1. Estabrook School HSR Feb 26, 2013

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Joseph Estabrook School: Historic Structure Report Team Teaching Philosophy elementary grades in the country, in detail. Ethel Bears, Principal of the Franklin School, wrote a thoughtful account in 1969 of her experience with team teaching after twelve years of supervising the program. Medill Bair, Superintendent of the Lexington Public Schools from 1959 to 1963, and Richard G. Woodward, Coordinator of Instructional Materials and Services in Lexington, co- authored Team Teaching in Action .21 The book was essentially an instructional manual for "colleges and universities educating teachers, .. educators and laymen interested in establishing team teaching programs in their schools, .. and architects, educators and laymen interested in designing facilities for team teaching. ,22 Robert H. Anderson, as SUPRAD Director of the LTTP, contributed to Bair's and Woodward's book and wrote extensively elsewhere about the Lexington experience. Excerpts from what these authors have written explain the Lexington program. Under the team - teaching pattern, groups of teachers take joint responsibility for the instruction of a segment of the school population. Typically, from three to seven or eight certified teachers take responsibility for the instruction of from seventy -five to 240 pupils of similar age and grade.23 Teaching teams in Lexington for instruction in Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies each included a team leader, a senior teacher, teachers and teacher or clerical aides. All teams are under the direction of the school principal. As Dr. Anderson explained in 1960: The teaching program is formally organized into a hierarchy whose basic unit is the teacher.... The position of teacher in the teaching team carries with it the status and prestige commonly accorded the position in the self - contained pattern of today. Above the position of teacher is that of senior teacher. Depending on the size of the team and the age of the pupils, the team may have one or more senior teachers. A small team may have none. The senior teacher is an experienced teacher who has special competence in a particular subject -matter area or in a particular skill or method. The senior teacher assumes responsibility for instructional leadership —both in his team and, if needed, across teams within the building—in his area of special competence.... At the apex of the team hierarchy is the position of team leader. The team leader, a specialist in a content area that complements the areas of his senior teacher assistants, also exercises certain general administrative and co- ordinating functions. The team leader also has primary responsibility in his team for the identification of pupil needs and readiness and for the assignment of pupils to groups; for directing the continual re- examination and development of curriculum; and for the training and supervision of junior and less experienced personnel on his team. To discharge his responsibilities 21 See page 13 for comments on Medill Bair's dynamic leadership of team teaching in Lexington. 22 Medill Bair and Richard G. Woodward, Team Teaching In Action (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964), v. According to Bill Terris, this book was translated into Japanese. 23 Robert H. Anderson, Ellis A. Hagstrom and Wade M. Robinson, "Team Teaching in an Elementary School," The School Review Vol. 68, No. 1(Spring 1960): 76. Anne Andrus Grady June 2012