Phys Ed, and study hall. The administration wants to move 8th grade choir from the morning (where I, the high school choral director can teach it) to the afternoon (where I cannot teach it). They will also split the 6th grade choir into a morning choir and afternoon choir and do the same with the 7th grade. Question: Does anyone have a successful experience with teaming where choirs do not have to be split into 2 different semester choirs or 2 different year-long choirs?
Jaime Alberts on March 8, 2010 6:04am
It sounds to me like the issues not teaming, but when the activity periods fall. If both activity periods were in the morning, it'd be a non-issue, yes?
on March 8, 2010 3:49pm
A few years ago we had to get rid of teaming because of budget problems. Though there was some complaining, it has had zero effect on test scores. Test scores, in fact, have risen. I don't suppose this will help your situation, but, in my experience, teaming is something that looks good on paper and makes some peole feel good while having little or no positive impact on instruction..
I think this is a totally negative sitiation since the choirs will be split based on their team and not on any instructionally valid concept. I have watched schools and teachers work and work to make a concept (teaming, block schedule...) work before they finally admit that it isn't really working. When the concept trumps the needs of the students something is wrong.
I would suggest you get a copy of the proposed schedule and see if you can find a creative solution to the problem. I was actually succesful with this once. It is a long shot, but worth a try. In my experience, the people who run schools are not always as creative as the fine arts teachers and sometimes miss workable solutions. In the meantime try to make the best of the situation until the next big idea comes along.
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