TWT Help Desk: What if I have a co-teacher?

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The Context: Co-teaching, like all teaching, is driven by relationships. If you’ve ever co-taught before, you know that it can be a tricky but powerful teaching model. When you enter into a co-teaching dynamic, you become deeply engaged with someone who you may or may not already know. There is a great deal of collaboration that must occur every day in order to make your instruction, planning, teaching, and assessment run smoothly. Like in any relationship, communication, flexibility, trust, empathy, and a sense of humor are key components to making co-teaching work, especially in the teaching of writing.

Co-teaching partnerships can look different within schools, and even within classrooms. Whether you are both general education teachers, one or both of you is a special education teacher, or you teach in different languages, you and your co-teacher must work closely together across all facets of teaching including planning for instruction, teaching lessons, assessing student work and progress, managing student behaviors, and communicating with caregivers.

Despite the complexities that come with having to collaborate so deeply with another colleague, co-teaching also presents a plethora of opportunities for educators and students alike. One major benefit of co-teaching is that it allows for greater flexibility and differentiation of the teachers’ roles and responsibilities. With a lower student-to-teacher ratio, co-teaching can help teachers reach more students at the same time, thereby making it more manageable to meet their individual learning needs.

In Your Student, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms, authors Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener outline seven co-teaching models:

1. One Teach, One Assist: One teacher takes the instructional lead while the other teacher assists one or more students.
2. Station Teaching: Each teacher is responsible for leading or facilitating a station. Students rotate in small groups. 
3. Parallel Teaching: Each teacher teaches the same skill or concept at the same time with half the class.
4. One Teach, One Observe: While one teacher teaches, the other teacher observes with purpose.
5. Supplemental Teaching: Struggling students receive additional instruction or support from one teacher in a small group setting after first receiving instruction in a whole group setting.
6. Alternative Teaching: Students receive instruction in half groups on the same topic but each teacher delivers the instruction differently.
7. Team Teaching: Teachers work collaboratively to deliver instruction to the class together.

The Big Picture: Do you have a co-teacher this year? How might it benefit your writing workshop planning, instruction, and assessment practices? Here are a few tips and tricks for making the relationship work as smoothly as possible:

• Talk, Talk, Talk: Communication is key! Perhaps more than anything else, you need to talk to your co-teacher. Be as open and honest as possible and try to have a sense of humor too! Some questions to consider:
  • What are you and your partner’s strengths and weaknesses as writing teachers?
  • How do you want to divide up the workload?
  • Which co-teaching model(s) do you want to try?
  • How do you like to give and receive feedback?
  • Which part(s) of writing workshop do you enjoy teaching most and which part(s) are you most apprehensive about?

For a great resource to help you get to know and form a stronger relationship with your co-teacher, consider completing the “Co-Teaching Body Biography” developed by Jacqui Stolzer & Dr. Laura Rigolosi.

• Divide and Conquer: When you have two or more teachers in the room, it’s important to think about ways to split up the workload. Make a plan for who will lead each component of the workshop. Maybe you and your co-teacher will alternate teaching the minilesson every other day or week. Perhaps one of you will take the lead on a particular unit and then switch leadership roles for the following unit. When children work independently, be intentional about who is conferring and who is meeting with small groups. There are so many possibilities to play with here. The most important thing is that both teachers have a plan, are collaborating together, and are making decisions that work for you and benefit the students in your classroom.

• Trust Fall: Being a co-teacher can feel very vulnerable. Unless you’ve known and worked with the other person for many years, it can be hard to have someone else witness every aspect of your teaching–mistakes and all. That’s why it’s so important to establish trust with your co-teacher. Did you totally miss the mark on your minilesson? Did a student’s behavior derail your small group plan? Did you forget to prep an important chart and you need your co-teacher’s help at the last minute? The bottom line is that everyone makes mistakes. Have empathy for each other, help each other, and trust each other to have your back when you need it most.

• Rubric It Up: Make sure you and your co-teacher use some common rubrics and / or agreed upon assessment tools so that you’re on the same page about what you want your students to know or be able to show for each writing unit. One person’s version of excellent writing is not the same for everyone. By being on the same page about the qualities and characteristics of student work that you are aiming for, it will help you work together to meet your students’ needs and teaching objectives.

The Bottom Line: Co-teaching is impactful for students, but it takes a lot of work to make it run smoothly, no matter the subject matter. When it comes to writing workshop, think about how the different co-teaching models might work best for the various components of the lesson (mini lesson, independent practice, share, etc.).

Final Advice: Capitalize on having two teachers in the classroom. You don’t need to do it all! Share the responsibilities and be as clear as possible about who does what. Have empathy for one another, especially if someone makes a mistake. After all, you and your co-teacher are only human!

Go Deeper:

• Co-Teaching: Classroom Partnerships for Student Success by Marilyn Friend PhD
• Co-Teaching: An Illustration of the Complexity of Collaboration in Special Education by Marilyn Friend PhD, Lynne Cook PhD, DeAnna Hurley-Chamberlain & Cynthia Shamberger MEd
• Co-Teaching: How to Make it Work by Angela Peery
• Unpacking the “Co” in Co-teaching by Jacqui Stolzer
• Getting To Know Your Co-teacher: Questions to Jumpstart the Partnership by Jacqui Stolzer

Giveaway Information: 

This is a giveaway for a free, 30-minute virtual professional development session with Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. Readers must leave a comment on any or all of the TWT HELP DESK BLOG SERIES POST by Sun., 8/11 at noon EDT. We will announce the giveaway winner at the bottom of the intro post to this blog series (from 8/2/24) by 8/12/24.