Week 7: Co-Teaching Summary

For this week's summary, I began aggregating all of the posts for the 4 main questions into a document to view all the responses to each question separately.

Once I did this, I decided to take each question and create a visual representation for the responses. Lately, I've been playing around with a product called Tagxedo, that allows you to change the shape of the tag cloud, and even allows you to upload pictures to put the cloud into that shape. Unfortunately, the embedded files from Tagxedo did not load properly when I tried to embed them, so I have included the static .jpg image instead. With the embedded version, when you click on words, they are supposed to animate and turn sideways for easier viewing. For comparison's sake, I also created the cloud in Wordle.

Here's what it looks like:

Question 1: What does co-teaching mean for the written, taught, and tested curriculum?
Taxedo Image: Hands and Puzzle The majority of the responses discussed the three stages of beginning, compromising and collaboration as outlined in Gately and Gately. Several mentioned student or learner centered instruction and the ability to differentiate curriculum based on formative assessment. In the written curriculum, several mentioned the importance of including the special education teacher in the process. In the taught curriculum there is a great advantage when students hear how to complete a task or learn from a different point of view. Collaboration between the content and special education teacher is key, and it is important for the special education teacher to know the material and the content teacher to understand the pedagogy of differentiating instruction.
Question 2: What structures need to be in place for co-teaching to be successful?
Taxedo Image Schoolhouse The structures reflected in the summary revolved around: Mutual Respect and Trust Common Planning Time Content Background Good Communication Well Defined Classroom Management Team approach Clear Goals Check Your Ego at the Door Some shared the KU Content Enhancement Routines and SIM Strategies as effective components, and there was also good discussion on the cost of co-teaching to districts facing budget difficulties.
Question 3: What impact does the upgrade of curriculum for the 21st century have on co-teaching?
The Tagxedo image above is from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework image. Many respondents to the question made the connection between the 21st Century skills of collaboration, communication, and problem solving as being directly related to co-teaching and that there was a natural enhancement when these skills are emphasized. The ability to differentiate content, process and product through the integration of technology is a powerful complement to the co-teaching process. Skype and Google Docs were often mentioned as tools to assist in this process, and it was even mentioned that technology offers the ability to co-teach at a distance, or in a blended format.
Question 4:What are some challenges in supervising and evaluating a co-teaching team, and how might supervisors address these challenges?
Tagxedo Image of Supervison The importance of administrative support, professional development and coordination of teams was emphasized as critical. Finding teams that will complement each other is a important first step, as well as monitoring them to be sure the relationship is a positive one. There was a great deal of discussion about taking more time in the evaluation process, observing and talking with staff separately and together. Many mentioned Gately and Gately's Co-teaching Rating scale as a checklist that they would use in their role as supervisor and "The Power of Two Observation and Debrief: Eight Components of the Co-Teaching Relationship was also mentioned as a useful tool. The issue of whether to observe the teacher or the students was brought up in discussion and it was suggested that we develop an observation tool that emphasizes student behavior. All in all, 81 posts on this topic were generated, with the initial ones totaling over 14 pages. In the follow-up the topics of discussion included: Mike Glennon's clever parenthetical usage! Communication, communication, and more communication The cost of co-teaching in an age of budget cuts Questioning the depth of knowledge and dedication to all students learning Methods of evaluation and supervision Consistent classroom management practices Effective Professional Development practices (Including Shared Inquiry.) Planning with Web 2.0 tools Evaluating not just the teaching but the collaboration Modeling the co-teaching process and gaining job embedded PD through co-teaching Suggestion that Special Education teachers be generalists The value of collaboration Should co-teaching be voluntary? High Tech Tools Offering Promise The use of UDL in co-teaching Questioning whether the special education teacher was truly a specialist in pedagogy The benefits of 4 eyes and hands in the classroom The benefit of students seeing more than one way to solve problems and learn Co-teaching becoming a "quick fix" to meet NCLB requirements