By Isabelle Chiu
Online Sports Editor
Team teaching is a beneficial teaching method that will help standardize the information and difficulty level in classes within the same course.
Team teaching occurs when teachers of the same course have the same schedule, homework, tests and quizzes. Math and science teachers at Mira Costa team teach in the courses of Advanced Placement Biology and AP Calculus AB, as well as Algebra 2 with Trigonometry.
According to guidance counselor, Jennifer Wildenberg, one benefit of team teaching is that team teaching will deter students from wanting to make major schedule changes because they were not satisfied with their teacher for their class. As a result, team teaching is beneficial for teachers as well, as it will decrease many of the scheduling problems on the first week of school.
Additionally, according to math teacher Denise Weber, even if students do have schedule changes, since team teaching unifies the teachers within a course, the transition will be easier on the students, as they do not have to accustom themselves to an entirely different routine.
Therefore, it is unfair to students if teachers that teach the same course do not practice team teaching. Team teaching should standardize courses and equalize the difficulty of the class based on the teacher.
As stated by AP Biology team teacher Daniel Sponagaule, it is easier to get a higher grade in a class with a teacher who gives more opportunities for extra credit than a teacher that teaches the same class but does not offer extra credit.
As team teaching seems to have been effective thus far, it would prove to be beneficial if it were implemented in all AP classes. According to Sponagaule, it is more important for AP classes to coordinate their curriculum and grading methods than CP classes, as grades in AP classes are weighted, so minor discrepancies in grade point averages of students from different classes will give some deserving students an unfair opportunity.
Some may believe that team teaching limits teachers’ individuality. However, according to Weber, the only similarities among the teachers are the schedule, the content and the total point breakdown. Therefore, teachers can implement this system while still adding in their own teaching input.
Teachers throughout Costa that teach the same course should use the team teaching method, which is now more possible than ever because of the time allotted for collaboration during office hours, according to Costa principal, Dr. Ben Dale.
Team teaching is an effective method as it streamlines the hectic scheduling process and makes courses fairer to students.
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