Working in Co-Teaching Teams

1. Working in Teams:
A Shared
Responsibility
A Whole Group Discussion

2. Articles
 We will review assigned reading articles.
Please have them ready to reference and
make comments about them throughout.

3. Co-Teaching: Getting to Know Your
Partner
by Jane Sileo
 Getting Started: the
relationship building
stage.
 Effective
Communication is key to
navigating professional
relationships.
 Unresolved issues
interfere with efforts to
collaborate on behalf of
students –
communication is key.

4. Planning: the Co-teaching
Stage
 Define who:
 Plans and teaches the
lessons.
 Prepares and organizes
instructional material.
 Chooses co-teaching
structures that
complement the lessons
and the students’
abilities.
 Grades assignments.

5. Description of Co-Teaching
Structures
 One Teach, One Observe
 Parallel Teaching
 Station Teaching
 Alternative Teaching
 One Teach, One Assist
 Team Teaching

6. Problem Solving the Ongoing
Relationship Stage
 (See the example in the article),
 Step 1: Identify the Issues
 Step 2: Develop alternative courses of action.
 Step 3: Analyze the risks and benefits of each
course of action.
 Step 4: Choose a course of action.
 Step 5: Take action.
 Step 6: Evaluate results of the action
 Step 7: Assume responsibility for the
consequences, correct potentially negative
consequences, or re-engage in the decision-
making process.

7. Share with a partner how you
would implement the 3 stages.
 Relationship-building stage.
 Co-Teaching stage.
 On-going relationship stage.
 What would the stages look
like for you?

8. Strengthen Your Co-teaching
Relationship by Jan Stivers
 Please reference your article for whole group
discussion.

9. Planning and Instruction
 Set aside large blocks of time for
planning.
 Adapt planning tools to suit your
needs.
 Lobby for instructional materials that
support coo-teaching.
 Try new models of co-teaching
 Use your time strategically.
 Reexamine the layout of your
classroom to be sure it continues to be
well-suited to your evolving co-
teaching practices.

10. Assessment
 Give and get feedback,
twice as fast.
 Clarify your understanding of
each other’s grading
expectations.
 Experiment with ways to share
responsibility for grading.

11. Enhancing Your Partnership
 Recognize the little things that
can mean a lot.
 Pay attention to parity.
 Acknowledge problems early and
honestly.
 Address conflicts in a manner that
is comfortable for both of you.
 Learn to let it go.

12. Extending Your Reach
 Attend a professional development
workshop together.
 Model collaborative skills.
 Volunteer to serve as mentors to new co-
teaching pairs.

13. Maintaining Perspective
 Honor your sense of humor.
 Create a mission statement.
 Reminder: It is not a marriage.

14. Partner Share
 What would you do to strengthen your
co-teaching relationship?

15. Working Together
in Collaboration,
Consultation, and
Teams
A Presentation

16. Beginnings
 Working together in teamwork probably
began around cave fires ages ago.
 Over time, people have improved their
quality of life by working together.
 Toddlers are expected to outgrow
egocentrism and learn how to interact
with others.

17. Teacher Isolation in the Past
 In the past, teachers worked alone in their
classrooms for the most part.
 In more recent times, schools have
become multidimensional centers of
activity and much more social places.
 Chunking of the typical school day
insulates teachers from sources of ideas
beyond their own background of
experiences.

18. Why work together as
educators?
 Consultation and collaboration helps us
achieve common goals.
 Processes of sharing expertise and
challenging basic assumptions can
stimulate growth in exciting ways when
colleagues team up as productive
partners.

19. Consultation
 An interactive process in which school
personnel in general education and special
education, related services and support
personnel, families of students, and the
students themselves are working together and
sharing their diversity of knowledge and
expertise in order to define needs and then
plan, implement, assess, follow through and
follow up on the ways of learning that learners
develop to their fullest potential.

20. Co-Educators
 Co-educators are persons who
collaborate, consult, and work as a team
to provide appropriate learning
experiences for learners’ diverse needs.
Co-education can be school based, such
as teachers and related services or
support personnel; home based, such as
family members or caregivers for students,
and community based in support roles.

21. Teamwork
 In the collaborative school environment is
the process by which a group of co-
educators work to address common
purposes and strive to achieve shared
goals for the benefit and ultimate
successes of children and youth.

22. Group work
 Group 1: Describe consultation and how it
works.
 Group 2: Describe collaborative co-
education and what that looks like.
 Group 3: What is teamwork in an educational
setting?
 All groups: list some of the things they may be
observed doing.

23. A List of Some of the Things Educators
May Be Observed Doing
 Discussing students’ needs with co-educators and
planning ways of addressing those needs.
 Listening to colleagues’ concerns about a
particular teaching situation.
 Recommending classroom alternatives as first-to-
be-tried interventions for students with special
learning and behavior needs.
 Leading or participating in professional
development activities that focus on special
needs.
 Networking with other educational professionals
and agencies who can be resources for students’
needs and school improvements in general.

24. Motivation for Working
Collaboratively
 Reports from school districts throughout the
U.S. identify collaboration as a key variable in
the successful implementation of inclusive
education.
 Collaborators do not compromise and
cooperate as much as they confer and
concur.
 Collaborators need models that provide
structure, practice, encouragement, and
positive feedback in order to perform the
sophisticated and demanding functions
called for in collaborative school consultation.

25. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
 Used high stakes testing in reading and
math
 Inclusion of children with disabilities in the
testing scheme
 Intensive preparation for the tests
 High-profile reports of schools that made
or failed to make adequate yearly
progress (AYP)
 Higher standards for teacher certification

26. Common Core Standards of
2012
 Relevance to special education:
 Skills to articulate a personal philosophy of
special education.
 Roles of individuals with exceptional learning
needs in planning individualized programs.
 Models and strategies for consultation and
collaboration.
 Several other measures focusing on
assessment, communication, para-educators,
and families.

27. Technology for Working
Together Effectively
 Gathering and sharing information.
 Communicating with co-educators in
schools, homes, and communities.
 Developing resources for curriculum and
instruction
 Organizing and managing data
 Networking with co-educators and
support services

28. Ethics for Working Together as
Co-Educators
 An ethical climate for collaborative
school consultation and teamwork calls
for a system of values and principles in
which beliefs and actions about working
together will guide practices and inspire
excellence.
 Collaborators must create environments
in which respect and caring characterize
their professional interactions.

29. Activity
 Assigning responsibilities.