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Co Teaching

Co-teaching involves two teachers, typically a general education teacher and special education teacher, sharing instructional responsibilities in the same classroom. This allows special needs students to receive specialized support while staying in a general classroom setting. Effective co-teaching requires teachers to collaborate on lesson planning, classroom management, and determining which co-teaching styles to use, such as parallel teaching where the class is split in half or team teaching where both teachers deliver the lesson together.

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34 views

Co Teaching

Co-teaching involves two teachers, typically a general education teacher and special education teacher, sharing instructional responsibilities in the same classroom. This allows special needs students to receive specialized support while staying in a general classroom setting. Effective co-teaching requires teachers to collaborate on lesson planning, classroom management, and determining which co-teaching styles to use, such as parallel teaching where the class is split in half or team teaching where both teachers deliver the lesson together.

Uploaded by

Nino-prexy Acdal
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CO-TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM

Co-teaching, or having two teachers in the classroom has become a popular teaching structure to
provide an inclusive setting for special education students while insuring that they are in the least
restrictive environment as recommended by their IEP team. In the co-teaching classroom you
typically have a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the classroom.
Paraprofessionals may also work in this setting to provide additional support.

While co-teaching, both teachers are intended to share the teaching responsibility in a co-
teaching classroom, with the special education teacher, providing specialized differentiated
lessons for students with special needs. In other words, the special education teacher may be
described as a strategist, taking the standard lesson and teaching it in a different way so that the
student with special needs can access the learning requirements, along with other students in the
classroom.

Planning is essential in the co-teaching classroom. In the middle and high school setting, it’s best
that the special education teacher and the general education teacher have the same planning times
or can make arrangements to meet before or after school. During planning days prior to the
opening of school, the teachers should meet, discuss and agree on classroom rules, consequences
for breaking rules, the classroom format and the class structure. Teachers need to not only
discuss the upcoming lessons and the curriculum, but they need to agree on who will teach what
and which co-teaching style will be used. Here are a few co-teaching styles. The following co-
teaching models were developed by Marilyn Friend. They were presented to teachers in my
system during a pre-planning conference.

Co-Teaching Styles
Parallel teaching is a style in which both teachers are teaching at the same time. The classroom
may be divided in half and one teacher teaches one half of the room, while the other teaches the
second half. So, they are teaching the same lesson at the same time. This style is great for large
classes because the students benefit from being in a smaller group.

Team teaching is one of the best teaching styles in the co-taught classroom. When team
teaching, the teachers share the teaching responsibility and may act as a tag team. For example,
both teachers deliver the lesson together. Either teacher can raise points or “jump-in” at any time.
The teachers should bounce ideas off of each other and raise questions together in this style.

The one teach one drift model should be used occasionally but should not be used exclusively
because students begin to view the teachers as being unequal in the classroom. In this model, one
teacher teaches the lesson, while the second teacher drifts around the classroom and helps
students who need extra attention. This model is similar to one teach, one observe in which the
second teacher may observe students during the lesson and while they are working and document
those observations to better learn how to teach the students.
Station or center teaching is often used in elementary schools but may certainly be used in the
middle and high school settings. Students work in stations or centers and the co-teachers may
take responsibility for teaching and explaining directions for their assigned stations. Students
benefit by working in groups.

Alternative teaching is when one teacher teaches pulls out a smaller group of students who need
extra help, or students who are advanced and need more of a challenge can be pulled out. The
students in the pull-out group can get extra help or can work on advanced lessons. This strategy
is especially helpful for catching up students who have been absent. When pulling out special
education students, it best to include some non-special education students so that the special
education students won’t feel singled out.

Co-teaching works because all teachers have strengths and weaknesses. In the co-teaching
environment, the students are fortunate because they have the expertise of two teachers.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/4096.aspx#ixzz15pAGcOeY

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