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Section 1: A Nod to the Literature

What is Co-Teaching?

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According to The Academy for Co-Teaching and Collaboration, co-teaching is when two or more professionals work together as they plan for, instruct,  and assess a shared group of students in a common space. 

 

To more fully understand co-teaching, it may be easier to consider what it is not.  Co-teaching is NOT...

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  1. One instructor teaching, one instructor grading.

  2. One instructor teaching, one instructor tutoring.

  3. One instructor teaching in one classroom and another teaching in a separate space.

  4. One instructor teaching literacy and the other teaching math.

Co-Planning and Co-Teaching
 

The Academy for Co-Teaching and Collaboration identifies myriad benefits for co-teaching as a mentoring structure.  These include increased opportunities for 1) using flexible grouping 2) collaborating with colleagues and 3) trying new strategies. Co-teaching can reduce the student/teacher ratio, which in turn creates opportunities for greater student engagement and participation.

 

Co-teaching is common practice in PK-12 classrooms, yet new teachers are not often prepared with a deep understanding of the models of co-teaching and/or how to plan to put the models into practice. Mentors of new teachers may need to provide support for developing an understanding of co-planning and co-teaching with new teachers. 

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"Co-teaching is when two or more professionals work together as they plan for, instruct, and assess a shared group of students in a common space."

Incorporating coteaching during field experiences and internship provides teacher candidates with an introduction to and scaffolded practice with this important teaching approach. Research suggests effective implementation of co-teaching during internship positively impacted student learning (Bacharach, et al., 2010). 

Pause & Reflect

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Directions: Pause and reflect on what you learned. Use the questions below to guide your thinking and record your thoughts in a private place you can reference later, such as a journal.

  1. What role might co-planning and co-teaching play in your mentoring of a teacher candidate or new teacher?

  2. What potential challenges do you anticipate?

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