University of Education Lahore

Department of English

Course Title General Methods of Teaching

Programme: BS English

Course Code: ……………………………EDUC1112……………………

Instructor Name: ……Asya Mushtaq……………………..….

Unit # 3
Objectives of Team-teaching

• The team-teaching method practiced mainly at a single classroom or space and it developed to
create the learning strategies for the students.
• Improve the quality of the instructions provided.
• Effective teaching methods as per the interests of the pupils.
• Make the best usage of abilities, interests, and expertise in the teacher’s community.
 What is Team Teaching
As the name suggests, it is a group of teachers,
working as a team and teaching. The team can
range from 2 to 5 teachers who will teach the
same group of students.
The different types of teaching may include-
•Teaching the same group at the same time
•Shared teaching as per the area of expertise
•Teaching different subgroups within a large
group of students.
Continue…

• Team teaching involves a group of instructors working purposefully, regularly, and cooperatively
to help a group of students of any age learn.
• Team teaching, approach to teaching dating from the late 1950s in which two or more teachers
regularly share responsibility for the same group of students. It is usually practiced in elementary
or secondary schools. There are two basic systems: hierarchic and cooperative. In the hierarchic
system, a master teacher supervises one or more junior or assistant teachers. In the cooperative
system, the teachers work together as equals, and leadership is determined not by status but by
the requirements of the situation or the subject.
Continue…

• The team-teaching approach allows for more interaction between teachers and students.
• Working as a team, teachers model respect for differences, interdependence, and conflict-
resolution skills.
Continue…

• Teaching periods can be scheduled side by side or consecutively.

• Breaking out of the taken-for-granted single-subject, single-course, single-teacher pattern
encourages other innovations and experiments.
Team-teaching method

• The team-teaching method is one of the

greatest innovations in the teaching sector.
• It came into existence in the year 1954 in the
USA and is mainly focus on developing
courses and teaching strategies.

• Team teaching also known as a collaborative

teaching or co-teaching method.
• The definitions of team teaching defined by
different people in different ways
 Definitions of Team Teaching Method

• Davis (1995) explains “All arrangements that include two or more faculty in some level of
collaboration in the planning and delivery of a course” (p. 8).
• According to David Warwick “It is a form of organization in which individual teachers decide to
pool resources, interest, and expertise to the device and implement a scheme of work suitable to
the needs for their pupils and the facilities of their school”.
•
Caulo- Olson has aptly marked “ Team teaching is an instructional process where two or more
teachers possessing complementary teaching skills cooperatively plan and implement instruction
for a single group of students using flexible scheduling and grouping techniques to meet the
particular instruction”.

•
Continue…

• According to Michael j.Apter “Team involves bringing together a number of classes whose
teaching is than the joint responsibility of the teacher of these classes who know constitute a
team.”

• According to Francis chase “Such an arrangement (team teaching) would allow for maximum use
of the available talent; provide guidance for young and inexperienced teachers.”
Types of Team Teaching

There are mainly two types of team teaching

methods, they are
1. Hierarchic team teaching:
This type of team teaching method just similar
to a pyramid where different levels of teachers
organized in a structure from top to bottom.
2. Synergetic team teaching:
In this type of teaching method, there is no
differentiation between teachers.
Continue…

• Interactive team teaching : two faculty members present in front of the class simultaneously.

• Rotational format team teaching – faculty alternate teaching the class: This rotational format has
a number of variations depending on the subject matter and the number of faculty involved.
• Participant-observer team teaching: – all participating faculty are present for all the classes, but
only one is “teaching” at a time.
• Team coordination: – faculty arrange and integrate a curriculum so as to maximize learning and
connections using paired or linked courses, an integrated cluster of independent courses, or
freshman interest groups (McDaniels and Colarulli, 1997).
Advantages of Team teaching

Low cost:
One can get an efficient form of learning at a
very low cost; as such no new resources
required to start team teaching.
Support for teachers:
Usually, teachers overburdened with the fact
that they have to complete the curriculum by
the end of the term, even if they have creative
ideas to teach students they do not have
enough time to plan and impart the same to the
students.
Continue…

• Closer integration of staff:

With team teaching, teachers bound to bond, as
frequent discussions and planning make
them develop a good relationship. A happy staff
can effectively inculcate the vision of the
Institute
• Variety of ideas:
When teachers come together with their
teaching style, ideas and expertise come
together, if planned perfectly, the mixture of
best ideas and styles will put forth many ways
out of a single topic.
Continue…

• Better involvement of students:

A new method is always appealing; students
might wonder what new things they are going
to learn. A dynamic discussion session will
increase student’s involvement and thus helps
in bringing out the best in students
• Mental stimulation to students:
Team teaching helps them question the theories
and facts. When the students involved it brings
out the creativity and the habit of questioning
things.
Continue…

• Breaks traditional lecture boredom:

• An interactive session, debates, help of visual
aids and the like evokes interests among
students. Team teaching exactly does that.
• Better bonding between student and teacher:
• Humans bond when they interact, it is as
simple as that. The bonding is increased when
teachers often ask questions and listen to
what students have to say.
Continue…

• Provokes participation / interaction:

• Teachers will often find students who rarely
participate in any activity and are aloof,
mostly students with a shy personality will
not speak much in class. But during team-
teaching, a variety of ideas are put forth.
• Imparts the lesson of team management:
• When students see the way teachers work in
a team, they indirectly get the lesson of team
management and the importance of working
in a team. Everyone in their career will need
to work in teams.
Continue…

• Develops interpersonal skills and logic of

students:
Students’ interaction and logic are improved
drastically as they learn to question things and
learn how to communicate their ideas
effectively.
• Teachers can give individual attention:
When a teacher is teaching solely, he or she
cannot give attention to the students who have
a problem learning. The main focus is to make
the whole group of student understanding at
the same time. But we all know that all students
are different and everyone has their own
learning pace.
Continue…

• Staff development:
• There is no limit to learning, provided if one
wishes to, team teaching allows teachers to
learn and grow themselves.
• Long-term knowledge retention:
• With a dynamic and interactive session
students are engaged and they learn better.
Continue… ad

• Students do not all learn at the same rate. Periods of equal length are not appropriate for all
learning situations. Schools are moving toward the inclusion of another whole dimension of
learning: the adjacent transmission to every responsive member of society of what has just been
discovered, invented, created, manufactured, or marketed. For this, team members with different
areas of expertise are precious.
• Team teaching is not the only answer to all problems troubling teachers, students, and
administrators. It requires planning, skilled management, willingness to risk change and even
failure, humility, open-mindedness, imagination, and creativity. But the results are worth it.
• Teamwork improves the quality of teaching as various experts approach the same topic from
different angles: theory and practice, past and present, different genders or ethnic backgrounds.
Teacher strengths are combined and weaknesses are remedied.
advantages

• Working in teams spreads responsibility, encourages creativity, extends friendships, and builds
community among teachers. Teachers complement one another. They share insights, propose
new approaches, and challenge assumptions. They learn new perspectives and insights,
techniques and values from watching one another.
• The team cuts teaching burdens and boosts morale. The presence of another teacher reduces
student-teacher personality problems. In an emergency one team member can attend to the
problem while the class goes on.
Disadvantages…

• Acceptance of change by teachers:

• Let’s face it, we humans dislike change,
teachers may not accept the idea of team
teaching, they are often rigid and want to
stick to the traditional teaching techniques.
The idea that they will have to put extra effort
and work hard makes them reluctant.
Continue…

• Rigidity in teachers
Apart from accepting the change in the form of
teaching, teachers often have the rigidity to
accept and adjust with other teachers.
• Bad team management
Internal coordination and good team tempo are
extremely important, internal conflict may
result in a complete failure.
Continue…

• Personality conflict:
• People with contradicting personalities must
devise a way to work together effectively. A
dominating person will overpower other
people, a collaborative approach will
enhance effective process of team teaching.
• Inability to complete curriculum:
• While devising creative curriculum &
engaging students in an interactive session,
the curriculum may fall behind.
Continue…

• Time for coordination and planning:

Teachers have to take out time from their busy
schedules and sit together to devise the lecture
flow and activities that have to be carried out.
• Hard to keep track:
• The sessions at times can get super
interactive and teachers will forget the link.
The teachers have shared responsibility and
have an individual role to play
Continue…

• Takes time to develop:

Teachers will have to refer many books and talk
to several veteran teachers for designing an
effective teaching plan.
• Going overboard:
While being creative and lining up too many
activities, it could get way beyond the required
amount.
Continue…

• Resistance from students:

Since childhood, students get used to the
traditional form of teaching, they like the
structure and the repetitiveness of the lectures.
Most probably they have devised their ways to
make it work, a sudden change in the style of
teaching will make them confused and they
might resist the change.

• .
Continue…

• Takes time to develop:

This new teaching style is fresh to students as well as teachers. Teachers would not have perfect
coordination at the first go, they will have to do many trails for reaching the most effective format.
There can be an overlap of ideas among teachers or they could not impart whatever they thought
of.
• The expectation of higher compensation:
If we compare the efforts required for teaching exclusively with the efforts required to teach in a
team, then the later one is certainly much harder and would require deep study, time and planning.
Continue…

• Team teaching is not always successful. Some teachers are rigid personality types or may be
wedded to a single method.
• Team teaching makes more demands on time and energy. Members must arrange mutually
agreeable times for planning and evaluation.
Continue…

• Disagreement may also come from students, parents, and administrators who may resist change
of any sort.
• Salaries may have to reflect the additional responsibilities undertaken by team members.
Necessary skills required in the team of teachers:

• A team of teachers with various sets of skills perspective and expertise.

• Vision and sense of direction.
• Ability to coordinate internally.
• Excellent team planning.
• Friendly nature and ability to keep the environment conducive.
Main elements of Team teaching strategy:

• Scheduling
• Grouping of students
• Teachers assign themselves responsibilities
• New building arrangement
• The pupils are provided independent study
time
• Make use of professionals
• The centralized libraries are replaced by
resource centers
Tips to make team teaching effective:

• The openness of mind- Teachers and students must be open to change and must hold this new
form of learning.
• An effective strategy is necessary which requires undivided attention and time, willingness
to Rotation of roles to enhance learning and reduce boredom.
• An effective way to assess students’ performance.
• Respecting others ideas.
• Training to new teachers who are new to the concept of team teaching.
• Example of Team Teaching:
• Let’s say that your college has 4 teachers who teach sociology. Here each teacher will be teaching
a few sections to your class. The sections or topics of the whole subject will be divided by the
teachers themselves. The senior-most teacher will be the team leader of the whole process.
• We can see the advantages outweighs the disadvantages
 Suggested Links

• https://ctl.byu.edu/tip/team-teaching-brief-summary
• https://www.yourdictionary.com/team-teaching
• https://content.wisestep.com/advantages-disadvantages-team-teaching-method/
• http://studylecturenotes.com/what-is-team-teaching-definition-characteristics-of-team-teaching/
• https://ctl.byu.edu/tip/team-teaching-brief-summary
• https://pdst.ie/sites/default/files/Team%20Teaching%20Seminar%20final.pdf
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/team-teaching
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/team-teachings
• http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_197305_meehan.pdf