I recently produced the short video below to initiate conversations among teachers, coaches and administrators regarding ways for teachers to work in co-teaching settings.
Sean Cassel in How to Choose a Co-Teaching Model: Knowing the pros and cons of the six models of co-teaching can help teachers determine which one is best for a given lesson identifies the following models:
- One Teaching, One Observing: One teacher is directly instructing students while the other observes students for evidence of learning.
- One Teaching, One Assisting: One teacher is directly instructing students while the other assists individual students as needed.
- Parallel Teaching: The class is divided into two groups and each teacher teaches the same information at the same time.
- Station Teaching: Each teacher teaches a specific part of the content to different groups as they rotate between teachers.
- Alternative Teaching: One teacher teaches the bulk of the students, and the other teaches a small group based on need.
- Team Teaching: Both teachers are directly instructing students at the same time—sometimes called “tag team teaching.”
A Library Media Specialist (LMS) and classroom teacher are working on co-planning lessons with Steve Barkley as part of LMS goal to increase our co-teaching experiences.
My focus in the video is on the importance of identifying the student learning production behaviors that the co-teachers agree are most critical to students gaining the desired learning outcomes. Co-teachers can confidently make decisions as they interact with students when they know their partner is in agreement on what student actions will generate learning success.
