Co-Teaching - Sanford Inspire Program Learning Library

Co-Teaching

I.

Co-teaching Protocol

II.

Observation Form

Note to users: This protocol was originally designed to be used with pre-service teachers who are completing their field practicum (i.e. student teaching). However, the activities described here could easily be adapted for use with in-service teachers in professional learning communities. The term “TCs” is used repeatedly in these documents and refers to teacher candidates, or student teachers.

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved • SanfordInspire.org

Co-Teaching Protocol (Back to Table of Contents)

Coordination with Mentor Teacher Low Medium High

Low

Time in Higher Education Class 30-60 min

Pre-Planning Medium

High

Time out of Class 30-60 minutes

Learning Outcomes What type of thinking or reflection is this protocol designed to get teacher candidates to do?

This protocol is designed to help teacher candidates develop operational understandings of the six major co-teaching strategies. Steps What is the procedure for completing this protocol?

1. Instructor identifies a MT/TC dyad that is particularly skilled at executing one of the six major models of co-teaching. 2. The instructor works with the mentor and teacher candidate to schedule a day and time (preferably during the time the instructor’s ASU class meets) to co-teach a lesson that demonstrates a particular co-teaching strategy. 3. Prior to visiting the classroom, the instructor defines the co-teaching strategy for teacher candidates, and describes the characteristics of what it should look like in practice. 4. The class brainstorms the pros and cons of this approach, and the types of lessons for which this co-teaching strategy would be most appropriate. 5. The instructor and teacher candidates travel to the model classroom and act as participantobservers while a fellow teacher candidate and his or her mentor demonstrate a particular co-teaching strategy in a lesson with students. 6. The teacher candidates may be partnered with students or given a specific role during the lesson. They also may be asked to complete an observation journal during the lesson. 7. At the conclusion of the lesson the teacher candidates and instructor return to their classroom to debrief the observation. If possible, the TC who co-taught the lesson will explain the approach they took to planning the lesson that incorporated the co-teaching strategy that was observed. Variation: It would also be possible to execute this protocol with the course instructor and a mentor or classroom teacher at the school site co-teaching a lesson (rather than a mentor and a teaching candidate). This may be preferable if all of the TCs are struggling to enact a particular form of co-teaching correctly, or if the instructor believes that TCs (and their students) could benefit from implementing a co-teaching strategy that is seldom being used. Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved • SanfordInspire.org

Reflection What will teacher candidates be prompted to think about upon the completion of the protocol? What questions will they consider?

• • • • •

How well did this co-teaching strategy maximize the use of both teachers? How did students respond to this lesson? What did they learn? What were the teachers able to do using this approach that they would not have been able to do alone? What is the purpose of using this co-teaching strategy (as opposed to some of the others)? What are the pros and cons of this approach? What considerations must the co-teachers take into account when using this strategy? Setting Students Up for Success

What challenges does this protocol present? How could it go wrong? What can the instructor do to address possible obstacles before implementation?

A potentially problematic outcome would be if some teacher candidates concluded that a particular co-teaching strategy was “easy” to implement, and could be used without careful planning and forethought. It is thus extremely important for the teacher candidates to get a window into the process by which the co-teachers planned the lesson and how they defined their respective roles. Implementation How should the protocol be implemented within the structure of the class?

An ideal implementation would be for the co-taught lesson to be observed during the ASU class, followed immediately by a debrief of the observation. Rather than providing up-front instruction on the given co-teaching strategy before the lesson, the instructor may instead choose to give the TCs some guiding questions for the observation, and then use the subsequent debrief session to help the teacher candidates construct their understanding of the strategy. Additional Resources Access these to learn more about this protocol.

See Co-Teaching Observation Guide References Villa, R.A. (2013). A Guide to Co-Teaching: New Lessons and Strategies to Facilitate Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.


Observation Form (Back to Table of Contents)

Co Teaching Strategy (Check One) ☐ One Teach, One Observe ☐ Parallel Teaching ☐ Team Teaching

☐ Station Teaching ☐ Alternative Teaching ☐ One Teach, One Assist Teaching Observations

Teacher 1

Teacher 2

What is this teaching saying and doing? What are this teacher’s duties and responsibilities in this co-teaching model?

What is this teaching saying and doing? What are this teacher’s duties and responsibilities in this co-teaching model?

Strengths of this Approach How can this approach help to meet the needs of your learners?

Limitations of this Approach In what situations and context might this approach be less effective?

Planning Considerations What steps must the co-teachers take in order to implement this strategy effectively?
