Date

2007

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Teacher Education

Abstract

In my current job as a middle school teacher, the question of how to organize our middle school became an essential one in need of an answer. The organizational model chosen for our middle school was the team teaching model. The team teaching model was chosen to allow teachers to work more efficiently with one another to serve the needs of the students. For the purposes of this study, the team teaching model was defined as two or more teachers sharing common students and teaching different subjects to those shared students. Are middle school teachers able to effectively collaborate with one another to yield meaningful positive results in teaching and learning? This was the essential question that this action research project sought to answer. This study aimed to explore the ways in which a middle school team of teachers spoke with, treated, and met with each other, and how the treatment of one another affected the work that these teachers aimed to accomplish. The research pertaining to this study and the findings identified for this study both support the teacher team organizational model for middle schools. Both the research and the findings also agree on the progression of middle school teacher teams in the team members' level of communication and collaboration. This progression begins with discussions of policies, procedures, and students. Curriculum discussions come later, with critique and analysis of team members' curriculum and teaching practices coming much later, if at all.

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Thesis (M.A.) Teacher Education Department

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