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How Teaming Across Disciplines is Beneficial for Alternative Learners & Learning Disabilities

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Providing Special Education Services in a Collaborative Team Environment

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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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Teaches leadership skills

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Teaches students to with will different types of learners and learning styles

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Boosts confidence & self esteem

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Develops higher levels of thinking

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When thinking of a traditional classroom, you probably envision one teacher working alone with a group of students. While educators often work alone in the classroom, they do not - and should not - operate independently. Throughout my career, I've always found that the best way to improve an educational experience is to work together.

Here are some of the advantages of a collaborative educational environment - not only for your students, but for yourself:

Collaboration Helps Brainstorm Creative Ideas

It may seem like a no brainer, but a true brainstorm is not possible without collaboration. Collaboration provides a safety net; it helps you catapult your thinking and develop ideas that may seem crazy at first.

Working with a small group of trusted teachers gave me the opportunity to turn what I thought was a silly idea at the time into a unique and creative lesson plan. When it was time for my class to study Elizabethan England, I had the idea to have my students rewrite Shakespeare into different time periods that we had already studied. I was hesitant to bring this idea to a large group - it seemed so out there! But after developing the idea with my peers, I had a new and creative lesson plan that my students would love. Peer-to-peer collaboration can turn a small idea into the seeds for something fabulous.

Professional Collaboration Teaches You About Yourself

The process of becoming a National Board certified teacher was the most important of my career. The experience -particularly working with other professionals - made me turn inside-out and think about things from a new perspective. Learning and working with others made me dig deeper and explore who I was as a learner and a teacher. Equally important, it made me explore who my kids could be as learners.

In our educational culture today, it's extremely important to join professional learning communities and pursue professional learning opportunities to ensure ongoing growth for our students and for ourselves.

Learning Collaboratively Helps Students

The collaboration shouldn't end among the teachers - it should be used during the school day among students, as well! Plan activities that give students the opportunity to work and collaborate together to learn and grow from each other.

Collaborative learning has been shown to not only develop higher-level thinking skills in students, but boost their confidence and self-esteem as well. Group projects can maximize educational experience by demonstrating the material, while improving social and interpersonal skills. Students learn how to work with various types of learners and develop their leadership skills.

When we work together, we create a better learning experience. Teacher collaboration positively impacts student achievement, and allows us as educators to explore new territory.

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When thinking of a traditional classroom, you probably envision one teacher working alone with a group of students. While educators often work alone in the classroom, they do not - and should not - operate independently. Throughout my career, I've always found that the best way to improve an educational experience is to work together.

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If you're a teacher, you probably hear a lot about the benefits of teamwork and collaboration. But when you're faced with the reality of hectic schedules, lesson plans, parent meetings, and constant time crunches, it can be tough to find time to sit down, exchange ideas with other teachers in your school, and make sure you're on the same page.

That's why we love small anecdotes like these-stories of real schools that made a few relatively simple changes so their teachers could reap the benefits of collaboration. This one, from a Pennsylvania school superintendent, is adapted from Strategic Co-Teaching in Your School: Using the Co-Design Model , by Richael Barger-Anderson, Robert S. Isherwood, & Joseph Merhaut. See what they did to improve collaboration among the teachers in their school-and discover 6 ways this increased collaboration helped both educators and students succeed:

What does your school do to facilitate teacher collaboration? What, in your experience, is the biggest barrier to teachers working together and sharing ideas? Add your thoughts in the comments below!

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If you're a teacher, you probably hear a lot about the benefits of teamwork and collaboration. But when you're faced with the reality of hectic schedules, lesson plans, parent meetings, and constant time crunches, it can be tough to find time to sit down, exchange ideas with other teachers in your school, and make sure you're on the same page.

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6 Benefits of Teacher Collaboration | Inclusion Lab.
(2016). Retrieved from Brookespublishing.com
website: https://blog.brookespublishing.com/6-
benefits-of-teacher-collaboration/

Arns, B., & Thompson, G. A. (2019). Music therapy
teaming and learning: How transdisciplinary
experience shapes practice in a specialist school
for students with autism. Australian Journal of
Music Therapy, 30, 31–52.

Benefits of Collaboration - NEA Today. (2018).
Retrieved from NEA Today website:
http://neatoday.org/new-educators/benefits-of-
collaboration/

Co Teaching Models: Strategies and Planning. (2016,        August 26). Co Teaching Models: Strategies and
Planning. Retrieved February 15, 2020, from
YouTube website: https://youtu.be/BDTrcG4NuZ8

Co-Teaching Part 1. (2011, September 21). Co-
Teaching Part 1. Retrieved February 15, 2020,
from YouTube website:
https://youtu.be/uLvvLc_kZys

Co-Teaching Part 2. (2011, September 21). Co-
Teaching Part 2. Retrieved February 15, 2020,
from YouTube website:
https://youtu.be/qUolkA4U4Ko

Logsdon, A. (2019, June 23). Special Education in
Collaborative Classrooms. Retrieved February 15,
2020, from Verywell Family website:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/special-
education-in-collaborative-classrooms-2162691

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The lead teacher has most of the power in this model and handles most of the instruction, the co-teacher supports instruction by walking around the room to assist students, acts as "a second pair of eyes" in the room

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The lead teacher has most of the power and provides the main instruction in this method. The co-teacher provides separate instruction outside of class to a small group of students who may have missed assignments

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Both teachers are the 'lead' teacher and deliver instruction to separate groups of students. Each teacher is responsible for how they present the lesson/content and can easily group students by ability

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Both teachers are involved in lesson planning and delivering instruction to students. They have equal responsibilities in the classroom, making them viewed equally by students, and requires a sense of trust between them for successful lesson delivery

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This teaching method utilizes small groups. One teacher teaches one subject (Math) and the other teacher teachers a different one (Science) while also providing student-lead stations. This allows content to be taught in smaller groups

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Collaboration: The Required Factors (Co-Teaching Part 2, 2011)

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Collaboration: The Required Factors (Co-Teaching Part 2, 2011)

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1. Equal responsibility of both teachers

Trading off teaching roles to show equal authority

Being able to work with all students & accommodate unique student needs

2. Collaborative Planning

Each teacher takes turns leading lesson planning sessions

Works together to determine who is doing what for each lesson

3. Assessing Students

Both teachers must be able to:

1. Evaluate student outcomes and track their achievement

2. Determine areas where reiterating content is necessary for comprehension

4. Teaming

Working with one or more teachers (team of teachers) to accomplish the same goal

Allows educators to bounce ideas off of one another

Planning pods help spread responsibilities out, relieving the burden on individual teachers and promoting teamwork

5. Knowing Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Helps co-teaching pairs know areas where one excels/has expertise and can offer support to the other teacher

Allows room for both educators to grow and broaden their skills through supporting one another and sharing their unique specialty knowledge

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Co Teaching: How it Can be Utilized in 5 Different Ways

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Co Teaching: How it Can be Utilized in 5 Different Ways

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Co Teaching Models: Strategies and Planning