Governor’s Teacher
Network
Action Research
Co-teaching (or something like it) in an Adapted Curriculum
class
What is the Governor’s
Teacher Network?
• Connected network of participating educators across
North Carolina
• Chosen from proposals submitted last spring
• Each participant develops an action research project
• Support from Professional Development Leads
across NC
• Completed projects shared on Homebase
This Project
• Purpose: to examine how co-teaching models can be
used with two combined Adapted Curriculum classes
in Math and English.
Participants
23 9th – 12th graders in two Adapted Curriculum classes
significant disabilities
medical needs
2 special educators
2 teacher assistants
1 LPN
2 personal care assistants
2 interpreters
1-2 additional male assistants to assist the LPN with lifting a student
Research Questions
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What areas of conflict are experienced by the co-teachers?
What strategies are useful to reduce the effects of conflict?
What co-teaching methods produce positive student outcomes?
What changes are seen in the co-planning process as the year
progresses?
• How does co-teaching affect student outcomes in the two
classes?
Implementation
• Implement co-teaching in the Adapted Curriculum
classes, along with the other Adapted Curriculum
teacher.
• We have grouped according to ability levels and are
implementing the station teaching model for blocks in
English and Math. The model of co-teaching may
change, depending on student outcomes.
Daily Schedule
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Period 1 Math
Period 2 English
Period 3 Lifeskills (community-based)
Period 4 Lifeskills (community-based)
Lunch/Journals/Timesheets
Period 5 Science/Social Studies
Period 6 Electives/IEP Goals
Data Collection and
Analysis
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Weekly co-teacher reflections
Student grades/Progress reports
Student and parent reflections
Co-planning meeting minutes
Timeline
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August-early September: Initial
co-teacher surveys
Early September: Review
results
September 1: Begin weekly coplanning meetings; keep
minutes of each meeting
September 5: Begin weekly
reflections
Mid-September: Present action
research plan to the faculty
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Early September: Prepare
observation instruments
September-December: Coteach classes; collect data
January-February: Analyze and
interpret data
March-April: Write up findings
and create an action plan
April-June: Disseminate findings
Results: Parent Responses
(26% responded)
All prefer 2 classrooms
• 6 of 6 responses positive
“gets to interact with both teachers and other students”
“gets a different point of view, different perspective, different delivery; helps
to be flexible with different staff and environments; fresh faces nice for
teachers, too; more like others changing classes”
“to know how to get to class on time”
“in 1 he gets used to 1 teacher and won’t listen to another”
“my child enjoys the variety of 2 classrooms; different teaching styles”
Results: Student Responses
(78% responded)
4 questions
1. How does having both teachers make school better?
2. How does having both teachers make school
harder?
3. The best thing about having 2 teachers is…
4. The worst thing about having two teachers is…
How does having both teachers
make school better?
• “2 make learning more interesting”
• “they help me focus; make us feel better; makes us
smarter; changing keeps us interested”
• “they are happy”
• “the teachers do a good job”
• “I like having both bosses”
• “I learn better with both teachers”
• “both are nice, pretty and smart”
How does having both teachers
make school harder?
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“more work” 7
“some students talk while others do assessments”
“they teach different”
“going back and forth makes it hard because I have a lot to do
(tube feeding, etc)”
“the waiting time is hard”
“it is hard work”
“learning from teachers with different ways of teaching is hard”
4 said it does not make school harder
The best thing about having 2
teachers is…
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“they are both nice” 2
“…so amazing…it changed my life”
“I get to change classes” 5
“they are both fun”
“the work”
“don’t know” 5
The worst thing about having two
teachers is…
• “I do not like being in different groups. Sometimes the
work is easy. Other times it is hard.”
• “long times between two teachers” 5
• “5 periods is long time between 2 teachers. It’s hard
to remember to do homework.”
• “Not enough time for me to do things that may take
longer.”
• “I like to have 1 teacher.”
Teacher Responses
(from journal entries)
See your case study assignment sheets.
Your Turn!
• One of our biggest problems was finding enough time
to work with each student on our particular subject
areas.
• How would you modify the day for the students?
Your turn!
• Ideally, each teacher would like to teach Math and
English to both groups on Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday. How would you incorporate
this into those days?
Your turn
• How will the teachers avoid burnout when they teach
nonstop, with no planning time? All EC paperwork
and planning currently takes place out of school.
Conclusions
• Parents liked the 2-teacher plan.
• Majority of students liked the 2-teacher plan.
• Teachers stated that students are learning.
• You decide: is the plan sustainable? Explain.
Thank you!
For your attention and participation!
Further comments/discussion may be emailed:
bhair@triad.rr.com