Co Teaching Handbook /

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Amelia Davidson

Sandra den Dunnen

Trish McDonald

With special acknowledgement to

Rebecca Farrell

Kitena Hill

Amber Ivy

Maureen Ryan-Dobbin

Justyna Zubrowski

for allowing us to learn and grow, with you, as co-teachers in your classrooms.

Contact Information

Amelia Davidson:

Sandra den Dunnen:

Trish McDonald:

Contents

Rationale/What

Who

When

Where

Why

How

Challenges

Glossary

References

Appendices

Appendix A: Response to Intervention Model

Appendix B: Preparing to Co-Teach

Appendix C: Sharing Hopes, Attitudes, Responsibilities, and Expectations (S.H.A.R.E.)

Appendix D: Collaborative Teaching: Finding Common Ground First

Appendix E: Finding Time to Plan

Appendix F: Discussion and Planning for Co-Teaching

Appendix G: Lesson Plan Template

Appendix H: Daily Planning Template

Appendix I: Making the Partnership Work: Goals for Mentor Teams

Appendix J: The Co-Teaching Rating Scale

Appendix K: Teacher Actions During Co-Teaching

“If the goal is for all students to be fully included in the mainstream of school life, then co-teaching is a strategy that should be considered . . . Co-taught classrooms foster an atmosphere where diversity is accepted as having a positive impact on all students, where labels are avoided, and where everyone is thought of as a unique individual with gifts and needs” (Mitchell, 2005, p. 17).

Rationale/What

Co-teaching is a “service delivery model that is based on the philosophy of inclusive education and the principles of collaboration” (Anderson, 2008, p. 3). It provides “rich educational experiences that maximize the learning for all students” and helps provide students with special needs “greater access to the general education curriculum” (p.3).

According to Gately and Gately (2001), there are eight components of a co-teaching relationship.

Interpersonal Communication

Physical Arrangement

Familiarity with the Curriculum

Curriculum Goals and Modifications

Instructional Planning

Instructional Presentation

Classroom Management

Assessment

Components of an effective co-teaching environment are:

Administrators support the collaborative process

Both teachers are comfortable with each other and their classroom roles

All students see the role of the teachers as equal

All students are accepted as members of the classroom environment

Continuum of services are still a viable option for all students

Lesson content is prepared collaboratively

Lesson focus on as much active learning as possible

Cooperative learning is a fundamental element of the classroom

Clear academic and behavioural expectations are provided throughout each point in the lesson

Academic and behavioural expectations are high

Curricular instructional and behavioural adaptations are made as needed

Both teachers see the students and themselves benefitting from this relationship

Common planning time is used to develop, evaluate, and reflect on daily instruction

(Dieker, 2009)

To make co-teaching work, “partners must 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” (Anderson, 2008, p. 24).

Who

Co-teaching is an educational approach in which two teachers work together in a collaborative partnership to teach a diverse group of learners. It is essential that there is “genuine shared ownership for decision-making, action-taking, and outcomes” (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2011, p 6). Co-teachers work together to identify student needs, create plans and assessments, coordinate services, and support one another.

Key Elements between co-teachers:

Voluntary

Requires equality in contributions and decision-making

Based on mutual goals

Shared responsibility

Shared resources

Shared accountability

Emerging process

Trust

(Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2004, p 10)

When

Co-teaching can take place at any time, and for any amount of time, as determined by the co-teachers based on needs of the students in the classroom.

Example:

Year

Semester

Unit

Month

Week

Outcome

Where

Any K-12 classroom. Depending on the needs of the students, co-teachers may stay in the same classroom, may go to separate classrooms, or a combination of both.

Why

“No one professional has all the knowledge and skills required to successfully meet the range of diverse needs in today’s classrooms . . . .Collaboration . . . is seen as central to student success within inclusive settings”(Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2004, p. 6).

Research has clearly proven the following to be the benefits of co-teaching:

Benefits to Students / Benefits to Teachers
Enhanced learning for all
Enhanced academic performance
Promotes principles of inclusion
  • reduction of stigma
  • increased understanding and respect for others
  • heterogeneously-based classroom community
Provides students with a model of collaboration
Allows students to work with different styles
Provides excellent support to students who struggle, but have never been identified as having special needs
Students with disabilities gain access to the regular curriculum
Effective for students with learning disabilities
More teacher attention
Learning problems can be identified earlier
Positive effects on self-esteem
Improved social skills
Increased student enthusiasm and involvement
Increased individualized instruction
Decreases problems with generalization across settings / Improved student-teacher ratio
Greater opportunity for differentiating/enhancing curriculum
Ability to intensify instruction
Greater opportunity for attending to students needs
Increased job satisfaction
Blending of expertise and resources
Professional growth
Reduces stress and burnout
Individuals who collaborate value this style and believe the results of their collaboration are more powerful than the results of their individual efforts
Sense of community and camaraderie
Strengths are maximizedand weaknesses are minimized, making results better for all
Proactive
Reduce discipline problems
Increased feelings of worth
Helps to meet psychological needs of belonging, fun, choice, power, and survival
Increased repertoire of instructional strategies
Benefits to All / Benefits to School/Division
RTI Triangle- See Appendix A / Enhanced sense of community within classrooms
Fewer referrals for special education services
Parent satisfaction
Increased unity
Provides a way to sustain inclusive practices

(adapted from Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2004, and Anderson, 2008)

How

Approach / Description / Advantages / Challenges
Supportive Teaching / One teacher leads and the other rotates among students to offer assistance to students or to observe their work. Each teacher should have the opportunity to lead instruction. One teacher is the “sage on the stage,” the other is the “guide on the side.” / Students receive additional teacher assistance
Allows for more detailed observation of student learning / one teacher is placed in the role of assistant
Often overused as requires few demands for change
Parallel Teaching / Teachers work with different groups of students in different parts of the classroom (or other location) and present the same information at the same time. A variation of this approach (known as station teaching) is teachers teach different content and rotate among groups of students. Sometimes, a group of students may work on their own for a part of the time. This method allows for more one-on-one interaction and increased individualization. / Increased student participation
Allows for small group work
More effective discipline
Provides more individualized support / Increased transitions
Students may become distracted
Complimentary Teaching / Teachers share in the delivery of the information, through different roles. One teacher enhances the instruction provided by the other co-teacher by re-teaching based on learning styles or readiness levels, etc. / Capitalizes on the teaching strengths of two teachers
Students receive instruction from two teachers / Requires more planning time
Requires more flexibility
Requires higher level of trust
Team Teaching / Teachers share the responsibility for planning, delivering and assessing students in their classrooms (most engagement by both teachers with planning and assessment). Roles of each member are divided throughout so that each will take a turn at a particular component of the lesson. / Capitalizes on the teaching strengths of two teachers
Students receive instruction from two teachers
Highest level of collaboration
Teachers model positive collaborative working relationship / Requires more planning time
Requires more flexibility
Requires higher level of trust
Most interpersonally complex approach
Most dependent on teaching styles

(adapted from Anderson, 2008, Villa, Thousand, Nevin,2004, and Ballek (2008)

Implementation

  • Administrative support
  • Selecting and scheduling teachers
  • Decide on co-teaching approaches
  • Professional development
  • Common planning time
  • Instructional considerations
  • Classroom management
  • Plan for assessment
  • Clearly define roles and responsibilities before, during, and after teaching (Villa, et al., 2004, p. 13)
  • Capitalize on individual expertise (Anderson, 2008, p. 25)

Student Considerations when Planning, Teaching, Assessing, and Reflecting:

  • Academic needs
  • Behavioural needs
  • eIIP Goals
  • Enrichment needs
  • Readiness levels
  • Student Interests
  • Learning styles
  • Technology
  • 21st Century Competencies
  • Assessment ofall students

Keys to Successful Co-Teaching: Collaboration and Communication

  • Co-Teaching is “a style based on valuing one another’s contribution, trust, respect, and sharing the workload” (Friend and Pope as quoted in Anderson, 2008, p. 27).
  • Collaboration needs to be:
  • Deliberate
  • Structured
  • Systematic
  • Ongoing
  • Communication needs to include:
  • Ability to listen
  • Activeobservation
  • Asking the right questions
  • Negotiation to resolve differences
  • Compromise
  • Constructive feedback for one another

Effective collaboration is a process. Co-teachers need to be patient with themselves and one another as they work through the stages of the co-teaching process

  • Beginning Stage- guarded, careful communication
  • Compromising stage- give and take communication, with a sense of having to “give up” to “get”
  • Collaborating Stage- open communication and interaction and mutual admiration

(Gately and Gately, 2001, p. 42)

Included in the appendix are numerous examples, templates, checklists, and tools to help you with co-teaching.

Co-teaching “requires a commitment to team goals, strong interpersonal skills, and an understanding of yourself and your partner. Positive relationships require a continuous investment of time and effort” (Anderson, 2008, p 25).

Challenges

“Working collaboratively takes more time than working alone. It requires that all participants recognize that they may have to set aside their own preferences as they work with others who think differently; and it involves key decisions, the work involved in teaching, and the accountability for results” (Anderson, 2008, p. 25).

General Challenges:

Lack of common planning time

Lack of administrative support

Need for ongoing training

Increased workload

Knowledge of curriculum

Fear of change

High schools:

  • Content
  • Scheduling
  • Pressure to prepare students for exams

Relational conflicts/communication breakdown:

“Covert conflicts need to be made overt and resolved, or they will fester and destroy the potential for a positive co-teacher relationship”

(Villa, et. al., 2004, p. 97)

Co-teaching is not always the best option. Sometimes it will not address the needs of a student:

“One size does not fit all. Although co-teaching seems to be a promising practice, this does not mean that every student can have his/her needs met this way”

(Kohler Evans, as quoted in Anderson, 2008, p. 3)

Challenges Specific to Each Co-Teaching Model:

Supportive Cautions / Parallel Cautions
Beware of the “Velcro effect” whereby a supportive co-teacher hovers over one or selected students, stigmatizing both students and the co-teacher
Beware making the supportive co-teacher the “discipline police”, materials copier, or in-class paper grader rather than an instructor
Beware of ineffective use of the supportive co-teachers expertise
Beware of resentment if the co-teacher’s skills are not being used or one of the co-teacher’s feels an unequal burden of responsibility
Beware of staying in the supportive role due to lack of planning time / Beware of creating a special class within the class and lowering student achievement by homogeneously grouping lower-performing students together (Marzano, Pickering and Pollack 2001, 84)
Beware that the noise level can become uncomfortably high when numerous activities are occurring in the same room
Beware of failing to adequately prepare each other to ensure that instruction is delivered as planned
Complementary Cautions / Team-Teaching Cautions
Beware of not monitoring the students who need it
Beware of too much teacher talk, repetition, lack of student-student interaction
Beware of “typecasting” the co-teacher delivering content as the “expert” or “real” teacher
Beware of failing to plan for “role release” so that all co-teachers can teach the content / Beware of not monitoring the students who need it
Beware of too much teacher talk, repetition, lack of student-student interaction

“The essence of co-teaching is about building a professional relationship between the co-teachers, which is motivated by the drive to increase student achievement”

(Magiera, Simmons, Marotta, & Battaglia as quoted in Anderson, 2008, p. 25).

Glossary

eIIP

The Electronic Inclusion and Intervention Plan is a provincial document used for students who require intensive supports.

Collaboration

Collaboration refers to the kind of instruction among professionals that enhances co-teaching. It encompasses a number of behaviours including communication, negotiation, coordination, cooperation, sharing of information, and problem solving. (Anderson, 2008, p. 12)

Cooperative teaching

Synonymous with co-teaching.

Differentiated instruction

As defined by the Sun West School Division, differentiated instruction, also referred to as DI, is instruction that is responsive to multiple student preferences, interests, and learning needs.

Inclusion

Inclusion is a belief system that implies a sense of acceptance and belonging for all students. Co-Teaching supports inclusion. . (Anderson, 2008, p. 13-14)

RTI

Refers to the Response to Intervention model.

The levels of instructional delivery provided for exceptional children fall into three categories as described in the Response to Intervention (RTl) model.

Tier 1: Classroom Interventions

Teachers identify students who are experiencing difficulties and differentiate instruction based on individual student needs.

Tier 2: Targeted/Team Interventions:

Student information is reviewed by the Student Support Team. Interventions are

adjusted to more specifically address student needs through increased intensity,

frequency and duration.

Tier 3: Intensive Individual Interventions:

Student Services supports are accessed through procedures identified by the school division for consultation and/or referral for formal assessment. Recommendations for interventions are implemented in classroom, small group and individual settings. Tier 3 provides students with the greatest level of frequency, intensity and duration.

Tier 2 and 3 interventions are most often modifications of those used in Tier 1. More importantly they are used in addition to Tier 1 interventions.
(Sun West School Division, Student Diversity Handbook, p.5)

Team teaching

“Two or more people who do what the traditional teacher has always done- plan, teach, assess, and assume responsibility for all the students in the classroom” (Villa, et. al., 2004, p. 9).

References

Anderson, Karen R. for Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2008). Co-Teaching: A Literature

Review.

Ballek, Jade. (2008). Co-Teaching Roles and Responsibilities.

Ballek, Jade. Effective Co-Teaching Presentation by Dr. Lisa Dieker: Classroom Challenge: Educating ALL Children.

Choice Literacy. Collaborative Teaching: Finding Common Ground First (Checklist). Retrieved from

Co-Teaching for the Special Education Teacher. (2010) [PowerPoint slides]

Davidson, A. McDonald, T., Rettger, C., Meehan, C., & den Dunnen, S. (2012). Co-Teaching in Sun West

School Division.

Dieker, Lisa.(2009). Current, Best Ideas for Making Inclusion Work.

Fleming, D. School Strategies & Options

Gately, Susan E. & Gately, Jr., Frank J. (2001). Understanding Co-Teaching Components. The Council

for Exceptional Children, 33(4), 40-47.

Murawski, Wendy W. & Dieker, Lisa A. (2008). 50 Ways to Keep Your Co-Teacher: Strategies for

Before, During, and After Co-Teaching. The Council for Exceptional Children, 40(4), 40-48.

Murawski, Wendy W. & Dieker, Lisa A. (2004). Tips and Strategies for Co-Teaching at the Secondary

Level. The Council for Exceptional Children, 36(5), 52-58.

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education.

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2011). Actualizing a Needs-Based Model to Support Student

Achievement: A Journey of Transformation.

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2004).Caring and Respectful School: Toward School PLUS:

Ensuring Student Well-Being and Educational Success.

Sun West School Division. Student Diversity Handbook.Retrieved from

Villa, R.A., Thousand, J.S., & Nevin, A.I. (2004). A Guide to Co-Teaching: Practical tips for Facilitating

Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Wilson, Gloria Lodato. (2008). 20 Ways To Be an Active Co-teacher. Intervention in School and Clinic,

43(4), 240-243.

Appendices

Appendix A: Response to Intervention Model...... 24

Appendix B: Preparing to Co-Teach...... 25

Appendix C: Sharing Hopes, Attitudes, Responsibilities, and Expectations (S.H.A.R.E.)...... 26

Appendix D: Collaborative Teaching: Finding Common Ground First...... 27

Appendix E: Finding Time to Plan...... 27

Appendix F: Discussion and Planning for Co-Teaching...... 28

Appendix G: Lesson Plan Template...... 32

Appendix H: Daily Planning Template...... 33

Appendix I: Making the Partnership Work: Goals for Mentor Teams...... 34

Appendix J: The Co-Teaching Rating Scale...... 35

Appendix K: Teacher Actions During Co-Teaching...... 36

Appendix A: Response to Intervention Model

Appendix B: Preparing to Co-Teach

Actions / Questions to Ask Yourself or Others
Assess the current environment / What type of collaboration currently exists between general and special education?
Has there been any discussion of inclusion, collaboration, or co-teaching?
How do teachers react when they hear about students with special needs in general education classes? Are there any who react favourably?
Move in slowly / What is our joint understanding of co-teaching as a service delivery model?
May I teach or co-teach a lesson with you?
Are there any areas that you feel les strongly about, in which I might be able to assist?
Involve an administrator / How is the district addressing the least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate and inclusive movement?
Would our school site be willing to be proactive by including co-teaching?
What discipline areas will we target first?
How will we ensure that support is provided across all content areas, including electives?
Would we be able to count on administrative support, especially with co-planning time and scheduling assistance?
Get to know your partner / Could we complete a co-teaching checklist to help guide us in discussing our personal and professional preferences?
Are there any pet peeves or issues that I should know prior to our working together?
Do we both have the same level of expertise about the curriculum and instructing students with disabilities?
How shall we ensure that we both are actively involved and neither feels over- or underutilized?
What feedback structure can we create to assist in our regular communication?
Create a workable schedule / How often will co-teaching occur (daily, a few times a week, for a specific unit)?
What schedule would best meet the needs of the class and both instructors?
How can we ensure that this schedule will be maintained consistently so that both co-teachers can trust it?
How will we maintain communication between co-taught sessions?

(Murawski, W. & Dieker, L., 2004, p. 54)