The Joys and Challenges of Team Teaching
Connie Cagley, Mike Mitchell, Liz O'Brien, PC

In the years we have been working with each other, it became more and more obvious that our three courses (Freshman Composition, Critical and Evaluative Reading and Introduction to Human Communication) were ripe for a learning community. Rather than hoping that students would make their own connections as they take these three courses separately, we wanted to provide guidance in making the connections.

Our first Cluster was conducted in the fall semester of 1995 and we are currently teaching the second Cluster this fall. Some of the connections we make include anecdotal speech/narrative essay, small group projects combining critical evaluation of essays with concentration on the small group process, mapping as a technique for both reading and composition, and an informative speech/informative essay.

Students meet for nine hours per week and we as instructors arrange our schedules so that we are free during the same nine hours. Believing that environmental consistency enhances the Cluster dynamic, we arrange for all three classes to be held in the same room. A common syllabus and common course schedule are distributed to all. Ice breaking exercises and student - generated ground rules lay the foundation for ownership and shared responsibility for both students and instructors alike.

Team teaching is a major component of the Cluster. Benefits of team teaching include an expanded understanding of the relevance of our own course contents and simultaneously, an appreciation for related disciplines. We have found that we positively feed off of each other's presence, which leads to more creative discussion and problem solving. Team teaching also allows us more class time to delve into our individual contents. For example, because each of us doesn't have to teach thesis statements, something we each would normally do, we are able to discuss concepts we simply don't have time for in our regular sections. Finally, instructor-student relations develop more quickly through frequency of interaction. There's less stress dealing with students because we can confer with one another and share insights about their communicative behaviors.

The only challenge that we have encountered so far regarding the team teaching is committing to six extra hours a week during prime time teaching hours. Though we're not always team teaching, we still must reserve those times. There have been other challenges to the cluster concept. Classroom assignments, publicity, and ensuring that the same students get registered in all three sections have been some of the difficulties we've encountered. We have realized that cluster involvement must be the choice of the participating faculty and its success depends upon a harmony of personalities. Flexibility, along with energy, enthusiasm, and a sense of humor are also necessary qualities.

We had both quantitative (retention, attendance, spring semester return rates) and qualitative success with our first Cluster and expect similar if not better results this year. One student noted that he was able to more quickly grasp the material from each of the courses because he was "able to see their inter-connectedness". Another said, "This Cluster feels like one class rather than three." Several students noted that the environment made "...everyone feel more confident", "...was a very participative class" and "...was harder to skip (because of an increased sense of accountability)". One student's comment best sums up the class's attitude toward the Cluster: "In this Cluster, it's just a lot easier to learn."

-t h e   f o r u m-

URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/
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