Compare And Contrast Co-Teaching Collaboration And Teachers Role With Families
Co-Teaching, Collaboration and Teacher’s Role with Families In inclusive classrooms, students with and without disabilities are taught together. As inclusion has become more common, teachers have sought ways to meet the diversity of their students’ needs. The term collaboration comes from “co-labor” meaning to work together. Collaboration is a style of interaction between at least two co-equal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as they work toward a common goal. The most common goal for teachers is to boost student achievement. One model for collaboration is co-teaching. Co-teaching is a model that emphasizes collaboration and communication among all members of a team to meet the needs of all students. However, what constitutes
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a team often varies from teacher to teacher and even from school to school. There are several types, or arrangements for co-teaching classrooms. The four types are:
• One teaches, one assists- One teacher leads the lesson for the whole class, while the other teacher provides support and behavioral management to individual students or small groups.
• Station teaching -The co-teachers provide individual support to students at learning stations set up around the classroom.
• Parallel teaching- Co-teachers present the same or similar material to different groups of students in the same classroom.
• Alternative teaching- For a limited period of time, one teacher provides specialized instruction to a smaller group of students in a different location.
• Team teaching (or interactive teaching)- Both co-teachers share curriculum planning, teaching, and other classroom responsibilities equally (Dragoo). Co-Teaching has become quite a popular method of classroom arrangement, more often with inclusive classrooms with students with disabilities.
The rationale often is that the students with disabilities have the added support of their Special Education teacher in the classroom, and that their non-disabled peers also benefit from the additional teacher support as well. Previous reviews of co-teaching have found that teachers generally view co-teaching favorably, but that research into the efficacy of co-teaching is limited. Several reviews have suggested that the success of co-teaching is contingent on a number of factors, including: the voluntary participation of teachers, the co-teachers being given adequate training, especially in the area of the Special Education content, the teachers being given adequate planning time, as well as having planning periods in common, and finally, that the co-teachers have administrative …show more content…
support. There are several benefits of co-teaching for students (both with and without disabilities) as well as for the co-teachers themselves. One perceived benefit for children without disabilities was the positive role-model co-teaching provides when co-teachers demonstrate successful collaboration. There has also been greater cooperation observed between students in co-taught inclusive classrooms. It is extremely beneficial when co-teachers drift around the class assisting whoever needs help, because the attention paid to all students’ increases, not just to students with special education needs. The benefit for students with disabilities is from the increased attention in co-taught classes, as well as from having positive peer models in the inclusive classroom. The benefits of co-teaching for the teachers are there as well, such as increased competence in their colleague’s areas of expertise, and Special education teachers often reported expanded content area knowledge after experiencing a co-teaching arrangement. Additionally, general education teachers are able to learning new behavior management techniques and ideas for curriculum adaptation from the Special Education teachers. Some of the other benefits for teachers include increased time for individualized attention and supervision of low achieving students, increased teacher time and assistance for such activities as monitoring individual students, conducting student conferences to check for understanding and provide additional assistance, and the ability to provide enrichment activities or re-teach content that wasn’t completely understood (Glaeser). While there are benefits to co-teaching, if it is set up and supported appropriately, there are also barriers to this arrangement as well. One of the first barriers schools and co-teachers often have to hurdle is time. The amount of time to plan, the time spent developing a school-wide support structure for co-teaching, the time spent to prepare the students, and the time teachers are given to develop their personal and professional relationship can all greatly impact the co-teaching process. The next barrier is how to grade the students’ work. Just as the time and structure must be determined and scheduled prior to the start of a co-teaching relationship, it is the same for grading. Co-teaching teams must determine prior to the start of the semester how they will grade students with diverse learning needs in their classrooms. Additional barriers include student and teacher readiness for the implementation of this method, as well as how the co-teachers will handle the increasing amount of high-stakes testing that students are subjected to (Dieker). The teacher in any classroom, including co-teaching and individual classrooms, has the most important role after that of instructing the students: working with their families to help them understand and navigate the often confusing and difficult world of Special Education. Teachers are the first line of assistance for parents and family members who seek to broaden their understanding of their child’s disability, and the teacher is the one who helps parents/families develop the education plan for the child, or the IEP. Parents are often unfamiliar with the processes and procedures involved in Special Education, and teachers can be the best help in explaining everything to parents. To be effective, teachers must be prepared to collaborate with families to support student success. When teachers understand families and communicate and build relationships with them, students benefit. Having a strong parent–teacher relationship can relate to positive student outcomes for students, such as healthy social development, high student achievement, and high rates of college enrollment. So, if schools and university preparation programs focus on giving teachers the support they need to work with families, they can have an even greater impact on student achievement. Teachers should constantly be prepared to deal with a variety of situations, especially when involving students with learning disabilities. Teachers can not only just teach the parents, but the parents can teach the teacher as well, and this can be a very mutually beneficial relationship. For example, if a student not only has a learning disability, but a physical one as well, or if they require complicated assistive technology, the parents can fill the teacher in on the particulars of the disability or the technology. Teachers need to develop skills and practices to become involved with the families of their students. The role of the teacher, which will foster positive teacher/parent relationships, includes the following habits to develop:
• Creating a welcoming partnership with the families of students
• Identifying and using the family’s strengths to support positive student outcomes
• Communicating with families positively, frequently, and keeping those lines of communication open.
• Sharing data about their student’s progress and performance in a way that the parents can understand, even if it means finding a translator to assist parents in communication
• Providing families with ways to help their children learn both inside and outside the classroom
• Respecting the diversity of families in today’s classrooms, Particularly language differences and cultural differences.
• Fighting with families for changes in government and school policies and practices to increase student learning and achievement (Caspe, et. al). Families of children with special needs often have ideas from their perspective as parents about other ways educators can show support. Teachers who are supportive help ease parents’ stress, whether it is implementing daily therapies or offering a sympathetic listener’s ear. Some parents may not be aware of all the services needed to meet their child’s needs or be able to afford them. So, for teachers, informing families about resources in the community and how to access them is an important contribution. Teachers should continue to stay in regular contact through formal and informal conferences, phone calls, notes, and e-mails. Teachers should keep a record of all communication with family members, including dates of contact, and the content of the communication (Ray, et. al.). In a special education classroom, the teacher holds a key role in the success or failure of the students with disabilities-communication and working with students’, their parents, and the abilities and needs that all have. Teachers should constantly be seeking to better themselves on communication techniques, and by learning everything possible that is individual to each student. When that teaching arrangement changes to one of collaboration/co-teaching, the teacher is still crucial in keeping the parents up to date on the child’s progress and needs. A good teacher will gladly work with the families of their students, disabled or not, and push efforts to partner with families in their child’s learning and development. The teacher is the expert in child development and education, but the parents are the experts in their child and the child’s disability. Be a teammate with families, and do not try to work alone in educating their child (Ray, et. al.).
References
Caspe, M., Lopez, M., Chu, A., and Weiss, H.
(2011). Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Engage Families for Student Achievement. National PTA. Retreived on 11/11/14 from: http://www.metrostatecue.org/files/mscd//Documents/Community%20Overview/Harvard%20Family%20Research%20Project_Teaching%20the%20Teachers.pdf
Dieker, L. (2012). Cooperative Teaching. University of Kansas. Retrieved on 11/10/14 from: http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=collaboration/cooperative_teaching
Dragoo, K. (2011). Co-Teaching in Inclusive Classrooms: A Metasynthesis of Qualitative Research. NICHCY. Retrieved on 11/10/14 from: http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/abstract81/
Glaeser, B. (2013). Co-Teaching and Collaboration: Effective Strategies for Reaching Students with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms. U.S. Department of Education. Retrievedon 11/8/14 from: http://specialedlaw.blogs.com/home/files/Co-teaching_presentation.pdf
Ray, J., Pewitt-Kinder, J., and George, S. (2009). Partnering with Families of Children. NAEYC. Retrieved on 11/9/14 from:
http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200909/FamiliesOfChildrenWithSpecialNeeds0909.pdf
a team often varies from teacher to teacher and even from school to school. There are several types, or arrangements for co-teaching classrooms. The four types are:
• One teaches, one assists- One teacher leads the lesson for the whole class, while the other teacher provides support and behavioral management to individual students or small groups.
• Station teaching -The co-teachers provide individual support to students at learning stations set up around the classroom.
• Parallel teaching- Co-teachers present the same or similar material to different groups of students in the same classroom.
• Alternative teaching- For a limited period of time, one teacher provides specialized instruction to a smaller group of students in a different location.
• Team teaching (or interactive teaching)- Both co-teachers share curriculum planning, teaching, and other classroom responsibilities equally (Dragoo). Co-Teaching has become quite a popular method of classroom arrangement, more often with inclusive classrooms with students with disabilities.
The rationale often is that the students with disabilities have the added support of their Special Education teacher in the classroom, and that their non-disabled peers also benefit from the additional teacher support as well. Previous reviews of co-teaching have found that teachers generally view co-teaching favorably, but that research into the efficacy of co-teaching is limited. Several reviews have suggested that the success of co-teaching is contingent on a number of factors, including: the voluntary participation of teachers, the co-teachers being given adequate training, especially in the area of the Special Education content, the teachers being given adequate planning time, as well as having planning periods in common, and finally, that the co-teachers have administrative …show more content…
support. There are several benefits of co-teaching for students (both with and without disabilities) as well as for the co-teachers themselves. One perceived benefit for children without disabilities was the positive role-model co-teaching provides when co-teachers demonstrate successful collaboration. There has also been greater cooperation observed between students in co-taught inclusive classrooms. It is extremely beneficial when co-teachers drift around the class assisting whoever needs help, because the attention paid to all students’ increases, not just to students with special education needs. The benefit for students with disabilities is from the increased attention in co-taught classes, as well as from having positive peer models in the inclusive classroom. The benefits of co-teaching for the teachers are there as well, such as increased competence in their colleague’s areas of expertise, and Special education teachers often reported expanded content area knowledge after experiencing a co-teaching arrangement. Additionally, general education teachers are able to learning new behavior management techniques and ideas for curriculum adaptation from the Special Education teachers. Some of the other benefits for teachers include increased time for individualized attention and supervision of low achieving students, increased teacher time and assistance for such activities as monitoring individual students, conducting student conferences to check for understanding and provide additional assistance, and the ability to provide enrichment activities or re-teach content that wasn’t completely understood (Glaeser). While there are benefits to co-teaching, if it is set up and supported appropriately, there are also barriers to this arrangement as well. One of the first barriers schools and co-teachers often have to hurdle is time. The amount of time to plan, the time spent developing a school-wide support structure for co-teaching, the time spent to prepare the students, and the time teachers are given to develop their personal and professional relationship can all greatly impact the co-teaching process. The next barrier is how to grade the students’ work. Just as the time and structure must be determined and scheduled prior to the start of a co-teaching relationship, it is the same for grading. Co-teaching teams must determine prior to the start of the semester how they will grade students with diverse learning needs in their classrooms. Additional barriers include student and teacher readiness for the implementation of this method, as well as how the co-teachers will handle the increasing amount of high-stakes testing that students are subjected to (Dieker). The teacher in any classroom, including co-teaching and individual classrooms, has the most important role after that of instructing the students: working with their families to help them understand and navigate the often confusing and difficult world of Special Education. Teachers are the first line of assistance for parents and family members who seek to broaden their understanding of their child’s disability, and the teacher is the one who helps parents/families develop the education plan for the child, or the IEP. Parents are often unfamiliar with the processes and procedures involved in Special Education, and teachers can be the best help in explaining everything to parents. To be effective, teachers must be prepared to collaborate with families to support student success. When teachers understand families and communicate and build relationships with them, students benefit. Having a strong parent–teacher relationship can relate to positive student outcomes for students, such as healthy social development, high student achievement, and high rates of college enrollment. So, if schools and university preparation programs focus on giving teachers the support they need to work with families, they can have an even greater impact on student achievement. Teachers should constantly be prepared to deal with a variety of situations, especially when involving students with learning disabilities. Teachers can not only just teach the parents, but the parents can teach the teacher as well, and this can be a very mutually beneficial relationship. For example, if a student not only has a learning disability, but a physical one as well, or if they require complicated assistive technology, the parents can fill the teacher in on the particulars of the disability or the technology. Teachers need to develop skills and practices to become involved with the families of their students. The role of the teacher, which will foster positive teacher/parent relationships, includes the following habits to develop:
• Creating a welcoming partnership with the families of students
• Identifying and using the family’s strengths to support positive student outcomes
• Communicating with families positively, frequently, and keeping those lines of communication open.
• Sharing data about their student’s progress and performance in a way that the parents can understand, even if it means finding a translator to assist parents in communication
• Providing families with ways to help their children learn both inside and outside the classroom
• Respecting the diversity of families in today’s classrooms, Particularly language differences and cultural differences.
• Fighting with families for changes in government and school policies and practices to increase student learning and achievement (Caspe, et. al). Families of children with special needs often have ideas from their perspective as parents about other ways educators can show support. Teachers who are supportive help ease parents’ stress, whether it is implementing daily therapies or offering a sympathetic listener’s ear. Some parents may not be aware of all the services needed to meet their child’s needs or be able to afford them. So, for teachers, informing families about resources in the community and how to access them is an important contribution. Teachers should continue to stay in regular contact through formal and informal conferences, phone calls, notes, and e-mails. Teachers should keep a record of all communication with family members, including dates of contact, and the content of the communication (Ray, et. al.). In a special education classroom, the teacher holds a key role in the success or failure of the students with disabilities-communication and working with students’, their parents, and the abilities and needs that all have. Teachers should constantly be seeking to better themselves on communication techniques, and by learning everything possible that is individual to each student. When that teaching arrangement changes to one of collaboration/co-teaching, the teacher is still crucial in keeping the parents up to date on the child’s progress and needs. A good teacher will gladly work with the families of their students, disabled or not, and push efforts to partner with families in their child’s learning and development. The teacher is the expert in child development and education, but the parents are the experts in their child and the child’s disability. Be a teammate with families, and do not try to work alone in educating their child (Ray, et. al.).
References
Caspe, M., Lopez, M., Chu, A., and Weiss, H.
(2011). Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Engage Families for Student Achievement. National PTA. Retreived on 11/11/14 from: http://www.metrostatecue.org/files/mscd//Documents/Community%20Overview/Harvard%20Family%20Research%20Project_Teaching%20the%20Teachers.pdf
Dieker, L. (2012). Cooperative Teaching. University of Kansas. Retrieved on 11/10/14 from: http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=collaboration/cooperative_teaching
Dragoo, K. (2011). Co-Teaching in Inclusive Classrooms: A Metasynthesis of Qualitative Research. NICHCY. Retrieved on 11/10/14 from: http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/abstract81/
Glaeser, B. (2013). Co-Teaching and Collaboration: Effective Strategies for Reaching Students with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms. U.S. Department of Education. Retrievedon 11/8/14 from: http://specialedlaw.blogs.com/home/files/Co-teaching_presentation.pdf
Ray, J., Pewitt-Kinder, J., and George, S. (2009). Partnering with Families of Children. NAEYC. Retrieved on 11/9/14 from:
http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200909/FamiliesOfChildrenWithSpecialNeeds0909.pdf