Transcript Current and Best Ideas for Making Inclusion Work Grades 6-12

Co-Teaching and Differentiation
…where do I fit?
Dr. Pokey Stanford
William Carey University
April 12, 2008
Inclusion Confusion
Regular
Education
Initiative
Mainstreaming
Inclusion
Continuum of Services

Hospital and Institutional Settings

Residential School
 Special Day School
 Full-Time Special Classes

General Education Classroom plus Resource
Room Service

General Education Classroom with
Supplementary Instruction or Treatment

General Education Classroom with Consultation
 General

Education Setting
*Adapted from Exceptional Children, Vol. 28, No. 7, March, 1962, p. 368.
Structures of Co-Teaching
 Teach
and Observe
 Station Teaching
 Parallel Teaching
 Alternative Teaching
 Teaming
Cook and Friend, 2000
Teach and Observe
 One
teacher leads and another offers
assistance and support to individual or
small groups.
 The supports need to be CLEARLY
defined!
Cook and Friend, 2000
Station Teaching

Students are divided into two heterogeneous groups
 Each teacher provides instruction at a station to half of
the class
 At another time (middle of the day, next week, middle of
the class period) students switch stations
 Stations CANNOT be hierarchical in nature
 Each teacher is presenting a parallel task
Cook and Friend, 2000
Parallel Teaching
 Teachers
jointly plan instruction, but the
content may be delivered to half the class
in small groups
 Heterogeneous grouping
 Excellent if you are introducing a difficult
concept or want to divide students with
behavioral issues
Cook and Friend, 2000
Alternative Teaching

One teacher works with a small group of
students with a specific skill need (pre-teach, reteach, supplement, or enrich) while the other
teacher works with the rest of the class
 Structure works well when there is planning time
to consider how to structure the tasks
Cook and Friend, 2000
Teaming

Both teachers share planning and instruction of
students in a coordinated fashion
 Structure can only be utilized if there is planning
time, an equal level of comfort with the
curriculum, and similar teaching philosophies
 Model may not address the needs of students
with disabilities
Cook and Friend, 2000
Whose students are these?
 Who
is responsible for the students in the
classroom? The general education teacher
is responsible for all of the students in the
class, but how do these responsibilities
change when the special education
teacher is in the room? Who is responsible
for the students with special needs? Under
what conditions do these responsibilities
change?
Who gives grades? How do we
grade?

Making joint decisions about how grades will be
handled for in- class assignments, tests, and
homework will reduce the frictions frequently
associated with grading special education
students in general education classrooms.
Working together, teachers can develop
guidelines for grading to use with both students
and parents.
 Dieker and Barnett (1996) suggest having both
teachers check, discuss, and then assign grades
for student work. This process allows teachers
to become familiar with each other’s standards.
Whose classroom management
rules do we use?

Rarely is there disagreement between teachers
about the more extreme behaviors. The subtle
classroom management difficulties that are part
of the ongoing routines of running a classroom,
however, can cause concerns for teaches.
Often, the special education teacher is unsure
about when he or she should step in and assist
with classroom management. Teachers should
discuss their classroom management styles and
the roles they expect of each other in
maintaining a smoothly running classroom.
What space do I get?

When special education teachers spend part of
their day instructing in general education
classrooms, it is extremely useful to have a
designated area for them to keep their materials.
A desk and chair that are used only by special
education teachers provide them with a "base"
from which to work and contribute to their
position of authority.
 Numerous sources state that both teachers
should move into a different classroom rather
than one teacher moving into the other’s space.
What do we tell the students?
 The
students should be informed that they
have two teachers and that both teachers
have the same authority. We think it is a
good idea to introduce the special
education teacher as a "learning abilities"
specialist who will be working with all of
the students from time to time. Generally
students willingly accept the idea of having
two teachers and like it very much.
What do we tell the parents?
 Parents
are part of the process from the
beginning and are able to influence the
development of the program.
How can we get time to co-plan?

Teachers report that planning often comes on their own
time. Even when a designated period is established for coplanning, teachers report that this time gets taken away to
be used for meetings and other school management
activities. Teachers need a minimum of 45 minutes of
uninterrupted planning time each week if they are likely to
have a successful co- teaching experience.

Designate a day or a half- day every 6- 8 weeks when
teachers can meet extensively to plan and discuss the
progress of students, as well as changes in their
instructional practices.

Asking community volunteers or university students who are
majoring in education to direct certain classroom activities.
Planning
 If
you don’t co-plan you can’t co-teach
QuickTime™ and a
H.263 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Brain Break
 What
will be my obstacles in co-teaching?
 What strengths will I bring to co-teaching?
 How will I evaluate my co-teaching
relationships?
How do I create community in
my classroom?





Communities of learners VS Classrooms of kids
Communication with parents
Communication with administrators
Communication with learners
Communication with co-teachers and/or support
staff


Connection to
Community
Meaningful Connections
Respectful dialogue
• Tell me about your child letters home
• On-going/open communication

From Engaging Children to Engaging
Families.
• Assumptions about ourselves as teachers
• Assumptions about families
• Assumptions about children
Create “family-based” homework projects
Make “family literacy” valid and important in your
classroom
Share information with other teachers
Creative Communication
for Community





Consistent and efficient communication with
parents (newsletters, websites, email, etc.)
Get-to-know activities or socials…open
classrooms…open doors
Parent/teacher/learner conferences, everyone
on the same team
Name your classroom
Print t-shirts, logos, be a team together
Community Means…

A Problem Shared is
1/2ed

Joy Shared is
doubled
Stop
Think
Write
How can I
Create
Community ?
How do I differentiate?
Content
Process
Product
Manipulation
of
environment/learning style
Example

Students may be grouped by interest but also
have activities set at different levels of
complexity (questioning levels/abstract
thinking processes) resulting in varying
products from differing learning modalities.
 Thus content is being differentiated by
interest, the process is being differentiated by
readiness and the product is being
differentiated by student learning modality
preference.
Notes:

All differentiation of learning begins with
student assessment
 Differentiating required a considerable
degree of self direction…must focus on
developing intrinsic motivation
 It is necessary to clarify the concept of
fairness (definition of fairness: everyone
getting what is needed)
Make-up Board
Make-up Policy – Any assignment that is late will
be reduced by 10% fo r each week it is late. Yo u
may not turn in any m issi ng a ssignment 1 week
prior to the end of the quarter.
Cynthia
Zoobee
Gwenetta
Joshua
Samuel
Toby
Jose
Universal Desires for All Children

Autonomy
 Relationship


with others
Interdependence
Safety and Trust
 Self-esteem
and belonging
Self-Regulation
Accomplishment and Purpose


 The
opportunity to be generous, to give
and not always receive

Communication
 Pleasure
and joy
Brain-Based Ideas
 Students
can pay attention to only one
thing at a time
 Irrelevant or uninteresting information
does not stay with students
 15/5
 Brain Breaks are metacognitive activities
Brain-friendly classrooms
 Hydration
of learners
 Connections to real-life
 Talk has power
 Background is critical
 Technology may hold some keys
Brain Break
 Think,
Pair, Share
How do we define
differentiate instruction?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Know your learners!!
Multiple Intelligence strengths
Assessment strengths/areas of need
Metacognative reflections
Adjustable assignments
Curriculum Compacting
Grouping
Centers
Projects and problem-based learning!
Instructional Options

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
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Role Playing
Guest Speakers
Cooperative Groups
Artifacts
Independent Work
Multiple Intelligences
Assessment Variations
Why Differentiate?






Attending to teacher-student relationships contributes to student
energy for learning…
Attending to the learning environment builds a context for
learning…
Attending to students’ backgrounds and needs builds bridges
that connect learners and important content
Attending to student readiness allows for academic growth…
Attending to student interest enlists student motivation…
Attending to student learning profiles enables efficiency of
learning…
How can I differentiate?



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


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
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Find ways to get to know students more intentionally and
regularly
Incorporate small-group teaching into daily or weekly teaching
routines
Learn to teach to the high end
Offer more ways to explore and express learning
Regularly use informal assessments to monitor student
understanding
Teach in multiple ways
Use basic reading strategies throughout the curriculum
Allow working alone or with peers
Use clear rubrics that coach for quality
Cultivate a taste for diversity
Myths





Self-correcting
workbooks
End-all for Education
Teacher does not
take instructional lead
Incompatible with
high-stakes
assessment
Only for a special
education population


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
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Differentiation occurs
mainly through
leveling
Peer tutoring will be
overused
FULL inclusion
FREE!!
Islands will provide
refuge
Values of Differentiated
Instruction
JThe value of choice
JThe value of learning
how to learn
JThe value of both
ritual and variety
JThe value of variety in
assessments
JThe value of
collegiality
JThe value of openendedness
JThe value of multiple
learning modes
JThe value of
connection
JThe value of different
teaching styles
JThe value of student
talk
The Starfish