Team Teaching Assignment
By Dean Papadakis
CSUN SED 610 Dr. Berry
The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to work with another teacher, share
with them, and work through an academic unit together. Hopefully you will find that two minds
are better than one. Your task will be to determine how and why two minds are better than one.
You should find a teacher in your school who you would like to partner with to plan together a
two-week unit. Ideally you will be teaching the same thing on the same day for two weeks. You
should first have a plan for the two weeks that both of you like. Then each day of the 2 weeks
you should get together to discuss what went well, what could have been improved, what needs
to be reviewed, and what you intend to do the next day.
You should include in this assignment:
 A two-week lesson plan.
 10 days of reflection and planning.
 And a 2-3 page reflection on your impressions of what went well and what could have
been improved
CSUN SED 610 Dr. Berry
Team Teaching Assignment
Two-week Lesson Plan
March 2008
Subject: Honors Physics
Topic: Waves and Sound
Teachers: Dean Papadakis & Andy Stephens
Lesson 1:
Purpose: To learn about waves and wave speed
Introduction: Seeing sound demonstration followed by discussion and explanation of
observations.
Activities: Slinky Labette
Review: KWL on waves. What is students’ prior knowledge on waves? What do
students want to know about waves? What did students learn about waves?
Homework: Book Problems
Teaching Methods: Lecture, activating prior knowledge, discrepant event, think, pair
share, ask your neighbor.
Lesson 2:
Purpose: To learn the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves.
Introduction: Slinky demonstration of both wave types.
Activities: Students make both types of waves using Slinky Springs and perform a
qualitative lab, while students draw both types of waves and label the parts. Students will
draw Venn diagrams of transverse and longitudinal waves.
Review: Discuss the review questions from previous night.
Homework: Book problems.
Teaching Methods: Collaborative learning, student lab, and formative assessment.
Lesson 3:
Purpose: To learn about how waves can interfere constructively and destructively.
Introduction: Draw two waves in and out of phase and discuss interactions.
Activities: Interference paper activity using manipulative with various waves.
Review: Discuss the results of the manipulative activity.
Homework: Book problems.
Teaching Methods: Lecture, desk activities, and discussion.
Lesson 4:
Purpose: To teach students about the Doppler Effect.
Introduction: Swing a source of string and allow students to hear the Doppler Effect.
Activities: Students get into groups to swing Bloogles, and listen to the sounds produced.
Following their observation they test the frequencies of sounds produced by the Bloogles
with oscilloscope and microphone.
Review: Review question: What is the difference between a longitudinal and transverse
wave?
Homework: How does Doppler radar help us forecast weather?
Teaching Methods: Inquiry, real world application, and hands-on experiences.
Lesson 5:
Purpose: To learn about shock waves.
Introduction: Showing a video of a space shuttle landing and images of sonic booms
from a jet.
Activities: Towel snapping sonic boom and discussion and Doppler effect simulation
activity.
Review: Concept Development Exercise Worksheet-Sonic Booms. Students measure
Mach number using images and a ruler.
Homework: Book problems.
Teaching Methods: multimedia, video, simulation, and independent practice.
Lesson 6:
Purpose: To understand the origins of sound and propagation through different media.
Introduction: Bring out toys that make sound and show the source is vibration.
Activities: Use hangers and strings to hear the difference between sound travelling
through air and a solid.
Review: Quiz on wave behavior.
Homework: Sound worksheet where students compare the speeds of sound through
various media.
Teaching Methods: Activating prior knowledge, cooperative activities, and formative
assessment.
Lesson 7:
Purpose: To learn how to measure the speed of sound.
Introduction: Background discussion on how a tuning fork can be used to measure the
speed of sound.
Activities: Measuring the speed of sound using a tuning fork and a resonance tube lab,
measuring the speed of sound using a microphone probe from Vernier.
Review: What phase of matter does sound travel the fastest/slowest through?
Homework: Lab write-up, including the answers to the Error Analysis Questions.
Teaching Methods: Laboratory activity, data collection, and data analysis.
Lesson 8:
Purpose: To learn about natural frequency, forced vibrations, and resonance and their
relationships.
Introduction: Show the natural frequencies of various objects such as a PVC pipe and
ruler.
Activities: Demonstrating singing wine glasses with video, Mythbusters-Breaking Glass
with Sound, Earthquake Building Resonance demonstration, carpet tube and Bunsen
burner demonstration
Review: Conclusion paragraph on what students learned from the day’s activities.
Homework: Mythbusters T.V. show on “You Tube”-Breaking glass with sound
worksheet.
Teaching Methods: Digital video, demonstrations, and formative assessment.
Lesson 9:
Purpose: To learn about the relationship between interference and beats.
Introduction: Demonstration using two tuning forks with clay, oscilloscope, and
microphone.
Activities: Watch Chladni Plate video, students demonstrate nodes and antinodes with a
slinky.
Review: Where did you see nodes and antinodes on the Chladni Plate?
Homework: Review questions from textbook and experiment with speaker placement in
home.
Teaching Methods: Video, experimentation, and discussion.
Lesson 10:
Purpose: To understand frequency of sounds.
Introduction: Use signal generator to produce sounds throughout the range of human
hearing frequencies.
Activities: Have students test their vocal range in terms of frequency.
Review: Review for upcoming test-9 station review.
Homework: Study guide to help with preparation of upcoming Waves/Sound Exam.
Teaching Methods: Study guides, activities, and demonstration.
Team Teaching Assignment
Reflection Day 1
What went well?
The students engaged in hands on experimentation and tested their own understanding. Slinkys
are inherently fun.
What could have been done better?
The production of wave patterns could have been demonstrated on the slinky rather than drawn
out.
What will you do tomorrow?
Transverse and longitudinal waves lesson.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Multiple intelligences were employed.
Reflection Day 2
What went well?
The students did the actual demonstrations with their hands to develop a better understanding.
What could have been done better?
We could have had the students demonstrate the different wave types using their bodies. This
would have tapped into the kinesthetic learners.
What will you do tomorrow?
Interference lessons.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Cooperative groups-students with greater understanding helped the struggling members of their
group.
Reflection Day 3
What went well?
Student directed learning took place. Students benefited from the discussion following the
activity to clarify misconceptions.
What could have been done better?
We could have provided more examples of interference for the students either using simulations
or slinky demonstrations.
What will you do tomorrow?
Lesson on the Doppler Effect, using a swinging tone generator.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Manipulative cutouts were used to develop understanding.
Reflection Day 4
What went well?
Students benefited from the visual simulation after experiencing the differing frequencies from
the Bloogles.
What could have been done better?
We could have had students using the computer simulation and should have discussed more
applications of the Doppler effect.
What will you do tomorrow?
Lesson on what are standing waves and interference.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Multimedia simulations.
Reflection Day 5
What went well?
Students enjoyed the video and images. They created a need to know.
What could have been done better?
Having the students complete the shockwave worksheet in class would have resulted in deeper
understanding.
What will you do tomorrow?
Provide more lessons on sound and give students a review quiz.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Cooperative learning.
Reflection Day 6
What went well?
Having students perform hands-on activities engaged them.
What could have been done better?
We could have demonstrated how sound does not travel in a vacuum using a bell jar and pump
with a cell phone inside. This demonstration also shows how radio waves and light waves do
travel through empty space.
What will you do tomorrow?
Give lessons on the speed of sound through different media.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Using Investigation and experimentation.
Reflection Day 7
What went well?
Students learned that the speed of sound can easily be measured.
What could have been done better?
We could have done an activity with lightning and thunder to measure the differences in speed
between them. We could have demonstrated the effect that Alka-Seltzer would have on the
tuning fork lab (differing density of gas).
What will you do tomorrow?
Provide lessons on natural frequency, forced vibration, and resonance.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Inquiry activities.
Reflection Day 8
What went well?
Students enjoyed the Myth-busters video and a few of them tried it at home and made their own
DVD.
What could have been done better?
We should have shown the video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge buckling.
What will you do tomorrow?
Provide lessons on interference and beats.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Physics applications are numerous and connecting those in instruction engages more learners.
Reflection Day 9
What went well?
Students deepened their understanding through examples and hands on activities coupled with
short periods of lecture.
What could have been done better?
Nothing, everything was very smooth.
What will you do tomorrow?
Provide lessons on frequency of sounds.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Using Video road map.
Reflection Day 10
What went well?
Students enjoyed using interactive technology to test their personal ranges of hearing and
singing.
What could have been done better?
While students were performing their tests there was a lot of interference from other groups
producing sounds. We could have assigned students to different areas to avoid this issue.
What will you do tomorrow?
Continue to review for the waves test. Provide sample practice questions to help students engage
using metacognition.
Educational concepts used or observed:
Metacognition and data collection.
Team Teaching Reflections
 Reflections on Working with others:
One of the things that made the team teaching assignment difficult was that Andy
Stephens and I each had a different teaching schedule. Andy was teaching physics each
day of the week and I was teaching in a block schedule, which met every other day. One
interesting thing about Andy’s schedule is that he taught for the same amount of time
during each physics class that met each day, as I taught in my block physics class every
other day. Consequently, Andy was with his physics students for about twice as much
time as I was with my physics students, each week. One of the things that made the team
teaching assignment easier was that we both used the same textbook, called Conceptual
Physics by Paul Hewitt. Another obstacle was that Andy and I don’t teach in the same
school. Consequently, we relied on daily emails to communicate with each other on what
we were going to teach the next day, and how things went at the end of the day. When
we both met at CSUN for our Wednesday classes, we had another opportunity to
communicate with each other in person and discuss what we were teaching for the week
and what went well and what did not go well. At my school, there is one other teacher
who also teaches the same physics course as me. However, she teaches at a different
pace than I do (much faster), and even though she teaches right next door to me, we
rarely make the time to talk to one another about what we are teaching. We do
communicate with each other occasionally, but not frequently. This is why it was a very
helpful opportunity to team -each with Andy, even though we are not at the same schools.
 Reflections on pedagogy
Even though I have been teaching for many more years than Andy, what I discovered, is
that Andy had many things to contribute to my teaching ideas. One of these ideas was
sharing with me a “You-Tube” video from the internet that came from the television
show, Myth-busters. In this program, the hosts asked the question of whether a wine
glass can be shattered by having someone sing into a microphone at just the right
frequency. I probably would not have seen this if Andy had not shared this with me.
It was a lot of fun having someone to discuss teaching ideas with and discussing the
pedagogy of teaching physics. I learned that just because I have been teaching a long
time (22 years), that does not mean that I can’t improve my teaching methods or improve
on ways to present concepts to my students.
 Reflections on psychology
I am not quite sure what this reflection is exactly about but I will try to address it from
the point of view I believe applies to teaching. When teachers teach by themselves,
meaning when they don’t have a partner or fellow teacher to collaborate with, this can
have an influence on the teaching style and technique of a teacher. In the case of team
teaching with Andy, I knew that I would need to share some of my teaching ideas with
him, which was a pleasure to do. This influenced my by forcing me to be a little bit more
organized in having a lesson plan each day. This is how my psychology was influenced.
Having a team teaching colleague helped me to deliberately sit down and plan out the
lesson for the next physics class. This made my class teaching move along more
smoothly and thus influenced my psychology of teaching.
 Reflections on teaching in general
I do have experience in collaborating with a fellow chemistry teacher at my school and
have noticed how it always has a positive impact on my teaching. Therefore, having a
partner in Andy also had a positive influence on my physics teaching. I think that
administrators should make a deliberate effort to enable teachers to team-teach and to
work together as frequently as possible. At my school, South Pasadena High School, we
have built into our schedule something called late start days, where the students come to
class at 9:20 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m. and the teachers meet in their respective
departments and collaborate. This happens every two weeks. Unfortunately, often the
administration has some kind of assignment or project that we are to work on as a
department, and consequently our time to collaborate with the teachers who teach the
same subject, is limited. However, when we do get the chance to do this, it is very
helpful and I think that all schools should have a schedule like this built into their daily
plan.
 Reflections on science teaching
I think that science teaching is very unique among all subjects, because we have built into
our lesson plans, laboratory experiments. This is not true for subjects like English or
Mathematics. As a result of this, it requires more planning and preparation in setting up
equipment for laboratory experiments. This requires cooperation among the science
teachers. So having this team teaching assignment helped to inform me of the great
importance of working cooperatively with another teacher. Although Andy and I don’t
teach at the same school, we definitely helped each other with lab ideas and we shared
them and this enriched my teaching experience during those two to three weeks. What
might have helped enrich the team teaching experience that Andy and I had, would have
been to be able to visit each other’s classroom and actually see what is going on in our
classrooms. This would have been very difficult which is why we did not do it, but if we
had the time and opportunity to do this, it would have had an additional positive impact
on our teaching.