As JC Booth expands and courses are added, going from 4 teams to 2 teams accommodated the growth.
JC Booth students and teachers return to Booth in the 22-23 school year to find the teams were changed from 4 to 2. “The purpose of having teams is so that in middle school you kind of have that bridge from, you know, elementary where you may have had one teacher to high school where you have different teachers all over the building. So having teams allows us teachers all to kind of collaborate and work together to help their students,” Alison Ivey, current Assistant Principal/ILT said.
In the 21-22 school year, administrators created a pilot program with 8th-grade to test the 2-team system. Kayla Seabolt, the Assistant Principal/ILT at the time, needed a system to make scheduling more manageable. “I think we’re liking the two teams because we tried it with one grade level, and then we expanded it to the whole school.” The intent was to prevent students from being enrolled in classes on more than one team. “So I think that it makes it to where the schedules work out for students, so they don’t…have English on this team and then go to math on another team.” Julianna Frisch, 6th grade English teacher, said. So by being able to have bigger teams, we can still give you guys the middle school feel — Alison Ivey AP/ILT
”…it really helps with scheduling. Having an eight-person team or maybe a seven-person team gives a lot more freedom with being able to schedule students for classes.” Kimberly Fisher, 7th-grade math teacher, said. Some new courses that are added are normal, advanced, and accelerated math in 6th and 7th grade. In 8th grade, they have two high-school-level math classes and one normal math class. With two teams, there is a high-school-level math on each team. If there were 4 teams, then only one-half of the 8th graders would have access to the High School level math class. “Yeah, so the more things that you add, and the more specific you get, the harder it is to schedule with only 4 teachers,” Ms. Seabolt said.
Some students may not know that in the old building, there were pods, which accommodate smaller teams. As the student body grew and more classes were added, the pod system was no longer efficient. Some students had to walk a distance from their teams to get to their lockers. In this building, with the long span of hallways, “It allowed students to be like closer to their locker areas because you have a larger team. And so you have a larger segment of lockers and can have everybody on the team have a locker that is right there near a team teacher.” Kimberly Fisher, 7th grade math teacher, said.
“When we only have four teachers on a team, you might get locked into the exact same classes with the exact same people all day. So by being able to have bigger teams, we can still give you guys the middle school. feel of being able to switch classes and be with different people throughout the day. But still get you all the course offerings that you need,” Assistant Administrator/ILT said.
Charlotte Tiller • Jan 10, 2024 at 7:33 pm
GoOd JoB CaRoLinE
Charlotte Tiller • Dec 15, 2023 at 2:30 pm
GOOD JOB CAROLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
CHARLOTTE
gavin • Nov 28, 2023 at 7:43 pm
I feel like two teams is better than four because as the article said it’s better for the teachers and the kids because the article says that some kids had to walk to lockers in different teams. Meaning that they were far away from their classes. Also in the last paragraph it states that students have a good variety of teachers. All in all this was a great article.
Quinn Marich • Nov 28, 2023 at 3:05 pm
So when I am Reading this then it is saying to me that 2 is better than 4 because if there is 2 teams then it says in the passage ” I think we’re liking the two teams because we tried it with one grade level, and then we expanded it to the whole school.”
Nevin Alvarez • Nov 6, 2023 at 12:18 pm
This article was very informative. It explains the history of teams at JC Booth and why each grade level now has two teams. I agree with many points in the article and I am glad that Booth now has a two team system instead of a four team system. The article mentions that two teams allow me to see more of a variety of students in my classes and it also makes it possible for all students to have access to specialized classes, like high school math. I like having a variety of students in my classes and being able to access more challenging courses. The article also mentions that a two team system makes a better bridge between elementary and high school. I agree with this and appreciate that it is going to help prepare me for high school and all of the different students and teachers I will interact with as I continue my education. I wonder if there are even more benefits to the two team system or if anyone still prefers the four team system. Hopefully we can all appreciate why the change was made.
Yua Tamura • Nov 6, 2023 at 11:32 am
I Agree with Caroline Demmel ” 2 Is Better Than 4″ because i feel like if there were 4 groups every class would be very empty. I like having 2 groups because it has more students and is more teachable. In the text they said ” I think we’re liking the two teams because we tried it with one grade level, and expanded it to the whole school.” This is why i think 2 is better than 4.
Selina • Nov 6, 2023 at 11:19 am
I agree with the article 2 is better than 4 by Caroline Demmel. It is less confusing than it was years ago. If we still had 4 teams we would have to walk a long distance like it says in the article. Just like it said in the article, having teams is very helpful for the teachers. It allows the teachers to work together and help the students. Also each team had only 4 teachers and now because they only have 2 teams the teachers for each team expanded.
Cadence McAfee • Nov 6, 2023 at 11:06 am
I really liked this article. It was cool learning how my older siblings did things at the old Booth.
I really like the system now because itś so easy for me to navigate my classes.
Annisten Baxter • Nov 6, 2023 at 7:58 am
The article “2 is better than 4,” an article written by Caroline Demmel on Booth Warrior Times informed me that there were actually 4 teams at Booth before there were 2 teams. The article also informs the reader that the intention was to prevent students from being enrolled in classes that were on different teams. I believe that changing from 4 teams to 2 was an effective idea and has stopped students from having classes on multiple teams.
I also believe that it was a smart idea to test using 2 teams instead of 4. If they just changed it in the middle of the school year, or at the beginning of the next school year, they might not have known if it would work. Next, this also helped with scheduling, because a team with 7 or 8 teachers gives the administrator making schedules a lot more freedom. But, why did they choose 2 teams instead of 3 or even 1?
Shannon Roggow • Nov 2, 2023 at 6:14 pm
Great job Caroline. Your article was very well written and informative! Grandma Shannon