Christina Mitchaner’s Updates
Update #5 Inclusive Practices- Co-teaching
One inclusive strategy is co-teaching. Co-teaching can be the combination of a regular education teacher and another teacher in the building. This could include a special education teacher, an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher, a speech and language therapist, or another teacher in the building. The goal for co-teaching is to create a classroom where all students all students are included and provided with quality instruction. The teachers plan together and develop a plan to adapt the lesson to meet the needs of diverse learners in the classroom.
Co-teaching can take on several forms. One co-teaching model is one teach, one observe. When teachers use this model, one teacher provides instruction while the other teacher observes and assists students as needed. Station teaching is where the students are divided into groups, with each teacher teaching a group and students rotate between teachers. There may be some independent work stations as well. When using parallel teaching, the teachers divide the students into two groups and each teacher teaches one group. Alternate teaching where one teacher teaches the large group and the other teacher teaches a small group that requires targeted instruction. Finally there is team teaching where the responsibility for instruction is shared by both teachers throughout the lesson.