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Benefits of Co-teaching for Students with Disabilities

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Benefits of Co-teaching for Students with Disabilities

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This article lists the definition of Co-Teaching, types of Co-Teaching, and also benefits of Co-Teaching!

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The Benefits of Co-Teaching for Students with Special Needs - Friendship Circle - Special Needs Blog

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We all know that a student with special needs has the right to a free and appropriate public education. This is mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA 2004)....

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Six more great tools to help with Co-Teaching

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Six more great tools to help with Co-Teaching

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This article contains six examples of what elements go into making a successful Co-Taught classroom.

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This article does a great job of describing Co-Teaching and the benefits that may come with it.

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Co-Teaching in the Classroom

Co-teaching, or having two teachers in the classroom has become a popular teaching structure to provide an inclusive setting for special education students while insuring that they are in the least restrictive environment as recommended by their IEP team. In the co-teaching classroom you typically have a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the classroom. Paraprofessionals may also work in this setting to provide additional support.

While co-teaching, both teachers are intended to share the teaching responsibility in a co-teaching classroom, with the special education teacher, providing specialized differentiated lessons for students with special needs. In other words, the special education teacher may be described as a strategist, taking the standard lesson and teaching it in a different way so that the student with special needs can access the learning requirements, along with other students in the classroom.

Planning is essential in the co-teaching classroom. In the middle and high school setting, it's best that the special education teacher and the general education teacher have the same planning times or can make arrangements to meet before or after school. During planning days prior to the opening of school, the teachers should meet, discuss and agree on classroom rules, consequences for breaking rules, the classroom format and the class structure. Teachers need to not only discuss the upcoming lessons and the curriculum, but they need to agree on who will teach what and which co-teaching style will be used. Here are a few co-teaching styles. The following co-teaching models were developed by Marilyn Friend. They were presented to teachers in my system during a pre-planning conference.

Co-Teaching Styles

Parallel teaching is a style in which both teachers are teaching at the same time. The classroom may be divided in half and one teacher teaches one half of the room, while the other teaches the second half. So, they are teaching the same lesson at the same time. This style is great for large classes because the students benefit from being in a smaller group.

Team teaching is one of the best teaching styles in the co-taught classroom. When team teaching, the teachers share the teaching responsibility and may act as a tag team. For example, both teachers deliver the lesson together. Either teacher can raise points or "jump-in" at any time. The teachers should bounce ideas off of each other and raise questions together in this style.

The one teach one drift model should be used occasionally but should not be used exclusively because students begin to view the teachers as being unequal in the classroom. In this model, one teacher teaches the lesson, while the second teacher drifts around the classroom and helps students who need extra attention. This model is similar to one teach, one observe in which the second teacher may observe students during the lesson and while they are working and document those observations to better learn how to teach the students.

Station or center teaching is often used in elementary schools but may certainly be used in the middle and high school settings. Students work in stations or centers and the co-teachers may take responsibility for teaching and explaining directions for their assigned stations. Students benefit by working in groups.

Alternative teaching is when one teacher teaches pulls out a smaller group of students who need extra help, or students who are advanced and need more of a challenge can be pulled out. The students in the pull-out group can get extra help or can work on advanced lessons. This strategy is especially helpful for catching up students who have been absent. When pulling out special education students, it best to include some non-special education students so that the special education students won't feel singled out.

Co-teaching works because all teachers have strengths and weaknesses. In the co-teaching environment, the students are fortunate because they have the expertise of two teachers.

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What is Co-Teaching and How Can it Benefit My Special Education Class?

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Co-teaching, or having two teachers in the classroom has become a popular teaching structure to provide an inclusive setting for special education students while insuring that they are in the least restrictive environment as recommended by their IEP team. In the co-teaching classroom you typically have a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the classroom.

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Special Education on a Co-Taught classroom

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Special Education on a Co-Taught classroom

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Here is an article providing examples of a how a special education professional may be used in the classroom.

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In special education, the term "collaboration" refers to a team teaching approach. In addition to the regular classroom teacher and the special education teacher, a collaborative team may also include speech, occupational, and/or physical therapists. Today, more special education students are taught in regular classrooms, and collaboration is increasing. Collaboration helps to ensure children with learning disabilities get a free appropriate public education, including specialized instruction, in a regular classroom.﻿﻿

There are several ways to ensure students get the instructional support they need. Collaboration provides options to allow students to be educated (as required by American law) in the least restrictive environment.﻿﻿

The Lead Teacher Collaboration Model

In classrooms with a lead teacher, often the regular classroom teacher delivers the instruction in the subject area. The special education teacher is an observer who works with children after instruction to provide specially designed instruction, ensure understanding, and to provide adaptations and modifications.

The Learning Centers Collaboration Model

Each teacher is responsible for instruction in a specific area of the room. Students are assembled into groups that rotate through the centers for instruction. Special education teachers may deliver instruction in areas of their certifications and may also serve as support to other teachers without a special education background.﻿﻿

The learning center collaboration approach is particularly appropriate for younger students, for whom center-based education is more typical.

Pull-Out Collaboration Model

In some settings, rather than having special education teachers or therapists "push into" general education classrooms, students are "pulled out" for services. In such situations, students might leave the classroom for therapies or particular subjects, and then return to the general education classroom.﻿﻿ When this occurs, the general education teacher collaborates with the special needs professional to be sure the student's needs are being met.

Alternative Collaborative Setting

Partially or entirely separate educational settings are relatively rare, even for students with significant learning or developmental challenges. A substantially separate setting is designed specifically for students with particular disabilities; for example, some classrooms are set up to serve students with autism while others are set up for students with speech and language disabilities, etc.

Students work one-on-one or in small groups with a special education teacher and possibly with instructional assistants for all or part of the instructional day. Even when students are placed full time in special education classrooms, teachers may communicate with each other to ensure students' programs include appropriate instruction.

Separate settings are typically used with students who have a more significant need for direct instruction.

Team Teaching

Team teaching involves general education and special needs teachers working together simultaneously to teach a classroom of students. Either teacher who has the necessary background knowledge in the subject introduces new concepts and materials to the class. Both teachers work as a team to reinforce learning and provide assistance to students as needed. Special education teachers provide specially designed instruction to students with IEPs, and regular education teachers can assist with this as well.

Consultation Models of Collaboration

A special education teacher may provide some instruction to students, but the majority of service is indirect. The special education teacher mostly provides guidance to the regular education teacher on how to modify instruction to meet the student's needs.

By Ann Logsdon
Ann Logsdon is a school psychologist specializing in helping parents and teachers support students with a range of educational and developmental disabilities.

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Models of Collaborative Teaching for Special Education Students

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In special education, the term "collaboration" refers to a team teaching approach. In addition to the regular classroom teacher and the special education teacher, a collaborative team may also include speech, occupational, and/or physical therapists. Today, more special education students are taught in regular classrooms, and collaboration is increasing.

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This is a YouTube video that mentions collaboration, planning and different teaching styles all in a Co-Teaching setting.

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A great video that can be used to better understand the planning that goes into a Co-Taught classroom.

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Co-teaching and co-planning are core practices for Student-Centered Coaching. Use this short video to frame what that looks like for the teachers in your school. Or, use the video to clearly define the role of a coach as partner to teachers.

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Click here for an awesome video on the benefits of Co-Teaching!

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Here is a great visual tool that can be used for seeing some elements that may be involved with Co-Teaching.

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This is an interesting article explaining six types of different ways to approach Co-Teaching!

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In their book, Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals, Marilyn Friend and Lynne Cook identify "co-teaching as a specific service delivery option that is based on collaboration." As a service delivery option, co-teaching is designed to meet the educational needs of students with diverse learning options.

Students at all academic levels benefit from alternative assignments and greater teacher attention in small-group activities that co-teaching makes possible. Co-teaching allows for more intense and individualized instruction in the general education setting increasing access to the general education curriculum while decreasing stigma for students with special needs. Students have an opportunity to increase their understanding and respect for students with special needs. Students with special needs have a greater opportunity for continuity of instruction as the teachers benefit from the professional support and exchange of teaching practices as they work collaboratively.

Co-teaching involves two or more certified professionals who contract to share instructional responsibility for a single group of students primarily in a single classroom or workspace for specific content or objectives with mutual ownership, pooled resources and joint accountability. (Friend & Cook 2016)

Six Approaches to Co-Teaching

1. One Teach, One Observe. One of the advantages in co-teaching is that more detailed observation of students engaged in the learning process can occur. With this approach, for example, co-teachers can decide in advance what types of specific observational information to gather during instruction and can agree on a system for gathering the data. Afterward, the teachers should analyze the information together.

2. One Teach, One Assist. In a second approach to co-teaching, one person would keep primary responsibility for teaching while the other professional circulated through the room providing unobtrusive assistance to students as needed.

3. Parallel Teaching. On occasion, student learning would be greatly facilitated if they just had more supervision by the teacher or more opportunity to respond. In parallel teaching, the teachers are both covering the same information, but they divide the class into two groups and teach simultaneously.

4. Station Teaching. In this co-teaching approach, teachers divide content and students. Each teacher then teaches the content to one group and subsequently repeats the instruction for the other group. If appropriate, a third station could give students an opportunity to work independently.

5. Alternative Teaching: In most class groups, occasions arise in which several students need specialized attention. In alternative teaching, one teacher takes responsibility for the large group while the other works with a smaller group.

6. Team Teaching: In team teaching, both teachers are delivering the same instruction at the same time. Some teachers refer to this as having one brain in two bodies. Others call it tag team teaching. Most co-teachers consider this approach the most complex but satisfying way to co-teach, but the approach that is most dependent on teachers' styles.

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Six Approaches to Co-Teaching - State Education Resource Center

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In their book, Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals, Marilyn Friend and Lynne Cook identify "co-teaching as a specific service delivery option that is based on collaboration." As a service delivery option, co-teaching is designed to meet the educational needs of studen...

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This is an outstanding blog that mentions both challenges and rewards that one may deal with in a Co-Taught environment.

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Collaborative Team Teaching: Challenges and Rewards

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Veteran special ed teacher Marisa Kaplan shares the challenges and rewards of co-teaching, including the fun of having another adult in the classroom.