An Effective Way to Reach ALL Struggling Learners Co-Teaching An Effective Way to Reach ALL Struggling Learners

Co-Teaching Debate Benefits Frustrations Two teachers in the classroom. Opportunities for concepts to be re-taught Improvement of instruction/reflection Increased opportunity for UDL and differentiated instruction to take place Lack of common planning time. Co-teaching pairs not appropriately placed. Co-teacher placed in subject area not conducive to background. Lack of shared responsibility.

Most Common Turn Offs Lack of common planning time Lack of consistent co-teaching partnerships (i.e. same person throughout the day) Lack of co-teacher background/comfort with content. (i.e. different subjects each term) Lack of relationship in partnership.

What Co-Teaching Is Delivery method for instruction Equally qualified individuals Shared and equal responsibility Accountability is shared Focusing on all Differentiated Instruction

What Co-Teaching Is Not One teaches and one helps Pull out method Targeting certain students Isolating responsibilities Following a lead Lack of collaboration

Who Benefits? Just as in differentiated instruction and Universal Lesson Design (UDL), the purpose to help all learners succeed. Those that benefit the most are struggling learners.

How Can It Benefit Struggling Learners? Increased observation of student success and struggle. Re-teaching Strategy instruction Modeling alternative formats Increased opportunity for teacher/student relationship. Decrease inappropriate student behaviors and model appropriate social skills (McDuffie, Landrum, & Gelman, 2007) On-task reminders and cues Differentiated instruction

Greatest Factor to Making Co-Teaching Work Team work and collaboration Handout: “Steps in Effective Collaboration” Break- 10 minutes. When we come back we will be looking at specific models of co-teaching and how to plan for co-teaching.

Six Models of Co-Teaching One teach, one observe Station teaching Parallel teaching Alternative teaching Teaming Assist

One Teach, One Observe One teaches one observes pre-determined components (i.e. who is struggling, taking notes, etc.) Teachers take turns teaching and observing. Teachers analyze data together. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCn4qDyuZVE&feature=fvw

Teaming Both teachers teach same content to the entire class. The time is shared equally between teachers. Most difficult approach, but often most effective. This approach takes time. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCn4qDyuZVE&feature=fvw

Station Teaching Teachers divide the content in half and divide the class in half. One teacher works with one group while the other works with the other. Groups alternate at equal time intervals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BKCur0DvRo

Parallel Teaching Like station teaching, but both teachers teach the SAME content simultaneously. This could benefit students that need more one on one focus or opportunities to participate. Could be distracting in small spaces. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyxLvaScI0Q

Alternative Teaching One teaches larger group and one works with smaller groups. Great for remedial instruction, catching students up, etc. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-xEPmd72RI

Assist This is the stereotypical model of co-teaching where one rotates the room and quietly assists students while the other teaches. Use sparingly.

Discussion Which models of co-teaching seem most conducive to the science classroom? Why?

Planning for Co-Teaching Should be done on a consistent basis Completed in a tiered fashion in what the team wants all students to learn, the majority of students to learn, and what they want a few students to learn (Schumm, Vaughn, & Leavell, 1994).

Planning for Co-Teaching Roles- who teaches what? Specific tasks and material creation How will learning be assessed? Who needs follow up? Who will address this?

Sample Planning Form Taken from: Vaughn, S. , Schumm, J Sample Planning Form Taken from: Vaughn, S., Schumm, J.S, & Arguelles, M.E. (1997). The ABCDEs of Co-Teaching. Teaching Exceptional Children, 30(2), 4-10. Date What are you teaching? Which co-teaching strategy? What are specific tasks for both teachers? What materials are needed? How will you evaluate learning? Who needs follow up?

Wrap Up There are six models of co-teaching: observe, teaming, alternative, stations, parallel, and assist. Collaboration and planning are vital to co-teaching success. Tiered approach is best practice when planning for all learners. Discussion and questions

References and Resources McDuffie, K., Landrum, T.,& Gelman, J. 2007) Co-Teaching and Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Beyond Behavior. Fall, pg. 11-16 Schumm, J. S., Vaughn, S., & Leavell, A. (1994). Planning Pyramid: A framework for planning for diverse student needs during content area instruction. The Reading Teacher. 47(8), 608-615. Vaughn, S., Schumm, J.S., & Arguelles, M.E. (1997). The ACBDEs of co-teaching. Teaching Exceptional Children, 30(2), 4-10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCn4qDyuZVE&feature=fvw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BKCur0DvRo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyxLvaScI0Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-xEPmd72RI