My team is considering departmentalizing next year where we pair up and one teacher does reading/soc. studies and the other does math/science. The problem is most of us lean toward wanting reading/social studies. That is my "automatic" preference, but after thinking about it I wondered if math/science might be a little easier since there is so much grouping involved in reading? I'm also curious about scheduling. If anyone team-teaches in elementary, could you give me any tips/advice? This is fourth grade, BTW. Thanks!

[Jennifer in OK]

I went through this experience this year. There are pros and cons to it...like anything else in life! I was the LA/SS teacher so I was teaching 4 different subjects, grading, planning, etc. more than the Math/Science teacher. I did as much integrating as possible. We had scheduling issues at first (Spec. Ed.), but after the 1st quarter things settled down. We did find that some kids haad trouble with the organizational end of the switching classes, so I would say work with your team on getting all that info figured out in advanced and then adjust it as needed. You can also do groupings in Math and Science like my team teacher did. Reading has more of a required grouping, but it can be done in Math as well. My suggestion is that the more planning you can do this summer, the better.

[MissO]

I've only ever taught Language Arts in a team teaching situation (I taught 3rd), so I don't know which would be "easier" to do.

I loved teaming, because I didn't have to worry about the math, and I got to see different groups of kids every day. I also liked only having half the planning of a self-contained teacher. Teaming really helped with parent situations too, because my partner and I could support each other. Some disadvantages will be that you have to keep track of more grades/files/paperwork and that you just plain have more students.

As far as schedules go, when I team-taught, we basically had our homerooms in the morning and then switched after lunch. Depending on your state requirements for instructional minutes by subject, you can split the time.

Practical advice - teach your kids very specifically how to stay organized (I would recommend not letting them keep anything in their desk in either room - everything goes in their backpack and travels with them) and how to switch without disorder. You will also want two of whatever organizational system you have - mailboxes, baskets for completed work, etc. You can separate papers and things by homerooms.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it works out for you!

[Adaya]

This year I did a departmentalized second grade. I was the literacy teacher (reading and writing) and my buddy was the math and content teacher. There are pros and cons to it as PP stated...

Pros: I loved my buddy teacher and really enjoyed working closely with her. I also enjoyed having someone who knew the students to be able to talk about the students struggles and successes. You get to focus

Cons: Literacy is A LOT of work. It is the subject that gets assessed the most and that you have to report out on (it was very stressful to always be under the gun), it was hard to integrate because I wasn't exactly sure what she had talked about in content.

We worked VERY closely in dealing with behavior problems. At the beginning we were both present for major concerns to show that we were united in behavior management. We had the same system and beliefs so that helped a lot. We would talk at lunch so we knew what happened in the morning class so we could help ensure the afternoon went better, etc.

We have decided not to departmentalize this year because it was just too hard to integrate.