Professional Learning and Action Teams: Alternative Assignment

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND ACTION TEAM
Name
Institution
Course
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND ACTION TEAM
Teacher teaming is an explicit way and a tested criterion for improving student performance in schools nowadays. Teacher teaming involves the collaboration of efforts, the amalgamation of ideas, and performing activities together to help an institution meet its goals as the students also perform better in their classroom work (McGill et al. 2001). A significant number of schools are using the method as a strategic plan towards improving the student performance. However, not all teacher teaming that leads to better student performance. In some cases, teaming result to a very poor performance by inculcating a hostile environment for teachers while in other places teaming gives the best results. Teaming is eloquent and explicit when it`s structure, meaning and purpose is well-defined. Therefore, teaming should be very purposeful and focused towards achieving a particular goal.
The efforts of team teaching cannot go unnoticed because of its significant role in schools. Team teaching promotes mutual understanding between teachers and students (McGill et al. 2001). For example, in a school, departments help to increase rapport between the students and teachers. Students feel comfortable because of the freedom they have of consulting their respective department teachers anytime. The interaction leads to openness and enhances positive self-esteem among students leading to better results.

An effective team enables people to learn from one another.
Also, the approach allows teachers to share insights, ideas, interdependence and helps teachers to learn conflict resolution skills (Maeroff, 1993). Some activities are too cumbersome for an individual. In an institution, a lot of activities require teamwork. For example designing student syllabus, analyzing exam results, determining grade standards, setting exams, and choosing the right course syllabus calls for the attention of teamwork. Therefore, the workload becomes easier for a team than an individual.
Teamwork also helps institutions to record low employee turnover. This is because of the humble operating environment, friendship bond, and mutual understanding that exist between teachers. Therefore, it’s hard to separate teachers from their work teams. Overall the management of such a team is very easy since there is no much stress of carrying out interviews, advertising and recruitment of new employee (Buckley, 1999). In the long run, the cost is cut down because of the efficiency generated by the experienced staff members.
The culture and the structure of a school contribute a lot to the teacher teaming (Maeroff, 1993). These are the primary sources of teamwork. The value and norms determine how activities are run in a school. Therefore, this requires a flexible structure to enable faster re-engineering and re-structuring of school processes and activities. If a school wants to implement teamwork for the first time and its structure is too complex it might be difficult for such a system to work in their school structure. It implies that structure cannot exist without culture; the two work hand in hand.
Another significant source of teamwork can be the bulk of the set goal and objectives. Here, the locus lies at the strategic plans that should be put in place to meet the predetermined goals. The school management may set enormous targets that would compel the teachers to embrace teamwork to achieve the goals (Shaplin et al. 1964). The staff members would be forced to work together so as to harmonize activities so as to boost the student results. These may be a proactive action that would finally lead to better performance of pupils.
Teachers can use various schemes to ensure teamwork is enhanced. The linked course approach is the most common method used to establish teams in schools. This happens when a group of students is assigned a mentor teacher to help them tackle a particular course. You find the course may be split into sub-units that the teachers have also delegated to themselves to cover them at their convenient time. The teams are meant to respond to schedules according to the way the activity is organized (Buckley, 1999). The method is efficient when a group is made up of cohorts who understand and recognize one another in their teams.
I had spared most of the time to realize my V.I.P.S before I decided to choose teaching as my ideal career. Since I joined the kindergarten school, I realized I had inseparable values that have aided me to reach this far. I realized that I had leadership quality when I was chosen as a class monitor at the kindergarten level. I established my personality, charisma, eloquence in speaking, and more so the ability to interact positively with my cohorts during my early age. Little did I realize that I was meant to be a leader, and my career was along the line on interacting with most people. Over time, I realized I could perform better in a team than as an individual because of the attitude I had developed since I was young. This is a motivation unto me because am now able to learn the behaviors of new people and adapt to change where it is required.
After a thorough research, Oxford Academy has discovered that teachers work independently in their respective departments. I recommend a collective responsibility approach to be used in the school to boost the student results in the long run. The approach ensures teachers are summoned collectively in case poor performance is noticed. Teamwork motivates teachers to carry regularly out self-assessment in teamwork to ensure they work together to enable students to achieve better results. Frequently, teachers find difficulties on teachers being interdependent but once they adopt this change, things move on swiftly. The Principle should act immediately to ensure teamwork is practiced in due time.
References
Buckley, F. J. (1999). Team teaching: what, why, and how?. Sage Publications.
McGill, I., & Beaty, L. (2001). Action Learning: a guide for professional, management &educational development. Psychology Press.
Maeroff, G. I. (1993). Team building for school change: Equipping teachers for new roles. Shaplin, J. T., & Olds, H. F. (Eds.). (1964). Team teaching. New York: Harper & Row.Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027..