If you happen to be lucky enough to be co-teaching this year, then we wanted to share a resource from a current issue of TEACHING Exceptional Children called “50 ways to keep your co-teacher.” You might want to review this article to give you some tips to make it a great year; if you are a CEC member, you should have access to it. The article abstract can also be found here (Murawski & Dieker, 2008).
Co-planning
Also keep in mind to talk with your co-teacher about how he or she feels the co-taught class is progressing on a regular basis. All of us involved with posting this month have been involved in co-teaching, and we have found it to be a very rewarding experience. It is important when you co-teach that you plan as a team. There are two tools out there to help with planning. One is a traditional plan book that can be found in the CEC store. There is also an electronic planning tool by my colleague Wendy Murawski that can be found at http://www.2teachllc.com.
Whatever model you choose, planning is a key element to success.
Tip from my co-teaching experience
I would like to share with you the best tip I learned from co-teaching with my colleague in English. She suggests that in every classroom, every day, every kid should be: Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, and Viewing (Ousley, 2007). I think this a great rule. If you try to divide your co-teaching roles into each of these activities daily, you can embrace a range of learners and keep kids more engaged. This article can be found here.
Student Engagement
Speaking of engaged — if you haven’t seen the You-Tube video on the “Vision of K-12 Students Today,” I recommend you watch it to help you think about how important it is to use the strengths of both teachers to engage all learners in today’s classroom.
Happy Monday!
Lisa Dieker