CoTeaching

1. The Path to Successful Co-Teaching
Created By:
Alexis Ahumada
Emily Arias
Hannah Avamolifua
Jennifer Bottini
Andrea Bridgewater

2. Agenda:
● Co-Teaching Defined
● 6 Steps to Co-Teaching
● Collaborative models and
integrating them in the
classroom.
● Special education and
collaborative teaching
● School culture and collaborative
teaching
● Barriers to Effectiveness of Co-
Teaching

3. CO-TEACHING DEFINED

4. What Is Co-Teaching?
● Co-teaching is the combination of two certified educators that bring in
their own knowledge about a subject to help each other satisfy their
students’ needs. This allows the students with special needs to receive
the help they deserve.

5. Equality
● Equal authority
● Equal responsibility
● Equal status/strengths

6. Collaboration
General Educator
● Collects lesson plans, objectives,
textbooks
○ Use grouping as an
instructional strategy to
divide students by academic
standing
■ small/large groups
Special Educator
● Focuses more on students with special
needs
○ IEP’s
○ Learning and behavioral
needs of all students

7. How To Assess Students Through Co-
Teaching
● Come TOGETHER to evaluate
each students’ outcome
● Look for areas to RETEACH
● Often trade off leading small
groups in order to become
more confident to teach ALL
students

8. THE 6 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL
CO-TEACHING

9. Step 1: Establish Rapport
● Establish a positive and
comfortable relationship
with the co-teacher.
○ This step should be initiated
before students come into
the picture.
○ A good co-teaching
relationship will maximize
effective communication.

10. Step 2: Identify Your
Teaching Styles and Use
Them To Create A Cohesive
Classroom
● Identify the instruction and classroom management
styles of yourself and your co-teacher.
● Plan and execute lessons together in a way that allows
your styles to complement each other and work
together to result in a cohesive classroom.

11. Step 3: Discuss Strengths and Weaknesses
● Both teachers should identify their own strengths and weaknesses.
● Co-teachers should divide tasks based on each other’s strengths.

12. Step 4: Discuss
Individualized
Education Plans and
Education Goals
● Involve each other in
each of the sets of goals
and plans for the
students.

13. Step 5: Formulate A
Plan Of Action and
Act As A Unified
Team
● Discuss and decide on expectations, consequences, and other practices
before the year begins and keep communication flowing consistently.
○ Being on the same page will minimize obstacles and maximize consistency and effectiveness.

14. Step 6: Take Risks and Grow
● Take advantage of the fact that you are there to help each
other.
○ Try new things knowing
that you are supported
while you do so.
○ Ask for feedback from the
teacher who observed.
○ Learn and improve from
that experience and return
the favor.

15. COLLABORATIVE MODELS AND HOW
TO INTEGRATE THEM IN THE
CLASSROOM

16. Lead and
Support
Station
Teaching
Co-teaching
Models
Duet
Learning
Style
Skills
Group

17. Keys To Successfully Implementing A Co-Teaching
Model
1. Planning - At a minimum, teams need 10 minutes per lesson
to plan. More if it is the team’s first year working together.
2. Disposition - Co-teachers must present a united front to
class, regardless of personal differences. Any disagreements should
be worked out privately and away from students.
3. Evaluation - A systematic method should be used to
evaluate both teacher satisfaction and student learning.

18. SPECIAL EDUCATION AND
COLLABORATIVE TEACHING

19. Inclusion
- Emphasizes the education of ALL
students, including those with
disabilities
- Explicitly make the learning of
students with disabilities a
shared commitment
- Benefits students and special
education teacher by helping them feel
more accepted as full members of the
school.
Avoiding Conflict and Tension

20. Examples of Co-teaching With Special
Education
1.Skills Group/Station Teaching:
Book Tasting: Allows students to choose a book within their level for guided reading while
teachers simultaneously meet with different reading levels to cater to students with
fluency and decoding issues.
2. Lead and Support Teaching:
Small Group work: One teacher sometimes leads whole-group instruction while the other
provides support, or students will break into teacher-led math and reading groups.

21. Encouraging Parity
Subordinate Role Vs. Fully Engaged Role
- When the role of a special education teacher is only to
assist two things normally are the outcome:
a. It is useful to observe a general education teacher
for their professional development
b. Or absolutely no development of their teaching role
happens
- knowing the content can make a huge difference in the
role special education teachers play

22. Teaching Team Goals with Special Education
● The goal is always to provide the instructors with the necessary
elements to supplement the needs of each student such as trainings,
resources, and time.
● Each instructor should have the flexibility to split their times to
cater to the learning levels in each class.
● “Co-teaching should enable students with disabilities to receive the
general education curriculum and special services that they need in
the same setting” (Schwartz 1).

23. Collaborative School
Culture
i. Veteran and novice teachers
learning from one another.
ii. General and special education
teachers working together.
iii. Knowledge about special and
general education curriculum is
shared between teachers.
iv. More support for novice teachers.
All members of the school should be working
in a collaborative way.

24. Research of Components of Co-teaching:
Context:
● Study conducted by the United States
federal government
Results:
● “In 2015, a little more than 60 percent of
students spent 80 percent or more of their
day in a general education classroom. But
there's no information included on how
students are receiving services” (Schwartz 1).
Findings:
● Co-teaching is becoming more and more
popular amongst general ed and special ed
classrooms.
Research Growth Opportunities:
● Explore the strategies in successful co-
teaching environments in order to
implement.
● Are evidence based practices being used?

25. Successful Assignments
● Co-teachers are more successful when they volunteer
to co-teach rather than being assigned by a principal.
● Being in a co-teaching team is like a marriage, the two
teachers have to get along in order to be successful.
● Any planning, decision making, or concerns has to be
communicated and done together.
● There can be negative feelings when matching novice
teachers with veteran teachers. Veteran teachers may
feel they carry all the load.
● Novice teachers do not benefit as much from the
match up.

26. Barriers to Effectiveness of Collaborative
Teaching
1. Time - Time spent planning lessons,
developing structure, preparing students, developing
personal and professional relationships all greatly
impact the co-teaching process.
2. Grading - Co-teaching teams must
determine how they will grade students with diverse
learning needs. compared to their peers.
3. Student Readiness - Preparation may
be needed to assist students with disabilities who
have academic or behavioral gaps.
4. Teacher Readiness - Resistance to co-
teaching can occur if one or both teachers prefers
working independently.
5. High Stakes Testing - At the core for
everyone is the issue of how co-teaching may
impact standardized testing.

27. References
Info, Maryland Learning Links. “Co-Teaching Part 2.” YouTube, YouTube, 21
Sept. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUolkA4U4Ko.
Marston, N. (n.d.). 6 Steps to Successful Co-Teaching. Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/tools/6-steps-to-successful-co-teaching.html.
Schwartz, Sarah. “Co-Teachers Combine Forces On Strengths and
Specialties.” Education Week, vol. 38, no.15, Dec. 2018, p.8. EBSCOhost

28. References
Dieker, L. (2019). Collaboration/Cooperative Teaching | Special
Connections. [online] Specialconnections.ku.edu. Available at:
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=collaboration/cooperative_teach
ing.