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.
March 27th, 2024 at 4:03 am
Really helpful video! I love how it emphasizes that no matter the co-teaching approach, both teachers need a shared understanding of what we want students to do. I think that it’s often assumed that for the approaches on one end of the continuum, little to no planning or shared understanding is required.
My question is, as a coach working with co-teaching pairs, how can I approach the coaching conversation differently than if I were coaching an individual teacher? If the two teachers are at the stage where they are (not yet) effective co-planners and co-teachers, how can I help them get there through the coaching conversation? My thought is that by developing a student-centered goal together, they would have a better sense of what they can each bring to the lesson and start to develop a better collaborative relationship.