Blurring Lines Among Both Students and Subjects

Gladstone, 43, said she organizes "thematic literature circles" in which students reading different books discuss common themes, such as friendship. "Last year those circles worked so well," she said. "The team-taught kids are bringing in street knowledge, which they use to interact with the other kids. And you have honors kids who are so factually oriented . . . that sometimes they don't have common sense. It's really neat to see them interact in these groups."

Lemmert said, "Some of my team-taught kids loved it when we did group work in history, because they were very good at discussion, when they might not be able to put it on paper."

Wood, 56, said she and Lemmert had joined forces informally in recent years as Lemmert taught social studies and Wood taught language arts. In Virginia, sixth-graders study U.S. history to 1877. So Wood would have her students read Carolyn Reeder's novel "Shades of Gray" during English lessons, and Lemmert would have them discuss the Civil War events depicted in the book for history lessons. Their teamwork has become more extensive and formalized with the addition of language arts teacher Gladstone.

Parents have been known to complain when honors students are mixed with others, but the three Blue Ridge Middle teachers said only one parent has raised an issue. The mother said she thought her child was supposed to be in an Advanced Placement class. The teachers explained that AP was a high school program and that their honors students would be getting higher-level work. That satisfied her. Parents seemed pleased that their children, used to one teacher handling all subjects in fifth grade, would have one teacher for reading and history in sixth grade, easing their middle school transition.

Pat Graff, a National Council of Teachers of English expert on combining subjects, said middle schools where she works in Albuquerque have taught social studies and language arts together for a decade. Students like it, she said, because seeing connections between the two subjects makes the lessons seem more relevant to the outside world.

At Blue Ridge Middle, students seem to enjoy helping one another out. Lemmert asked one class how an Indian in a dry area not known for furry game could have acquired animal skins. "Trading," a student said. That was the right answer. But another boy was not satisfied.

"He could have made a really cool weapon and killed those animals, those dogs, what are they called?"

"Prairie dogs," another student said.

"Right, prairie dogs," the boy said, taking the group one extra step.