Co-Teaching
Co-Teaching is beneficial for everyone! It includes various models of how teachers inhabit the physical spaces within a classroom (see chart below) as well as how they interact with students, either in face-to-face teaching or on-line formats for Distance Learning. Co-Teaching also benefits all students, including those with differentiation needs such as those with IEPs, multilingual learners, and those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
As a reminder, Co-Teaching is a method that has been shown to benefit collaborating teachers across content disciplines, student teachers and cooperating teachers. Opportunities for collaborative planning and teaching align with the following pedagogical practices: joint planning, curriculum mapping and alignment, parallel teaching, co-developing instructional materials, collaborative assessment of student work, co-teaching, and joint professional learning (Dove & Honigsfeld, 2018, p. 11).
For a successful co-teaching experience, all participating teachers should plan for and deliver integrated instruction together. Note that co-teaching strategies are not hierarchical; they can be used in any order and/or combined to best meet the needs of the students in the classroom.
DELIVER is a helpful acronym developed by researchers Dove & Honigsfeld (2018, p. 257) to describe elements of integrated instruction one needs to consider when co-teaching:
D= Differentiation of Instruction (by varying Content, Process, and Product)
E= Engagement of Students (including an analysis of SWRL language modalities used). (See2.5 Academic Language and Support for more information)
L=Language and Content Objectives (both displayed and reviewed)
I=Instructional Strategies (including: visuals, realia, cognates, pacing, step-by-step demonstrations/modeling, guided practice, scaffolding, use of home language, etc)
V= Varied Co-Teaching Models (see chart below)
E= Equity and Parity Established (for both students as well as co-teachers)
R= Rigor (re-examining and reflecting on content, process, an product as experienced by each learner and teacher)
Finally, optimal delivery of co-teaching instruction to students can increase options for flexible grouping with students, enhance collaboration skills for teachers, provide professional support, help in classroom and lesson preparation, and assist with classroom management while allowing for a greater diversity of instructional styles and student engaged time.
To best capture these relevant instructional benefits, select from the following Co-Teaching Models featured in the chart by discussing the models with your co-teacher during the planning stage. You can describe which co-teaching models you will be using in your UNW School of Education Lesson Plan document when relevant.
Co-Teaching Models
Dove & Honigsfeld, 2008
Names for Models | Descriptions of Models |
Station Teaching
| Students are divided into heterogeneous or homogenous groups and rotate through stations. The general education teacher and EL teacher lead two different stations. Students work independently, with a partner, or in small groups at the other stations.
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Parallel Teaching
| Students are divided into two heterogeneous groups. The general education teacher provides instruction to one group, and the EL teacher provides instruction for the other group. The content is the same for both groups, but the teachers may utilize two different instructional approaches or encourage students to consider two different perspectives on a topic.
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Alternative Teaching
| One teacher works with a small group of students while the other teacher provides instruction for the rest of the class. The purpose of the small group is for pre-teaching, pre-reading, background knowledge building, re-teaching, assessment, enrichment, skills practice, etc. Take care to vary the students in the small group.
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Teaming
| Both teachers actively provide instruction to the whole class. They take turns interjecting and providing supports or strategies.
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One Teach, One Assist
| One teacher takes the lead for providing instruction to the whole class while the other teacher assists students individually. Take care not to always have the same teacher doing the assisting.
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One Teach, One Observe
| One teacher takes the lead for providing instruction to the whole class while the other teacher observes in order to collect data. Take care not to always have the same teacher doing the observing |
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Adapted from Anderson, A. (2017) Making the transition: Moving from a pull-out model for EL instruction to a co-teaching model, https://sites.google.com/hamline.edu/makingthetransition/home, further adapted from A. M. Beninghof, district training, June 20-21, 2013; Cobb Morocco & Mata Aguilar, 2002, p. 317; Cook & Friend, 1995; Friend, 2015, p. 18-21; Friend, Cook, Hurley-Chamberlain & Shamberger, 2010, p. 11-13; Honigsfeld & Dove, 2008, p. 9; Honigsfeld & Dove, 2010, p. 75-81