The Four Pathways for Implementation

CHAPTER 13

Co-Teaching

Four years of attending classes and field experiences of working with students with varying abilities and teaching various subjects and grade levels…now I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Student teaching! The first day of student teaching finally arrived as my body was overwhelmed with a variety of emotions. I was utterly excited to be teaching fourth-graders, nervous to enter an unfamiliar school in Las Vegas, Nevada, yet anxious to meet my host teacher and students.

Monday morning, I ventured down to Room 19 to meet an upbeat, welcoming lady by the name of Mrs. Paxman. Not only does she teach more than 30 fourth-graders of varying abilities, but she also co-teaches with Mrs. Galvin, a special educator, for math and reading. I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to co-teach, because this practice has become an area of focus in the field of education.

However, many questions filled my mind. “Will our personalities or teaching styles clash?” “Will I become comfortable in learning and teaching an unfamiliar curriculum?” I finally met Mrs. Galvin, my co-teaching partner. We spent a great amount of time getting to know each other and discussing our teaching styles. Mrs. Galvin provided helpful insight about our roles, instructional strategies, and responsibilities in co-teaching.

After a few days of observing Mrs. Paxman and Mrs. Galvin co-teaching, it was my turn to implement co-teaching. Although I felt nervous about co-teaching, I also felt at ease because I had two experienced teachers to provide guidance and support. As time went by, Mrs. Galvin and I became more solid and integrated as a team.

As we all know, students do not learn the same way. Co-teaching allowed for skills to be presented and modeled in a variety of ways. Students had a choice of a variety of strategies that facilitated the understanding and application of specific skills. Co-teaching allowed Mrs. Galvin and me to share the responsibility of managing student behaviors, planning, providing enrichment and remediation, and facilitating small-group instruction.

Throughout the short 3-month student-teaching experience, I learned a tremendous amount about co-teaching and its effectiveness. I became a believer in the power of co-teaching in that it extends out to more students to ensure they are grasping the content or able to demonstrate the skills being taught. Personally, co-teaching has taught me the importance of collaboration and made it clear that two heads are better than one. I realize that one teacher does not always connect with every student and now appreciate that all teachers have different fortes and challenges.

By Kaleigh Hoover, Slippery Rock University alumna and behavior and learning support teacher in the Baltimore County Public Schools system.

Excerpted from Strategic Co-Teaching in Your School: Using the Co-Design Model by Richael Barger-Anderson, Ed.D., Robert S. Isherwood, Ed.D., & Joseph Merhaut, Ed.D.