Teachers and Students
Succeed in the
Co-Taught Classroom
Janet Peeler
Student Achievement Specialist
404-202-1284
Janet.peeler@pfiglobal.com
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Draw a Circle Map
• In the center circle, write “Co-Teaching”
• Within in the outer circle list all the ways that
co-teachers support students
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Why are so many people
talking about co-teaching?
• Teachers want to know how to divide time,
resources, & their efforts to effectively address their
students’ needs
• Increase in diverse learners in each classroom
• A growing number of teachers agree that two is
better than one!
• Students With Disabilities must access the general
education curriculum
• A growing body of evidence indicates that
collaborating in the classroom increases student
achievement
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When students are included in a general
education setting, they:
• Are members of the same school community
as their neighbors and siblings;
• Are placed in chronological age-appropriate
grades and classes;
• Are provided support, as needed, in school
and community environments; and
• Are actively engaged in learning within the
context of the classroom activities.
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•Have access the Common Core Curriculum
•Members of an environment where students
with disabilities and other groups of students can
achieve academic success
•Benefit from the thinking of general education
students
•Benefit from 2 teachers in the classroom
•Are taught by a highly qualified teacher
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U. S. Department of Education
Standard:
90% of Students with Disabilities will be
Educated in the General Education Classroom
for a Minimum of 80% of the School Day.
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Who are the Special Education Students?
3 Learning Disabled, average IQ, 2 Speech only, average IQ
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2 Other Health Impaired average IQ, 1 Emotional Behavior Disorder
average IQ, 2 Intellectually Disabled/Autistic
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Essential Questions
• What are the keys to successful co-teaching?
• What is done before, during and after coteaching to promote success?
• How do co-teachers differentiate instruction
to address the learning needs of all learners?
What are some questions that you have about
co-teaching?
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How do we define co-teaching?
• Co-teaching is a service delivery option
• Two or more teachers with equal status
sharing a classroom
• Purposeful instruction – both teachers actively
engaged
• Takes place in the general education
classroom
• Provides opportunities for differentiated
instruction
*Individual student needs still must be addressed –
co-teaching is not for everyone!
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LRE Decision-Making Model
Current Functioning
Discussion of Goals and Objectives
Consideration of supportive services
Placement Options
General Classroom
General Classroom with Supportive Instruction
(paraprofessional, interpreter)
General Classroom with Direct Service
(collaboration, co-teaching)
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Co-Teaching Expertise
General Educator
Special Educator
Administrator
•Content area
•Specially designed
instruction strategies
•Creating a culture of
collaboration
•Behavior modification
techniques
•Scheduling common
planning time
•Identifying specific
needs
•Arranging for
professional
development
•Scope and sequence
of curriculum
•Pacing of curriculum
•Georgia Performance
Standards
•Knowledge of state
testing
•Knowledge of
additional resources for
the content area
•Knowledge of the IEP
•Knowledge of special
education law
•Monitoring and
documenting of student
progress
•Limiting the number of
special education
students in one class
•Observes co-teaching
•Meeting with coteaching support groups
regularly
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Parity of Co-Teachers
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Both teachers’ names are on the board.
Both teachers’ names are on report cards.
Both teachers have space for personal belongings.
Both teachers have similar furniture.
Both teachers take a lead role in the classroom.
Both teachers talk during instruction.
Both teachers give direction or permission without checking
with the other teacher.
• Both teachers work with all students.
• Both teachers are considered teachers by all of the students.
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Discuss with a Partner
Which of these descriptors can you and your coteacher implement in your classroom?
14
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Things to look for in effective
co-taught classrooms
• What standards are being taught?
• What models of co-teaching are being
implemented?
• What specially designed instruction is taking
place?
• What strategies are implemented?
• What is the level of student engagement?
• How is the room arranged?
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Two stages of Classroom
Co-Planning
• Getting to know each other
• Weekly co-planning
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Getting to Know Each Other
• Ease into working with one another
• Deal with the “little” things first
• These typically become the
deal-breakers down the road, and preventing
these road blocks early
can make life easier.
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Ground Rules for Co-Teaching
• Meet prior to the start of co-teaching: “MustHave Conversations” to establish beliefs, roles
and responsibilities
• With a partner, discuss how you and your coteacher can implement the topics on the
handout.
• Share with the group
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Provide Weekly Scheduling
Co-Planning Time
• Co-teaching teams should set aside a
minimum of one scheduling/planning
period (45–60 minutes) per week.
• Experienced teams may need less time
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Weekly Co-Planning
• Effective weekly
co-planning is based on
regularly scheduled meetings,
rather than “fitting it in.”
• Important to stay focused
• Review content in advance of meeting
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What Does Co-Planning Look Like?
Before:
• Curriculum
• Delivery of Instruction
• Student Specific Accommodations
During:
• Progress Monitoring
• Communication
• Adjust Instruction
After:
• Assessment
• Reteaching
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What does co-planning look like
“Before”?
• Curriculum
-discuss standards, content, learning
outcomes for the lesson / unit
-identify essential concepts / essential
questions, big ideas, and skills to be learned
-identify how learning will be assessed
-identify each co-teacher’s strengths and
interests relative to the content
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What does co-planning look like
“Before”?
• Delivery of Instruction
-discuss options for delivery of content
-discuss student needs – use the Individual
Learning Plan for SWD
-plan for differentiation
-discuss strategies for grouping students – coteaching models
-divide up tasks and responsibilities to
complete lesson preparation
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What does co-planning look like
“Before”?
• Student Specific Accommodations:
-review accommodations on student’s IEPS
-discuss necessary adjustments for specific
students
-note individual goals and objectives per
student IEPs that will be addressed in this
unit/lesson
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Planning for Instruction:
“During” Co-Teaching
• Communicate frequently with each other,
share feedback
• Monitor student understanding
• Engage in on-going reflection
• Adapt instructional plans as needed
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Important Concepts for Students With
Disabilities:
 SWD need both instruction on grade level
standards and instruction on skills that are below
grade level
 The IEP should reflect deficit skills that lead to
achievement of grade level standards (not the
standard itself)
 Differentiated instruction and flexible grouping
in the general education classroom provide
opportunities to meet the needs of diverse
learners, including students with disabilities
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What does co-planning look like “After
Teaching”?
•
•
•
•
Debrief the lesson
Review student progress
Arrange for re-teaching as needed
Assess – tests, projects, formative, summative
assessments
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What is the Planning Process for Providing
for Student Success?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Unwrap the standard
Examine the assessment data
Plan for flexible grouping
Design differentiated activities
Determine which co-teaching models to use
Assess student performance and regroup as
necessary
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Classroom Case Study
ELACC9-10RH3
Analyze in detail a series of events described in
a text; determine whether earlier events
caused later ones or simply preceded them.
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Unwrapping the Standard
• Unit – Big ideas:
– Organizational Structures: logical order, cause & effect
relationships, comparison & contrast, transitions
• Unit Essential Question:
– How does understanding a text’s structure help me better
understand its meaning ?
• Lesson EQ:
– How does understanding cause/effect relationships help
me in organizing information
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Common Formative Pre-assessment Results
Student
Special
Needs
10/10
Results
Student
Ana
8/10
Marquise
Andy
10/10
Esperanza
Special
Needs
10/10
Results
4/10
ELL
3/10
Jason
SWD
3/10
Angelic
9/10
Thomas
SWD
4/10
Gilbert
Carlota
9/10
Habib
Diego
8/10
Cornelius
Crystal
7/10
Seth
8/10
ELL
3/10
9/10
RTI
2/10
Rosanna
RTI
1/10
Fazio
6/10
Susan
SWD
2/10
Hector
5/10
Dominick
SWD
0/10
Marco
ELL
4/10
Jose
8/10
Elizabeth
SWD
0/10
Katy
7/10
Javier
ELL
4/10
Amanda
SWD
7/10
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Individual Learning Plan
General Ed. Teacher_________________ Special Ed. Teacher__________________
Date____________ Time/Period____________ Class_________________________
Student
Learning issues from
Psych./Eligibility Report,
PLOP
Weaknesses
identified thru
IEP Goal Area / Summary
of Objectives
Accommodations
Language processing, rdg.
comprehension,
disorganized
ELA - 745
Math – 756
Weakest in Data Anal &
Probesolving, Meas. &
Geom.
Vocab, multiple meanings, reading
comp –main idea, sup details,
whQs, interpret graphs, id
geometric shapes
Pref. seating, paraphrase
directions, repeat directions,
frequent breaks, extended time.
-graphic organizers
-Pictionary/dictionary
- provide structure for instruction/class
setup
-Use visuals, demonstrations
-Provide more frequent
review/reteaching
ADHD, focusing &
attention, weakest area is
math, but also borderline
in reading
ELA – 802
Math – 785
Weakest in Num & Op, also
weak in Measurement, Data
Analysis and Probability
Organization
Study skills
Math - using strategies to solve
problems, word probs, vocab.
Small group, preferential seating,
repetition of directions, frequent
breaks, extended time
-provide structure for instruction/class
set up
-connect learning to real life
-use cues to focus attention
-use graphic organizers
-ask student which strategies work best
to focus attention
Difficulties with visual
processing, weak in both
math and reading,
difficulty copying from the
board, visually loses place
in text
ELA – 780, weakest areas
are in comprehension of
written material
Math – 756
weakest in computation –
but has problems with all
strands of Mathematics
standards
Identify main idea & supporting
details, follow directions in writing
w/auditory cues, answer comp.
Qs, math computation, word
problems, use strategies to solve
problems, draw conclusions from
tables and graphs
Preferential seating, small group,
paraphrase directions, repeat
directions, use of highlighter by
student
-use a template to isolate sections on a
page
-use highlighters
-color code when possible
-use pictures, artifacts, and
manipulatives
-use multisensory approaches to
learning
-separate items on a worksheet, text, or
test
Dominick
CRCT/GHSGT
Amanda
Jason
Recommended strategies
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Discuss with a Partner
• What types of accommodations do your
students require?
• How do you and your co-teacher implement
the requirements from the IEP in the general
education classroom?
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Assignment Organizational Chart
Tiered Groups
On Grade Level
Meeting standards:
Can work on
assignment for
continued growth
Foundational
Below Grade Level:
Scaffolding,
breaking
information into
smaller parts, may
need previewing
Extension
Advanced for a
specific skill or
standard; going to
higher levels of
complexity or
enrichment
Students
Grouped based
upon
preassessment
Score 4 – 7 on
preassessment
Thomas (SWD)
Diego (ELL)
Crystal
Katy
Amanda (SWD)
Marquise
Fazio
Hector
Marco (ELL)
Javier (ELL)
Score 0 – 3 on
preassessment
Jason (SWD)
Rosanna (RTI)
Susan (SWD)
Dominick (SWD)
Esperanza (ELL)
Gilbert (ELL)
Cornelius (RTI)
Elizabeth (SWD)
Score 8 – 10 on
preassessment
Ana
Andy
Carlota
Jose
Cassie
Habib
Seth (SWD)
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Assignment Organizational Chart
On Grade Level
Foundational
Extension
Critical Questions
Based on a biography
of Jackie Robinson
How would you explain
the impact of the
Emancipation
Proclamation on Jackie
Robinson’s life?
Can you identify 5 major
events that influenced
Jackie Robinson’s
career?
How would you
compare the impact of
the Emancipation
Proclamation on Jackie
Robinson’s life to that of
Bill Cosby’s life?
Differentiation
Strategies/
Assignments/
Assessments
Tiered Menus and
Learning Contracts
Preview vocabulary and
important concepts,
Scaffolding,
Tiered Menus and
Learning Contracts
Tiered Menus and
Learning Contracts
Differentiated Instruction:
Providing Choice and Varying the Level of Difficulty
• Tic-Tac-Toe Boards: Allow for differentiation by readiness,
interest, and learning style, can have a free choice square
• Cubing Template Dice: Provides topics for discussion groups.
Groups can have same questions or several different cubes to
choose from
• Anchor Activities: Ongoing assignments that students can
work on independently throughout the unit
• Menu: Variation of choice boards with more steps
• Tiered Assignments: Assignments designed to develop
essential skills by varying complexity, abstractness, number of
steps, concreteness
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Flexible Grouping Strategies
Co-Teaching Models
Over the course of a unit, the following models are used:
 ALTERNATIVE TEACHING
◦ Foundational group is pulled to the side to provide a preview of vocabulary and
concepts
 TEAM TEACHING
◦ to introduce the new unit,
◦ provide some of the new content,
◦ to explain the directions for the Tiered Menu and Learning Contracts
 STATION TEACHING
◦ to provide students with more assistance on their assignments
◦ grouped according to their choices from the menu as well as by their Tiered Groups
 ALTERNATIVE TEACHING (may be used again)
◦ when assessment indicates that a group needs reteaching, extra practice or direct
instruction for extension
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Case Study Questions:
1. Why is it important to look at pre-assessment data and
the Individual Learning Plan when designing instruction?
2. In addition to pre-assessment results, what other factors
could be considered for grouping the students? (i.e. group
size, other individual characteristics, etc.
3. What is important to consider when designing instruction
for each of the groups: On Grade Level, Foundational, and
Extension?
4. What is the difference between specialized instruction and
differentiated instruction?
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50 Ways to Keep Your Co-Teacher!
• Read over the phrases and select two or three
that are most meaningful to you.
• Be prepared to share your thoughts with the
group.
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References
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Education, 22, 245–255.
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References, Continued
Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., Graetz, J. E., Nordland, J., Gardizi, W., & McDuffie, K. (2005). Case studies in
co-teaching in the content areas: Successes, failures, and challenges. Intervention in School and Clinic, 40,
260–270.
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Curriculum Development.
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Need more information?
Contact
Janet Peeler
404-202-1284
Janet.peeler@pfiglobal.com
Student Achievement Consultant
Copyright PFI Global Partners, Inc. www.pfiglobal.com