Co Teaching Research Paper

Co-teaching is important, especially in the school I did my special education field experience at because they are full inclusion. This school district did co-teaching for math and reading. Students receive their assistance with in the classroom while the teacher is instructing class. It takes a lot of planning and collaboration with the classroom teacher, I believe this is not the most beneficial way to teach students that have learning needs. it can become very distracting for the student because what is going on around them. Learning with their peers is important, the instructions their receiving in the classroom are above their level. I wonder how this is providing the best education possible?

Following literature I have reviewed to find out the answer and also to understand the concept of the co-education of other people: The report which was published in 1970 and also in 1980 by BAYFIELD School. It stated that:

The article goes into great detail over the fact that co-teaching, when implemented correctly, has the potential of really enhancing the learning of all students (Conderman & Hedin, 2014, p.359). Before any co-teaching can happen though the article elaborates on the fact that a teacher needs to know who their students are. And when differentiating instruction a teacher needs to be able to address a “students’ unique strengths, interest, skills, and readiness” (Conderman & Hedin, 2014, p. 353). After all helping each child learn, whatever that looks like, is the ultimate goal, and this article shows how teachers can do this with a co-teacher.

Tremblay, P. (n.d.). Comparative Outcomes of Two Instructional Models for Students with Learning Disabilities: Inclusion with Co-Teaching and Solo-Taught Special Education. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 251-258. Retrieved November 22, 2014.

One factor that plays a huge role in successful implementation of integrated co-teaching and has better outcomes for students is when the co-teachers are trained and work together. Magiera and Zigmond (2005) preformed a study at four middle schools in New York that focused on the instructional practices for students with and without disabilities; with teachers who were not trained in integrated co-teaching

Mrs. Kurz’s classroom is a mix of traditional and special education students. They are supporting the democratic guideline of having more adults in the school. She has a co-teacher Ms.Milton who specializes in special education. Both teachers were helping students and giving direction alternatively. Co-teaching allows these teachers to help all students who may need it as well as helping both learning and teaching to happen in the classroom. Many classrooms have this method to help all students get the most out of school as well as to help students with special needs, those who are learning English as a second language, or students who need more help. They also offer a tutoring session from 3:30-6 for any students who may be struggling in classes. Three teachers are there to help with English, math, and other general classes. Mr. Hester also talked about how the counselors help students with their futures’ as they are interested in the whole

Collaboration between teachers is a key component to professional development that will lead to higher student achievement. There is a need for schools to set up time for teachers to be able to collaborate together. This allows for teachers to help each other, matchup content, teach each other new and best practices, troubleshoot student issues just to name a few of the areas that collaboration time can help foster within a school. The key is to build time for teachers to be able to collaborate during the school day or week. This collaboration time needs to be between grade levels, departments, and cross curricular when needed. For many schools this is an afterthought to the school schedule or a fleeting thought after the master schedule is completed. A principal needs to keep an open mind to any strategy that will enable the teachers to be able to collaborate for the good of the students and the school.

IPTS 8G: understands the various models of co-teaching and the procedures for implementing them across the curriculum

I asked Mrs. Barkley if she worked with other teachers to plan and jointly facilitate learning; she told me that she personally does not. She said that she never combines classes or teaches with another teacher in the same classroom. She said the only thing that the teachers do together is come together in meetings and discuss progress of their classes and test scores. This came as a shock to me, I thought that teachers would be meeting often to combine curriculum in a way that’s meaningful. I thought that teachers would want to allow for cross-curricular projects to allow students to make the connections between subjects. When I am a teacher, I would like to work with other teachers to jointly facilitate learning, if possible.

I have had the opportunity to be a student, teacher,and teacher. Seeing eduction from these perspectives gives me an advantage in relating to students,teachers, and parents. I have co-taught in classroom as a special education teacher. I have worked in various roles as an instructional leader and working with Title 1 teachers in collaboratively developing a co-teaching model to implement research based interventions to implement the RtI process at grades K-8. I added general education to my repertoire when I became an elementary principal. These experiences give me an overall perspective of education and that allows me to see the values and skill sets that different teachers bring to all our students. Each teacher and staff member brings

The meaning of this experience has led us to want to improve our current co-teaching practices and not just settle in a rut with the same Lead and Support structure day after day. With the goal setting activity, we decided what we want to change about our current co-teaching situation, and then we made a plan for how we would achieve our goals.

At that time, I requested some clarity as to what exactly my role was and was invited to participate in both special education co-teacher training and the training offered to elementary ESL co-teachers. I know this training made a huge impact not only on my teaching, but how others saw me. My principal took great pride in bringing district officials into my co-teach classes and asking them if they could distinguish which teacher was the co-teacher and who was the teacher of record. I do have to give my co-teacher much of the credit, from the start she made me an equal in the classroom.

A professionally developed ELT teacher establishes a one-to-one relationship and dialogue between themselves and an expert who guides them through behavioral and cognitive modeling, academic and career counseling, emotional and scholarly support, advice, professional networking and assessment. Also, at school settings where a professionally developed ELT teacher works as a teacher, they seek the expertise and support of their co-teachers as a well as more experienced teachers to adopt innovative practices. They, moreover, attend teacher training programs in which role modeling, acceptance, confirmation, counseling and friendship (Kram, 1985), technical support or contextualized guidance (Wang & Odell, 2007) are emphasized.

According to Mercer, Mercer and Pullen (2011), for inclusion to be successful, teachers must be committed to meeting the needs of all students in the general education setting by incorporating instructional practices that promote the learning of all students. This requires an extensive amount of time to plan and consideration of the needs of his/her diverse learners. One popular arrangement of an inclusionary classroom is co-teaching. In the co-teaching environment, general and special education teachers work together to meet the needs of all students. In the cooperative teaching or co-teaching environment, the general education teacher is responsible for teaching the content, and the special education teacher is the strategist who comes up with different ways to teach the content in order to reach all different types of learners and provides specialized assistance to the students (Mercer, Mercer & Pullen, 2011). According to Friend and Cook (2016), there are six approaches to co-teaching: one teach, one observe; one teach, one assist; parallel teaching; station teaching; alternative teaching; and team teaching. Co-teaching is a service delivery option designed to meet the educational needs of diverse learners, and teachers are given flexibility and options of how co-teaching may be implemented in the classroom based on which of the six approaches are put into

I believe in a cooperative learning pedagogy where teachers guide students’ education and stimulate them to think critically, analyze complex situations, and problem solve. Learning is a lifelong partnership between both teacher and student. There has to be mutual respect and a common goal to facilitate learning. Therefore, students must agree to take responsibility for their learning in order to engage and teachers must be willing to engage. My role as a teacher is to assist students through evidence-based practice, scholarly inquiry, and research.