Team teaching, the cornerstone of the middle-school philosophy, frequently leads teachers down avenues they rarely get to travel in departmentalized schools: lessons that cross departmental lines.
”Integration of subjects so they`re not split into separate classes is the ultimate goal of team teaching,” said Jim Grissom, a 7th-grade social studies teacher at Olsen Middle School in Woodstock.
Grisson said kids tend to look at their individual classes as something that just happens for 42 minutes out of their day and then it`s done. ”But real life isn`t divided into subjects,” he said. ”You do math and writing when it needs to be done, and (school) subjects overlap and correlate.”
One such interdisciplinary unit is under way at Alden-Hebron Middle School in the McHenry County community of Hebron. A unit on research and organizational skills crosses curricular lines, encouraging students to pursue a topic of their own interest.
”It can be something from physical education or science, anything that interests them,” said Jane Gritmacker, a 6th-grade language arts teacher at the school.
Rather than sitting in a classroom for lectures on how to research, students move to the resource center to work on their research projects under staff guidance.
”Kids need time to make decisions, decide what direction they want to go, decide how to use their time, and learn to stay on task. This is a time when teachers need to be flexible and very aware of the kids and what they each need,” Gritmacker said.
And holding the class in the resource center instead of the classroom means there is less regimentation, so kids feel free to explore.
Topics range from exploring issues such as cruelty to animals to basketball to a study of electricity.
”We`re teaching research techniques, but we`re using the students`
interests to follow through on the project and help them develop a love of learning,” said principal Gary Calsyn.
