Agua Fria Union
High School District
Au g u s t 2 2 , 2 0 1 4
Vo l u m e 2 , I s s u e 1
Co-Teaching can take a few different forms, but effective team teaching consistently has both teachers actively involved and sharing the following:
Teaching Classroom Management
Leadership role Expectations of All Students
Planning
Evaluation of All Students
Instructional Decisions
Grading
Parental Contact Attendance rapport is a necessity. Take time to know a bit about one another personally. The more comfortable you are with one another, the more harmonious your classroom will be. You will have fewer misunderstandings and your students will sense your positive relationship. (2) Know your own teaching styles and create a balance within your classroom. Students need to know the expectations for instruction as well as classroom management, and procedures should be consistent. (3) Share with one another your own strengths and weaknesses in teaching. This allows you to more often differentiate instruction in the classroom and meet the needs of all students – in a large group
(playing to one’s strengths) as well as individually. (4) Be familiar with the goals on students’ IEPs as well as the individual needs of all students in the classroom. Knowing students means not only knowing their accommodations/modifications, it’s knowing where their weaknesses are and remediating or increasing their skills from their present levels of performance. (5) Review your procedures and policies early in the year so you can function as a unified team. This includes conferencing with parents together and making sure you communicate with parents consistently, not sending mixed or contradicting information. Finally, learn from one another. (6) Take risks and grow!
Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)
Students who are classified as SLD are typically serviced in regular education classes. These students typically have average ability (IQ scores), but demonstrate significant weaknesses in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skills, reading fluency skills, reading comprehension, math calculation, and math problem solving. The majority of our students who receive services fall under this category. They are often quite successful in our team-taught classes.
Emotionally Disabled (ED)
The majority of our ED students can function successfully in regular education and co-taught classes with accommodations, modifications and a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). For those who need a more secure environment, our district has two programs (one at Agua Fria; one at Desert Edge) to serve ED students. Students with an emotional disability exhibit behaviors that adversely affect their performance in the educational environment. In order to qualify for services, these students must demonstrate the following behaviors in one or more areas, to a significant degree, over a long period of time: difficulty learning, interpersonal difficulties with peers and teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings; a general and pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The disability includes

students who are schizophrenic, but does not include students who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they also have an emotional disability.
Intellectually Disabled
This program is typically referred to as the Life Skills program. We have a continuum of services for students who range from mildly to severely intellectually disabled. Students with mild intellectual disabilities are served at Millennium, Desert Edge, and Agua Fria. Agua Fria also serves students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. Students with intellectual disabilities (IQ scores below 70) typically demonstrate difficulty with activities of daily living (e.g., communication, social skills, community functioning, and motor skills).
Autism
Our district has a new program this year (at Agua Fria) to serve students with autism. Students with autism have a developmental disability that significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication, as well as social interaction. Characteristics of autism include irregularities and impairments in communication, engagement in repetitive activities and stereotypical movements, resistance to environmental change or changes in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. Although many students with autism can be successfully served in the regular education curriculum, these students require a selfcontained setting.
New Directions
The New Directions program is housed on the Agua Fria campus (where the administrative offices were previously located). This program serves students who are unable to be successful on a comprehensive campus (typically due to emotional and behavioral difficulties), and need a more restrictive environment.
New Directions offers a small student to staff ratio, counseling services, and individualized instruction.
Although students may remain at New Directions for the duration of their high school career, the goal is to return them to their comprehensive high school as soon as their goals are met.
The Medically Fragile Program
This program is geared towards students with Severe to Profound Intellectual Disabilities, most of whom also require nursing services. The room is staffed by one teacher, a nurse and three to five paraprofessionals (depending on the number of students). The responsibilities of the teacher are to create a positive work environment, provide an appropriate education for each student, and collaborate with the nurse as well as all related service providers.
Students who require nursing services receive appropriate medications, G-tube feedings, monitoring of seizures, and trache/ventilator care. Our district has two programs for students with multiple disabilities.
Classrooms are located at Verrado and Desert Edge High Schools.
RESOURCES: Reading – Reaching All Students:
Utilize large print when reading is taxing or difficult to track; hand-held reading pens to read aloud the text; audio books at your fingertips - access DAISY formatted audiobooks via the apps Learning Ally and
Read2Go; Via ITunes U, Teachers: Use Lit2Go for high quality audio versions of the classics.
For Organization : colored highlighters to note separate steps in multi-step problems; sticky notes to summarize paragraphs or pages; colored flags; colored folders to keep different class work separated; track due dates with the app IStudiez Pro; support note-taking (audio, visual, etc.) with app InClass.
Teachers: use Remind 101 to inform students of upcoming due dates.
ADE Workshops
Arizona’s Fourteenth Annual Transition Conference
August 25 – 27, 2014 http://www.azed.gov/special-education/2014transition-conference/
Breaking the Code: Deciphering the Discipline
Procedures in the IDEA: October 3, 2014
(Register by 8-29-14).
Sources: Tamee Gressett, Principal, Millennium High School
Marston, Natalie. 6 Steps to Successful Co-Teaching.
National Education Association, n.d. Web. 17 Aug. 2014.
Sources: Tamee Gressett, Principal, Millennium High School
Marston, N. (2014). 6 steps to successful co-teaching.
National Education Association.
Ron Scott: Director of Special Education, AFUHSD; Kiersten Walker,
Louise Privette: School Psychologists, AFUHSD