Two teachers, working together with groups of students, sharing the planning, organization, delivery and assessment of instruction, as well as the physical space.
As a strategy for teacher education, co-teaching provides the cooperating teacher and the teacher candidate with models for collaboration, to intentionally structure and make the most of the teaching capacity of the adults in the classroom.
Co-teaching professional development is offered in two parts: Foundations of Co-teaching and a Pairs Workshop on Co-teaching. Both parts are available in online formats and can be found here.
Why Co-Teach?
Research reports increased academic achievement associated with co-teaching based on a comparison of the achievement scores in reading and math of students in co-taught classrooms, students in a classroom with a single teacher, and classrooms where a non-co-teaching model of student teaching was undertaken. Results showed that students in co-taught classrooms statistically outperformed students in either of the other two settings (Bacharach, Heck, and Dahlberg, 2010).
These student achievement results have been attributed to several characteristics of the co-teaching model:
- Increases instructional options for all students
- Reduces student/teacher ratio
- Addresses diversity and size of today’s classroom
- Enhances classroom management
- Increases student participation and engagement
- Enhances collaboration skills of both teachers
Co-Teaching Strategies (7 strategies)
One Teach, One Observe
One teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other gathers specific observational information on students or the (instructing) teacher. The key to this strategy is to focus on the observation – where the teacher doing the observation is observing specific behaviors. It is important to remember that either (teacher candidate or cooperating teacher) could take on both roles.
One Teach, One Assist
An extension of One Teach, One Observe. One teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other assists students’ with their work, monitors behaviors, or corrects assignments. The teacher assisting often lends a voice to students or groups who would hesitate to participate or add comments.
Station Teaching
The co-teaching pair divides the instructional content into parts. Each teacher instructs one of the groups. Groups then rotate or spend a designated amount of time at each station. Often independent stations will be used along with the teacher-led stations.
Parallel Teaching
Each teacher instructs half the students. The two teachers are addressing the same instructional material and presenting the material using the same teaching strategies. The greatest benefit to this approach is the reduction of student to teacher ratio.
Supplemental Teaching
This strategy allows one teacher to work with students at their expected grade level, while the other teacher works with those students who need the information and/ or materials extended or remediated.
Alternative (Differentiated) Teaching
Alternative teaching strategies provide two different approaches to teaching the same information. The learning outcome is the same for all students, however the avenue for getting there is different.
Team Teaching
Well-planned, team-taught lessons exhibit an invisible flow of instruction with no prescribed division of authority. Using a team teaching strategy, both teachers are actively involved in the lesson. From a student’s perspective, there is no clearly defined leader, as both teachers share the
Solo vs. Lead in Co-teaching (UMN TC)
The goal of student teaching is for future teachers to experience all aspects of teaching and to become excellent classroom practitioners. Traditional student teaching models often identify a designated period of time for the teacher candidates to “solo” while the co-teaching model for student teaching uses the idea of becoming a “lead” teacher instead. Both ideas have merit for different reasons.
In a traditional student-teaching model, a teacher candidate often observes the cooperating teacher for an extended amount of time. Little by little, the candidate takes on more responsibility, eventually “solo” teaching by planning instruction, assessing student work, and managing classroom routines.
In co-teaching, the pair (teacher candidate and cooperating teacher) are encouraged to co-plan and quickly incorporate the co-teaching strategies in their practice, providing more opportunities for the students to engage with both adults in the classroom. The cooperating teacher remains engaged, using the strategies to support student learning and engagement. The co-teaching pair collaborates throughout the experience, with leadership in responsibility and decision-making shifting over time to the teacher candidate. Ultimately, the teacher candidate assumes leadership in all aspects of the classroom, including directing the activities of the cooperating teacher and other adults working with the students, for a pre-determined amount of time. It is important that the teacher candidate does have opportunities to solo teach too, but the goal is to co-teach once the candidate has established classroom leadership skills and students interact with both adults as their teachers.