CO-TEACHING “WHEN ONE TEACHES TWO LEARN.” Resources and Guidelines

WHAT IS CO-TEACHING “when two or more professionals jointly deliver substantive instruction to a diverse, or blended group of students in a single physical space” (Cook and Friend, 1995).

THE CO-TEACHING DYNAMIC

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The Types of Co-teaching Curriculum Knowledge Planning Time Allocation Level of Trust Philosophical Agreement Friend, M., Reising, M., & Cook, L. (1993). Co-teaching: An overview of the past, a glimpse at the present, and considerations for the future. Preventing School Failure, 37(4), 6-10.

Bauwens and Hourcade (1991) STYLES OF CO-TEACHING Bauwens and Hourcade (1991) One teach, one support --One person assumes primary instructional responsibility while the other adult assists students with work, monitors behavior, and corrects assignments. (This approach is most successful when it is used on an occasional basis in conjunction with the other approaches.)

2. Station teaching --Curricular content is divided into two parts. One person teaches the first part to half the students and the other professional presents the second part to the other half. The two student groups then switch.

3. Parallel teaching --Students are divided into heterogeneous groups in which each student has more opportunity to participate in discussions. Different types of presentations are structured to accommodate the various student learning styles.

4. Alternative teaching --Students are divided into two groups, and one person instructs one group while the other person pre-teaches the other group for the lesson to follow or re-teaches material using alternative methods.

5. Team teaching-- Both professionals share leadership and are equally engaged in instructional activities. They might role play, stage debates, or model note-taking strategies. (Friend & Bursuck, 1999, pp. 82-85)

The Components of Co-teaching Gately, S., Gately, F., Understanding Co-teaching Components, Journal of Teaching Exceptional Children, 2 (3) 41-47

The Stages of the Co-teaching Process Open communication / changing roles / use of humour / mutual respect / “flexible equality” Give and take communication / more active role of “special” educator / increased level of trust and social relationship Careful Communication / Boundaries developing / Feelings of Intrusion / Very defined roles *Teachers may get stuck at this level. Gately, S., Gately, F., Understanding Co-teaching Components, Journal of Teaching Exceptional Children, 2 (3) 41-47

COMPLEMENTING EACH OTHERS STRENGTHS

“I have a good friend (co-teacher) and we share all the time “I have a good friend (co-teacher) and we share all the time. She rocks at assessment I rock at presentation. We meld our lessons and constantly trade information and lesson plans. What comes out in the end is great lessons and great assessment.”

The Benefits of Co-teaching better student to teacher ratio and more individual attention (especially helpful to lower level students.). a wider use of instructional techniques, to better student learning more and better critical, planning and reflective practices by teachers social skills improvement / better classroom management. a more “community” oriented classroom increased score results.

TEACHER BENEFITS Teacher training in-house. The Korean English Teacher betters their own language skills while teaching. Both teachers develop new instructional techniques while teaching and sharing. New teachers can be given guidance and mentoring. Effective modeling for students. NESTs > less cultural adaptation.

3 Main Misperceptions 1. The foreign expert. Foreign teachers are viewed as “all knowing”. This creates an imbalance in the classroom and eventually resentment. There must be a shared power in the classroom. There is no expert or rather, a Native expert and a Foreign expert. Each have their particular skills and experience and relevance. Sturman, P., (1992), Team Teaching: A case study from Japan, Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching, Cambridge University Press, Nunan, D., 149-150

2. The “walking tape recorder” 2. The “walking tape recorder”. In this case, the Korean teacher feels that the foreign teacher lacks instructional skills and uses the NEST as a kind of puppet, only good for pronunciation and laughter, cultural communication.

3. The “token foreigner”. Here, the NEST is only there to give the school pride as being progressive. They aren’t used as teachers. They are just a symbol of being “international” and progressive.

RECOMMENDATIONS SUGGESTIONS Promote and educate teachers and schools about the value and benefits of co-teaching. Teachers must know WHY they are co-teaching. Hold mandatory workshops for co-teachers. Especially prior to the school year. Also social outings to foster their relationship.

Have all co-teachers complete a questionnaire and discuss fully prior to teaching together. Also, give adequate scheduling and planning time for weekly co-teaching meetings. Educate teachers about the co-teaching options they have. There are many different kinds of co-teaching. Korean co-teachers MUST be in the classrooms with NESTs during lessons.

Allow for no more than 3 co-teachers / NEST Allow for no more than 3 co-teachers / NEST. Preferably schools should provide an English only classroom and teachers shouldn’t have to travel to other classrooms. Create a process to chose the appropriate people/teachers to be co-teachers.

Set up a dispute resolving mechanism so that when a co-teacher has a complaint, they have somewhere to go. Schedule so that co-teachers will be with each other for the full contracted year. Make it mandatory that co-teachers hold weekly planning meetings.

Sharing Hopes, Attitudes, Responsibilities, and Expectations { SHARE } Directions: Take a few minutes to individually complete this worksheet. Be honest in your responses. After completing it individually, share the responses with your co-teaching partner by taking turns reading the responses. Do not use this time to comment on your partner's responses—merely read. After reading through the responses, take a moment or two to jot down any thoughts you have regarding what your partner has said. Then, come back together and begin to share reactions to the responses. Your goal is to (a) Agree, (b) Compromise, or (c) Agree to Disagree.

1. Right now, the main hope I have regarding this co-teaching situation is: _______________. 2. My attitude/philosophy of teaching students with disabilities in a general education classroom is: _______________________.

3. I would like to have the following responsibilities in a co-taught classroom: ________________________. 4. I would like my co-teacher to have the following responsibilities: ________________________.

5. The biggest problem I expect to have in co-teaching is: ___________________. 5a. I think we can overcome this obstacle by: ______________________.

(a) discipline __________________________________________________ 6. I have the following expectations regarding _______in the classroom: (a) discipline __________________________________________________ (b) class work __________________________________________________

Materials ____________________. homework ______________________________________________________. planning _______________________________________________________.

(f) modifications for individual students__________________________________. (g) grading ________________________________________________. (h) noise level _________________________________________________.

(i) cooperative learning _______________________ (j) giving/receiving feedback _____________________________________________. (k) parental contact ________________________________________________.

(l) classroom appearance/seating __________________________________________. (m) other important expectations I have ____________________________________.

Note: Modified from Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom: Working Together to Help All Your Students Find Success (Grades 6-12; p.36-37, by W. W. Murawski, 2003, Medina, WA: Institute for Educational Development.

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