Team Teaching in Grades PK-2

Norwood School utilizes the team-teaching model in its PK-2 classrooms. This highly successful child-centered teaching technique, which calls for two lead teachers to simultaneously share instruction, delivers a host of benefits to a child’s learning experience, especially in the early elementary grades when a child’s learning style is emerging.

  • With a lower student-teacher ratio in the classroom, there are greater opportunities for small differentiated groups. Team teaching allows for smaller groups and more flexible instructional differentiation. Students are stretched and supported on a more individual level.

  • Teaching partnerships create a learning environment with seamless instructional time for children. Young students spend more time in their homerooms and less time in transition from class to class.

  • With less transition time, children form greater bonds with teachers and classmates. There is a greater sense of community in the classroom. This has emerged as a proven benefit for young children in several studies.

  • Closer bonds with teachers mean improved assessment. Two teachers see and know the whole child rather than slices of a child’s learning profile.

  • Children benefit from the different personalities, experiences, and perspectives of their teachers. Students can seek help from two teachers in a class and sometimes three depending on the subject.

  • Team teaching improves planning, conferences, classroom management, and offers greater opportunities for support and observation.
 
Please contact Head of Lower School Mike Risen  if you have any questions about the team-teaching model at Norwood School.
Located in Bethesda, MD, Norwood School develops students in grades PK-8 into confident lifelong learners who have the academic, character, and leadership skills to succeed in high school and beyond. Recognizing that children are multi-faceted, Norwood provides many opportunities for safe risk-taking, exploration, discovery, and growth in a nurturing, supportive, and inclusive school community.