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CO-TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM
ABSTRACT
Developing and applying effective models for students with special needs is both challenging and critical. Emerging research supports the use of co-teaching strategies during which a general and special educator share responsibilities and roles to instruct a group of students with and without disabilities. Various aspects of co-teaching relationships and teacher implementation of co-teaching models are discussed. The findings reveal the experiences of the participating teachers, the amounts of time they spend planning, and the amounts of time they engaged in each type of co-teaching model. Additionally, findings give depth to the various elements necessary for successful co-teaching, mostly affecting the professional relationships between participating teachers. Information relative to co-teaching was assembled by interviewing a number of teachers in both general and special needs education. A survey was presented to each teacher and based on their answers, two conclusions were theorized. First, co-teaching appears to be an effective instructional delivery option for meeting the needs of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Second, co-teachers who hold access to the collaborative practices, preparations, and supports that were interviewed consider themselves less valuable in practice than in theory.
Keywords: Co-teaching, general education, special education, strategies, survey, instructional methods
Teachers Beliefs on Co-Teaching
Co-teaching is one of the most popular instructional methods to include students with disabilities in general education classrooms (Zigmond & Magiera, 2002). There are benefits in co-teaching for both special and general educators. Increased professional support, development, motivation of teachers and better workplace conditions resulting from improved teacher-student ratios have been identified as the primary benefits. The combination of knowledge and skills in order to plan and provide instruction for all students has been the most commonly reported benefit. The sharing of expertise helped to improve existing instructional programs, classroom environment, and academic and social learning outcomes for all students. A criticism that has been frequented by both regular and special educators alike has been that the regular educator does more than the special education partner in the inclusive classroom
A number of factors have been found to influence the effectiveness of co-teaching. The major facilitators were adequate time to plan, effective communication between co-teaching partners, shared vision of teaching and learning, and administrative support.
The unit of work has been one focus for joint instruction considered likely to improve access to the core curriculum for students with disabilities. Below I have listed several different models which have been utilized in the classrooms
One teach, one observe – The first structure explained by Sileo and van Garderen (2010) was one teach, one observe where one teacher provided the instruction to the class as a whole, and the other teacher observed students. This model is to observe the students behavior which entitles time on task, participation, and difficulty with material.
Team teaching – The second structure of co-teaching Sileo and van Garderen (2010) identified was team teaching. Team teaching was defined as teachers who shared all aspects of instruction to include planning and direct instruction. They teach side by side where students are learning the material in a small group then brought to a larger group. The teachers help with the groups interaction and instruction. Dialogue teaching may be especially effective in this model.
Pros of team teaching
Utilize expertise of each teacher
Its fun
Students benefit from different styles and interplay
Joint planning
Cons of team teaching
Need planning time
Conflicting styles can clash
One teach, one assist – Another approach defined in co-teaching, one person would keep primary responsibility for teaching while the other professional circulated through the room providing unobtrusive assistance to students as needed.
Alternative teaching- Defined as one teacher who taught to a small group while the other teacher taught to the remaining class, Sileo and van Garderen (2010) described alternative teaching as excellent opportunity to provide students with intense and individualized instruction. This method is taught two times per week and the one teacher engages with the instruction group for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the other teacher is with the remainder of the class. Teachers should be careful the same students are always pulled aside which teacher teaches the group should vary.
Pros of alternative teaching
Small group instruction
Smaller group may need pre-teaching, re-teaching, oral testing, or challenge activities
Use as needed
Joint planning
Cons of alternative teaching
If small group is only special education, its stigmatizing
Parallel teaching – Sileo and van Garderen (2010) described parallel teaching as teachers planning collaboratively and concurrently while providing the same instruction. The students are divided equally into groups and one teacher teaches one group and the other teaches the other group. The content is the same but the method is different.
Pros of parallel teaching
Smaller student teacher ratio
Increased opportunities for practice, participation and monitoring
Equal teaching responsibilities
Ability groupings
Separate certain students
Joint planning
Cons of parallel teaching
Noise