Transcript CO-TEACHING - GSSD Blogs

CO-TEACHING
A Promising Practice Intended to
Improve Learning Outcomes for
All Students
Presented by: Tracy Huckell
Student Services Coordinator
GSSD
May 2010
Overview of Presentation
What Co-Teaching Is
 Benefits
 Co-teaching Approaches
 The Teaching Partnership
 Stages of Co-Teaching
 Other Considerations
 Videos of Co-Teaching Partnerships
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What is Co-Teaching?
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Involves two or more professionals delivering
instruction to a diverse or blended group of
students in a single physical space
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A sharing of teaching responsibilities
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A service delivery model that is based on the
philosophy of inclusion and supports
collaborative practices among professionals.
Rationale for Co-Teaching
“Co-teaching arrangements … are one
promising option for meeting the learning
needs of the many students who once
spent a large part of the school day with
special educators in separate classrooms.”
Friend, 2007, p. 48
Rationale for Co-Teaching
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Promotes principles of inclusion and
collaborative practice among teachers
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Provides a number of benefits for students,
teachers, and organizations
“Educators must pull together by sharing their
work through collaboration; too much knowledge
and too many skills are needed for any single
professional to keep up with and master all of
them.”
Friend & Pope, 2005, p.59
Benefits to Students
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Access to general education curriculum and classroom teacher
Increases individualized instruction and teacher attention
Enhances academic performance
Reduces stigma associated with the “pull-out” model
Stronger peer relationships and social skills
Better attitudes about themselves, academic performance and social
skills
Increased participation of students with disabilities
Continuity of instruction during teacher absence
Students exposed to positive models of adult collaboration and team
work
All students have the opportunity to gain an appreciation of diversity
within their learning and social community
Benefits to Teachers
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Opportunity for professional growth through the sharing of
knowledge, skills, and resources ie. teaching strategies, styles, ways
to differentiate
Increases job satisfaction and decreases feelings of isolation
Reduces student-teacher ratio
Student support teachers increase their understanding of general
education curriculum and classroom expectations
General educators increase their ability to adapt/modify lessons
Improves communication between special and general education
teachers
Ability to intensify instruction
Second set of eyes valuable for difficult situations…extreme
behavior, subtle bullying etc.
Benefits to Schools and Divisions
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Promotes and sustains inclusive practices
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Enhances sense of community within general education
classrooms when students with diverse needs are
educated along side their non-disable peers
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Fewer referrals for special education services…needs
are better addressed in the classroom
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Parent satisfaction
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Staff more united…greater appreciation for the
knowledge & expertise of others
Co-Teaching Approaches
Supportive
Teaching
One teacher leads and the other
observes or offers assistance
Parallel
Teaching
Teachers work with groups and
present the same information.
Complementary
Teaching
A teacher enhances the
instruction provided by the other
teacher (i.e., mini lesson)
Team
Teaching
Both teachers share the planning
and the instruction in a
coordinated fashion.
Supportive Co-teaching
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One teacher leads the instruction and the other
observes or assists students…similar to
teacher/EA partnership
Often overused as it requires the least amount of
change
Does not capitalize on the expertise and talents
of both teachers
It is important that the supportive teacher not
become ‘velcroed’ to individual students
Should take place most often in the classroom,
but may have short periods of time with a child
or group outside the classroom if necessary
Parallel Co-teaching
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Involves co-teachers presenting the same or
different content to groups of students.
In one variation, called “Station Teaching”, coteachers presents different content to small
groups of students. Students rotate through the
classroom stations. One of the stations may
require students to work independently.
This approach provides more individualized
support and allows students to receive content
from two different teachers using different
strategies. (ie. same concept introduced in
different ways in order to reinforce)
Complementary Co-teaching
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One teacher enhances the instruction of another. This
can be accomplished by performing a demonstration or
providing a mini-lesson within a lesson.
Capitalizes on the teaching strengths of both teachers,
but requires more planning time, more flexibility, and a
higher degree of trust than the first two approaches.
A variation of this approach is what is called “alternative
teaching” where one teacher teaches the whole class,
while the other pre-teaches, re-teaches, or enriches the
lesson to a small group of students. This approach can
provide greater individualized instruction.
Team Teaching Co-teaching
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Involves both teachers sharing in the planning
and the delivery of the instruction in a
coordinated fashion.
Lessons could be divided based on each
teacher’s strengths or both teachers could
instruct simultaneously in an almost
conversational manner.
This approach requires a good working
relationship between the teachers and a high
level of trust.
Things to Consider
Each co-teaching approach is a valid
option
 Some partners evolve through the ‘stages’
and others try all approaches within a few
weeks of working together
 The best way to learn to co-teach is to coteach and learn by doing
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Implementation Considerations for
Teachers involved in Co-Teaching
The teaching partnership
 Pre-planning
 Selecting & scheduling teachers
 Co-teaching approaches
 Professional development
 Common planning time
 Assessment
 Administrative support
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The Teaching Partnership
“Partners much establish trust, develop and
work on communication, share the chores,
celebrate, work together creatively to
overcome the inevitable challenges and
problems, and anticipate conflict and
handle it in a constructive way.”
Villa, Thousand, & Nevin, 2004, p. 3
Factors in Building and Maintaining
Positive Relationships
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Trust and respect
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Commitment to team goals
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Effective interpersonal, collaborative, and
conflict resolution skills
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Understanding of self and partner
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Continuous investment of time
Stages to Co-Teaching
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Beginning Stage
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Compromising Stage
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Collaborative Stage
Beginning Stage
Communication may be guarded
 Often one teacher teaches and the other
assists
 One teacher is typically designated the
behavior manager
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Compromising Stage
Communication is more open and
interactive
 Planning is shared
 Both teachers are involved in the
instruction through mini-lessons
 There is a mutual development of rules
and routines for students
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Collaborative Stage
Effective communication is modeled for
students
 Planning is continual both outside and
during instruction
 Both teachers participate simultaneously
in presenting the lesson
 The teachers have a co-developed
classroom management system that
includes individual behavior plans
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Obstacles/Barriers
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Fear of conflict
Dealing poorly with frustration
Lack of a shared vision or an inability to work with
colleagues possessing different personalities or
philosophies
Poor communication among partners
Low self-esteem or a lack of PD – train as partners
Lack of teacher knowledge & skill in classroom
management, research-based instruction & high quality
assessment methods
Lack of willingness to invest the time or effort
Reluctance to ‘lose’ control of the classroom
Lack of administrative support or understanding
Roles and Responsibilities
“The biggest challenge for educators is in
deciding to share the role that has
traditionally been individual: to share the
goals, decisions, classroom instruction,
responsibility for students, assessment of
student learning, problem solving, and
classroom management. The teachers
must begin to think of it as our class.”
Ripley, in Cramer, 2006, p.13
Key to Successful Co-Teaching
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The three ‘C’s of Co-teaching are:
Communicate
 Communicate in a different way
 Communicate again!
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“Do you see what I mean?”
“Does that sound right to you?”
“Can you share your thoughts about how we
should do this?”
Pre-Planning – 8 Components
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Interpersonal communication
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Physical arrangement
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Familiarity with the curriculum
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Curriculum goals and modifications
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Instructional planning
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Instructional presentation
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Classroom management
8.
Assessment
Scheduling
Co-teaching can be used with any grade
level - preschool to high school.
 Co-teaching can be used with any subject
area, although the literature refers most
often to language arts and mathematics.
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Common Planning Time
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Schedule co-teachers prep time together
Provide substitute coverage a few times during
the year
Use school-wide activity days
Plan before and after school
Combine two classes and release teacher
Release teachers from some committee
responsibilities
Administration cover classes from time to time
Changing the Way We Think
“The real issue is not just about adding
or manipulating time, but changing
the fundamental way that teachers do
business when they do sit down faceto-face to plan.”
Villa, Thousand, & Nevin, 2004, p. 80
Professional Development
Should Include:
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An understanding of co-teaching
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Development of interpersonal,
collaborative, and conflict resolution skills
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Instructional strategies
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Knowledge and skills for differentiating
instruction
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Characteristics of learners with different
learning needs
What a Better Way to Teach
“The practice of co-teaching has the
potential to be a wonderful strategy for
meeting the needs of all students.
Working in partnership with another
teacher, bouncing ideas off of one another,
planning and orchestrating the perfect
lesson, having two pair of eyes and four
hands, creating something that is better
than that which each partner brings
alone…what better way to teach?”
Kohler-Evans, 2006, p. 3
Closing Thought
“All students benefit when their
teachers share ideas, work
cooperatively, and contribute to one
another’s learning. There is a
growing research base to support this
claim.”
Villa, Thousand & Nevin, 2004, xiii