Grab Your Partner

And get ready for some great teaching! Team teaching pros Theresa Crowley and Paula Carter show us how it's done

About our school visits:

The teachers we honor this month, and those we honor every month, are symbolic of good teachers everywhere. By honoring them, we mean also to honor you.

The teachers and schools we visit are selected randomly, and our visits are almost always on very short notice, or with no notice at all. Our goal for these "dropin " visits has been to demonstrate that good teachers are indeed everywhere, no matter where one goes in the United States. We have not been disappointed.

Ms. Crowley, did you just see that?" Paula Carter asked from her perch on a childsized seat in her classroom at Rita Cannan Elementary in Reno, NV.

"No, Mrs. Carter, I didn't," Theresa Crowley responded, looking up from where she was bending over to help one of her students. "What did I miss?"

"Show Ms. Crowley the strategy you just used please, Jorge," Paula urged.

A boy sitting close to Paula Carter shyly turned in Theresa Crowley's direction and placed two small fists together with both thumbs raised.

"Wow!" exclaimed Theresa, standing upright. "Did everyone see that? Jorge just showed us how he remembers how to spell the word, 'bed'! Let's all do this strategy together."

The class of first, second and third graders turned away from the books they had been reading and all obediently raised their fists and thumbs. This strategy helps students to differentiate the lower case 'b' and 'd' that they often reverse. After Paula and Theresa quizzed the kids on some other strategies they use when reading, ("I look for cues on the wall," one little boy answered. "That's right!" Paula and Theresa shouted in unison), they returned to their quiet reading time. An air of contentment was quickly resumed over this multi-age classroom where Paula and Theresa are team teachers. And any way you slice it, this group of six through eight year olds from all different backgrounds and various learning levels, is not your average classroom. They radiate the feeling that they are instead one very close-knit family. And that's exactly what these two very different teachers with a shared vision are looking to achieve.

A fateful meeting". Even before they met, both Paula and Theresa had experience teaching in a multi-age classroom and had been witnesses to great success with this approach. They got to know each other at Bernice Matthews Elementary, a K-6 school in Reno where they traded students for math and reading, and began to plan lessons together. Eventually it became apparent to them both that even with their very different teaching styles (Paula is more of a planner while Theresa is more spontaneous), together they made a terrific team. They approached their principal about joining forces and the two have never looked back.

"Luckily, we had a principal who believed in the philosophy," Theresa told us. "She herself had been a 1-2-3 teacher, so we never had to sell her on the idea."

Answering the call. After team teaching in a 12-3 classroom at Bernice Matthews for two years, Paula and Theresa were approached by the school's former vice principal, KayAnn Pilling. She had just recently been appointed to the helm of Rita Cannan Elementary, a school located just one mile away that was looking for innovative teachers to breathe new life into the school. When two teaching positions came up in the primary grades, KayAnn had just the two teachers in mind. Although Paula and Theresa were very happy at Bernice Matthews, they eagerly took up the challenge of bringing their team-teaching techniques to another school. They both joined Rita Cannan Elementary this past July (the school is in session year-round) and soon found that this potentially risky decision was the right choice to make. "A willingness to learn and to try new things and take risks has helped us to create this positive collaborative situation that benefits both our students and us," Paula said.

High expectations. Although their playful banter with each other in the classroom comes off as perfectly natural, Paula and Theresa try to plot as best they can beforehand the direction in which they want to teach a unit. "We started talking in front of the kids more because when we first merged, we would do that in separate planning time. We found out that if we problem-solved in front of the kids and talked about what we might do next, they'd jump right in with their own ideas," Theresa commented.

"It's a natural mode for problem solving, so we talk out loud like a family would," Paula continued. "And the kids grow to know us over three years, so they feel comfortable giving us their input."

Even though they let it be known that their students input is valuable and taken into consideration, the students are by no means running the show. "We've got high expectations and we don't let up on the kids - even after they've left our classroom," Theresa told us. And she's not kidding. At Bernice Matthews, if they caught wind of a student who moved on to a 4-5-6 classroom and was perhaps not working up to speed in reading or math, Paula and Theresa would meet with the student and remind him or her what he or she was capable of and then check back frequently.

Previously, Paula and Theresa's students moved directly on to a 4-5-6 multi-age classroom. Therefore, that structure they worked so hard to establish was still in place when the students left their classroom. At this point, theirs is the only multi-age classroom at Rita Cannan.

A focus child. Even though they act as a positive tag team of sorts, Paula and Theresa are both firm believers in an individualized approach to instruction, particularly when it comes to literacy. On the day of our visit, they started off interacting with each other and the class, but when the time came to settle down and read, both Paula and Theresa headed in different directions and picked a child to sit down and work with. One of their favorite strategies, they told us, was to choose a "focus child" for a week or so. They literally stay with the child until they are both convinced that the student has mastered the skill or strategy they felt he or she was having difficulty with.

Great job. When they're not working with the whole class, Paula and Theresa (who is also bilingual in Spanish, which is helpful due to the large number of Spanish-speaking families in the area) will tend to the different levels present in their classroom - for example, Theresa will teach the lower math groups, while Paula teaches the higher group. They always make a point to be very vocal when praising their students whether they are in group or one-on-one time.

"I saw Peter doing good work, Mrs. Carter," said Theresa.

"Peter has been doing a great job in reading lately," responded Paula.

"I love school," Peter announced to the class.

How's that for an affirmation?

Confidantes. Not only do Paula and Theresa stay on top of their students to do their best, but they also challenge and inspire each other to expand the ways they approach both teaching and learning. They e-mail and call each other constantly with new ideas. "We are never that organized. We plan a unit globally and then talk over how we are going to get there day by day, week by week," Theresa said.

The two teachers have gotten so close on both a professional and personal level, that they literally talk about everything with each other. Paula showed us a copy of an e-mail that she had sent Theresa after she had a bad (but really funny) dream where they were leading their class in two different directions, and Theresa told us that Paula is helping her to plan a garden. Just sitting and talking with them for a morning, the deep admiration the two have for one another was palpable.

In fact, Paula and Theresa are so well in tune with each other that they are taking their collaboration to the next level and are currently in the process of co-authoring a book about team teaching in a multi-age classroom.

One last thing."Before we leave for the day, was there anything else anyone wanted to share?" asked Theresa.

One little girl, who was quiet and reserved during most of our visit, finally piped up.

"Hugs!" she giggled, and as if on cue, the students rushed a startled Theresa and Paula and hugged them around their legs.

"Thank you!" Theresa laughed, trying not to trip over the mass of boys and girls in a tangle at her calves. "This is really something, isn't it, Mrs. Carter?"

"It sure is, Ms. Crowley," Paula answered as she doled out a hug to a boy next to her, "this is really special."

BY KATHERINE PIERPONT, SENIOR EDITOR

Copyright Early Years, Inc. Jan 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved