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My name is Conceição Silva. I'm from the Azores, Portugal.
I have been teaching English for a long time, but I'm always eager to learn more. I'm interested in trying collaborative learning in my classes.
Autumn is a great time for this course. Let's do it!

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Collaborative Teaching and Learning Participant_2nd edition Map

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(Edit) This map shows the location of participants in the Collaborative Teaching and Learning course on the European Schoolnet Academy. Please enter your location on this map and see if there are people close to your location who are also taking this course.

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Collaborative Teaching and Learning - Online course - 2nd edition

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Collaborative Teaching and Learning - Online course - 2nd edition

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As part of the MOOC, participants were encouraged to share their opinion and experience in addition to discussing the various topics and questions presented in the end of each section. They posted the information on online discussion spaces called 'padlets' (www.padlet.com).

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 introduction

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 introduction

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 Introduction

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Selfie

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Learning Objectives The learning objectives for this module are:

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Learning Objectives The learning objectives for this module are:

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Understanding the full meaning of collaborative learning, and that it requires more than simply putting students in groups
Appreciating the key benefits collaborative learning can bring to students and the specific skills it helps develop
Appreciating how collaborative learning can be facilitated by a flexible, interactive classroom, and also through project-based learning
Creating a personal Learning Diary to log learning activities, reflections and resources from the course
Reflecting in your Learning Diary on two learning activities and whether they require a low or high level of collaboration from students

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Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom

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Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M1 Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom

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I am not sure if this is a collaborative experience,  though the students were very committed and everybody had a role. I will describe it briefly:
3 years ago, we were covering the topic "Holidays". I divided the students in groups, told them that they were a family who went on holidays. I gave them a budget and they had to decide where they went, what they did, show photos and tell the class everything about it. They were really excited with their research,  they virtually visited places and museums with google maps, prepared a digital presentation (ppt) and even edited photos, pretending they were driving a Ferrari, for example. This was a highly motivating experience that lasted about 3-4 90 minute lessons.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | Collaborative learning through project-based learning

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University of Minho, Creative Classroom Lab Project

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University of Minho, Creative Classroom Lab Project

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M2 Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M2 The 4 Collaboration Questions

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I found these four questions very useful. As a group, either they succeed or sink together, which is why their decisions, interdependence and responsibility are so decisive for successful collaborative work. I had never asked myself these questions before.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Collaborative learning scenarios

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I think the learning scenarios are interesting and a good way of planning learning activities. I have never used them, although I have implemented the different steps isolatedly and in an unconscious way. I think it will be a bit difficult to start using them, but I'm willing to try.

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2.5 - Learning activity.                                                     Share your description of the two learning activities and their coding with the other participants in the padlet below, and comment on the posts of at least 3 other participants. We suggest that you post a short version of your description with a link to your Learning Diary (full description).

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2.5 - Learning activity.                                                     Share your description of the two learning activities and their coding with the other participants in the padlet below, and comment on the posts of at least 3 other participants. We suggest that you post a short version of your description with a link to your Learning Diary (full description).

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When I think of some activities that I do with my students, I realise that many of them are collaborative work. The example I gave in module 1- a group goes on holiday, where they have a budget to spend on their trip, they must make substantive decisions and decide where they will go, how much they will spend and what to tell about the trip, with a presentation that included role-playing situations created by them, that would be a code 5, I guess.
When I ask them to discuss a situation or comment on a picture in pairs, I think there might be some shared responsibility but not substantive decisions, that might be a code 3.

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3 - Learning objectives

1. Understanding the principles of assessing collaborative learning

2. Identifying the various challenges teachers face in assessing collaborative learning and the tips, tools and solutions available to them

3. Understanding the value of using rubrics and checklists for assessing collaborative learning, and how to construct them

4. Appreciating the importance of involving students in the definition of assessment tools used for collaborative learning

5. Beginning work on one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment using the Learning Designer

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An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning

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An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning

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I have never experienced an etwinnig project or mystery skype althgough I recognize that these kind of projects are crucial to involve the students in collaborative work. However, I think the teachers must be prepared  and have ICT knowledge and work in collaboration with other teachers. Isolation in schools doens't promote that kind of work.
as for the final question, I think the process is more important in collaborative work. If the group doesn´t work properly, they will hardly get any results.

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Assessment for improving collaborative learning

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AnswerGarden " Tools for collaborative learning

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AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic brainstorm tool for online brainstorming, real time audience participation and classroom feedback.

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M3 Assessing students’ collaborative learning

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A sports teacher's experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning

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A sports teacher's experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning

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I think this kind of assessment is as complete as possible: individual, peer assessment and group functionality. Maybe they are too young, it depends on the simplicity of the evaluation, which, in this case I think it was adequate. Anyway, children are usually honest and fair to one another.

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Assessment, in general, is not easy and has been a controversial issue. I have never assessed collaborative work, but have assessed group work and implemented self-evaluation. Usually, the students are fair when evaluating themselves or their schoolmates and I don't think it enhances competition. In the summative assessment, I try to take group work into account, by giving a mark to the work and putting it in the final assessment grid. As I said, it is not an easy task.

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Have you ever used existing rubrics and checklists to assess collaborative work? 

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Have you ever used existing rubrics and checklists to assess collaborative work? 

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I have sometimes used rubricks and checklists especially for self-evaluation in group work.  We (sts and tchr) also discuss which criteria should be used to assess students' work

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Collaborative learning - What to assess and how?

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Expert answers to teachers’ questions on assessment

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Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

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Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning

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I agree with Professor Valente and I think it is very important that the students stop looking at the teacher as the owner of the truth, which still happens somehow. Self and peer assessment are a great contribution to students' responsibility, sense of justice and autonomy.
In my opinion, a percentage should be given to individual assessment within the group.

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Listen to my interview with Michael Linsin ( transcript):

Sponsored by Write About and Peergrade
In my first few years of teaching, student talking was like popcorn.
I gave the class instructions for some kind of work; let's say journal writing. And for a few seconds, they did it. Things were quiet. Then, like that first kernel of popcorn, one student said she didn't know what to write, so I walked over to her desk to help her. While we talked, two more raised their hands-two more pops-and said they were stuck, too. I signaled to them that I'd be over in a minute, but in the meantime, someone else was closing his journal, finished already. Another pop. The two who were stuck asked him what he wrote about.

The room needs to stay quiet so we can concentrate, I told them.

Someone else had a question. Another pop. I squatted by her desk, and behind me, a conversation started between two others. Pop pop. Another journal closed while a different hand went up.

Okay people, I said, this time louder. Let's keep it down. And with rascally smiles, they turned back to their journals to pretend to write some more. At this point, it had turned into a game.

Someone needed to sharpen their pencil. Pop. Someone else decided to race them over to the sharpener. Pop. In a matter of seconds, the whole room had erupted, a huge hysterical bowl of popcorn, exploding all around me, and I couldn't find my way out.

And then I yelled.

If this sounds anything like you, you're not alone. I hear it from teachers all the time. One of the things they don't teach us in our education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down in order to get anything accomplished.

To find solutions to this problem, I went to Michael Linsin, the creator of Smart Classroom Management and my go-to person for all classroom management needs. Last year, he taught us how to set up a clear, simple classroom management plan. Now he's going to help us understand the causes of excessive talking, what you should be able to realistically expect from students, and how you can fix the problem.

First, two quick caveats.

One: I believe students need to talk. People need to talk. So if you're shooting for a classroom environment where students sit silently and do rote seat work all day long, where they never have an opportunity to talk to their peers, where they never get out of their seats, and where the work is not engaging, you are going to have problems.

Two: A big part of good classroom management is building good relationships with your students. If you haven't taken the time to get to know them as individuals, if you mispronounce their names, if you regularly use sarcasm or make them feel stupid for asking questions, then they aren't going to want to behave well for you. And that's a different problem.

So this post is based on the assumption that you're planning engaging lessons and you have a decent relationship with your students. Without those two, these solutions might kind of work, but you're still probably not going to love your job.

Why It's Happening

Before you can solve this problem, you have to understand its cause. According to Linsin, excessive talking-talking that occurs during independent work time or direct instruction-happens for two reasons.

Reason 1: They don't believe you mean it.

Despite the fact that you specifically tell students not to talk, deep down they don't believe you mean it. "Or they don't care," Linsin says.

"At some point," he explains, "Your authority has faded. If you're able to teach to a quiet classroom in the beginning of the year and now you're not able to, or if it happened right off the bat, then somehow at some point, the students' respect for you and for the process, for the classroom, and your authority has faded."

So even if they hear you, even if they understand that you want quiet at a certain time, they don't believe anything negative will happen if they ignore your request. If they come to you with this behavior, it's likely that it has just been part of their conditioning.

"Because so many teachers struggle with this problem," Linsin explains, "many after a while kind of throw up their hands and just decide they're going to talk over students, they're going to do their best to keep things as quiet as possible during independent work time, so the students come to you (from) classrooms where the teacher asked them to be quiet but doesn't really follow up on it."

Reason 2: They don't understand what "no talking" means.

This one is going to be harder for teachers to believe, but bear with us here: "No talking" may not mean exactly the same thing in different contexts, and if your students are talking more than you want them to, there's a good chance you're working with different definitions.

"When they come to your classroom," Linsin explains, "and they've had teacher after teacher say the same thing, yet continue to allow it to happen in the classroom, then students think, Well, he or she just means we need to kind of keep our voices down, or We're mostly quiet, but if we have important things to say to a neighbor, then we're allowed to do that. And so they're confused as to what the definition of 'quiet' really is."

In many cases, Linsin notes, the problem is likely being caused by a combination of both of these reasons. But notice that neither reason is a blanket statement about students being disrespectful. This is why I like Linsin's approach: He puts control for classroom management in the teacher's hands, rather than placing blame on the student. That's not to say that you won't have disrespectful students, but shifting the blame to them means you have no power over the situation. Blaming the students simply isn't a useful way to address the problem.

"When students are not doing something that you've previously taught them how to do," Linsin says, "whether it's talking or entering the classroom, and they don't do it well, even though the students are responsible for their behavior, when most of the class is not doing what you ask, it's on you. It's about you. There's some disconnect there, there's something they're not understanding."

What You Should Be Able to Expect

Some teachers might wonder whether it's reasonable to expect students to be quiet at all, especially if they are younger. Linsin says yes without hesitation. "You should absolutely expect, no matter where you're teaching or what grade level, that the students are able to sit quietly while you're giving instruction or directions, and they should be able to sit quietly and work during independent work times."

Should there also be times when talking is permitted? "Absolutely," Linsin says. "It's really important to give students an opportunity to express themselves, to get up and move around, to work in groups and pairs and discuss. Classrooms should be vibrant and interesting, exciting places, and so I'm all for getting students up and moving and having fun. Those things just make classroom management stronger, and they free you to ask anything of your students, including silence."

The Solution

If you came here looking for a few tricks to end excessive talking, the bad news is that you won't find anything clever or earth-shattering. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple, and it requires no behavior charts, tokens, or Jolly Ranchers.

Step 1: Define expectations in explicit detail.

"The fix," Linsin says, "is to define, in detail, exactly what you want during independent work time and when you're teaching a directed lesson."

If you believe you've already done this, and it hasn't worked, the issue is probably lack of detail in your explanation. Linsin says you need to go far deeper than what most teachers probably do.

"So you may bring a desk or a table up in front of your classroom, sit down, and pretend to be a student. You may have other students acting as models also. Show students how you expect them to behave while you're giving instruction, and then how you expect them to behave when they're doing independent work."

"It's also important to include what not to do," he adds. "So you'll model those exact behaviors that you're seeing, those exact talking behaviors, whether it's side-talking or standing up and whispering to someone, or whatever your classroom looks like. Even if it's chaotic, whatever that chaos looks like exactly, you want the students to be able to see themselves in your modeling and what isn't okay."

Step 2: Have students practice.

Once you've modeled the desired behavior, have students practice it, just like you'd have them practice any skill you're teaching.

Linsin gives an example of what this might look like. You'd start by saying, "'I'm going to give you 60 seconds, and I want you to show me what good listening looks like, and no talking. So let's pretend I'm standing and giving you a lesson. I want to know what that looks like.' And then you'll stand and maybe you'll cross your arms and put your hand under your chin, and you'll watch them."

Keep this instruction light, he says. Keep it fun. "You'll stare at them and you'll walk around the room, and you'll watch one of them, and you'll nod your head and say, 'Mmhmm, okay, that looks good. Mmhmm. Chin up a little higher!' It's okay to have fun with it. None of this is a punishment. It's just good teaching. Whether you're teaching how to find a topic sentence or how you want your students to line up before recess, it's all teaching. So it's okay to have fun with it. It's okay for them to laugh at some of the things you say or to see themselves in the behaviors, which they love, by the way, especially if you exaggerate it and have some fun with it."

The Sign Strategy: Students are often put in an awkward position when a classmate tries to talk to them during these quiet times. They want to follow your guidelines, but they also don't want to be rude to a classmate. Agree on some kind of physical sign they can give each other at these times. "It can be a scissors or peace sign or whatever's culturally acceptable wherever you teach. And all they do is just hold the sign up, and the sign means, 'I'm really sorry, but I have to listen to the lesson,' or 'I'm really sorry, but I have to do my work.' And you can tell them that if they give the sign and that student who sees the sign turns and gets back to work, you will not enforce a consequence, because they're showing responsible behavior."

Step 3: Teach the consequences.

"Walk them through the exact steps that would happen if they turn and talk to a neighbor, for example," Linsin says. "The exact steps a misbehaving student would take from your initial warning to contacting parents or whatever your consequences look like."

In order to do this, you have to know what your consequences are. Spend some time making sure you're clear on that. If you need help, read our post on creating a classroom management plan.

Step 4: Do it for real.

Once students have been taught your expectations and have practiced exactly what they look like, it's time to apply it in a real lesson. "Have a directed lesson ready," Linsin advises, "to have them prove to you they can do it in practice."

If you've taught the expectations in detail, students should do a good job, but if they don't, you need to enforce your consequences exactly as you described. "You almost hope during that first wonderful lesson, that one student maybe turns, and so the class can see that you're holding them accountable."

If enforcing your consequences is difficult for you-and for many teachers, it will be-read Linsin's post on why teachers struggle to consistently enforce consequences.

Step 5: Continue to define expectations in small chunks.

This last step is crucial. From this point forward, keep telling students what is expected of them before every switch in classroom activity. When you are about to do group work, let students know that talking within the group is okay. If you then switch to independent work, remind them that absolute quiet will be expected. Briefly describe what that will look like, even spelling out what not to do if that fits the activity.

Taking time to do this might seem unnecessary, but being clear ahead of time will prevent problems. "Anytime you can give a reminder before misbehavior," Linsin says, "it's a good thing. Anytime you give a reminder after you see misbehavior, it's a bad thing. You should be holding students accountable, but be preemptive whenever you can."

Learn More from Michael Linsin
The Happy Teacher Habits
(Links to this book are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I get a small commission on purchases you make through my links at no additional cost to you.)

There's more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

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What they don't teach us in education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. Help is on the way.

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Question of the Week#3Dear teachers,How is this module going?As for today, we would like to reflect about the following question:What do you find challenging about getting students to collaborate effectively, and how have you resolved these issues? Please share your answers as a reply in this thread.Thanks to all!

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Question of the Week#3Dear teachers,How is this module going?As for today, we would like to reflect about the following question:What do you find challenging about getting students to collaborate effectively, and how have you resolved these issues? Please share your answers as a reply in this thread.Thanks to all!

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I am having some difficulties with this module, especially with learning designer. I haven´t had much time to read the documents and explore learning designer. Can I finish this module later, next week? I would,t like to give up. Most of the things are new to me and I feel I have a lot of things I should change in my daily practice. Thanks!

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Question of the Week#3 How is this module going?What do you find challenging about getting students to collaborate effectively, and how have you resolved these issues? 

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Question of the Week#3 How is this module going?What do you find challenging about getting students to collaborate effectively, and how have you resolved these issues? 

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I am having some difficulties with this module, especially with learning designer. I haven´t had much time to read the documents and explore learning designer. Can I finish this module later, next week? I would,t like to give up. Most of the things are new to me and I feel I have a lot of things I should change in my daily practice. Thanks!

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Sudents will work individually to match pictures with vocabulary related to sports. Then check with a partner before sharing with the class. They will then listen to the solution and check their work. They will use the textbook.

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3 - Learning objectives

1. Appreciating the benefits of teacher collaboration and how best to take advantage of them, as well as the challenges involved, and tips and tools for overcoming them

2. Understanding the skills needed by teachers for effective collaboration, as well as the conditions needed at the school level for teacher collaboration to flourish

3. Understanding how technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

4. Using the Learning Designer to finalise the development of one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, along with elements of teacher collaboration

5. Peer-reviewing the collaborative learning lesson plans of two other course participants

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M4 Introduction

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4.2 A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

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4.2 A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration

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Collaborative teaching & learning | M4 A teacher trainer & language teacher’s experience

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4.2- I have used dropbox with my colleagues to share docs. I collaborated with other teacher in ePals plattform and my students corresponded by snail mail with students from other countries. We also did a Christmas card exchange with 30 countries. It was a very good experience.
I would also like to do a mystery skype, which I find a very good way of communication for the students. The problem is that the internet connection is not good in my school.

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Questions to ask Professor Valente 25th Oct.

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Questions to ask Professor Valente 25th Oct.

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LearningApps - interactive and multimedia learning blocks

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LearningApps - interactive and multimedia learning blocks

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Revision (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Future Simple)

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Match the tenses and the sentences (Соllega le frasi)

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4.3 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

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4.3 The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

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Collaborative teaching and learning | The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration

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I entirely agree with what was said in the video. The school environment also improves when there's collaboration among teachers. In my school, I am alone, there are only two classes of each school year, or one in the secondary level. Nevertheless, we exchange experiences and ideas, but not in a large scale. Some teachers (very few) are more open to new methods and technologies, so we send emails or meet informally at school. This course is a great way of collaborating and reflection.

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4.4 Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

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4.4 Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

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Collaborative teaching and learning | Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration

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I think collaboration involves willingness to cooperate with others, independently from their personal traits or position in schools. The school administration wants us to collaborate and teachers even have a common free afternoon that was created for that purpose. However, either we have useless department meetings or each of us goes home. As I said before, only a tiny number of teachers are open to novelties. So, I don't see how we could help them see the advantages of working together.

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4.5 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

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4.5 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M4 How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration

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I only use dropbox and email to communicate with my colleagues. We exchange documents, change them or give our opinion. That's essentially it. Sometimes, when one of us finds a new webtool, we try it together to see if it works.

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4.6 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

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4.6 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

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Collaborative teaching and learning | M4 Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration

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In my school, as we all have the same free afternoon, it wouldn't be difficult to work together. To work collaboratively would be more difficult because teachers aren't used to working like that.
It has already happened to occasionally work  with science or history teachers, but I wouldn't call that collaborative work.

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4.7 Module 4 Final Learning Activity

Lesson plan and submission

The final learning activity requires you to create and submit a lesson plan and to peer-review other participants' lesson plans. In order for you to receive the Course Badge and the final Digital Certificate, you need to complete both of these tasks.

In order to receive the course certificate, you need to submit your Lesson Plan in this section by 30 October 2017 23:59h CET and to review two Lesson Plans by 8th November 2017 23:59h CET.

1 - Final activity - Part 2 - Finalise your lesson plan

In Module 3, you started working on creating one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment. To complete the course, you now have to finalise your lesson plan.

How to create your lesson plan

1. To design your lesson plan, please use the Learning Designer. More information on how to set up and use the Learning Designer in Course Introduction - C.

2. Download and revise the 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics, the Learning Scenarios and the examples of lesson plans by previous participants in Module 2.6.

3. For the Assessment activities, download and revise the CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom in Module 3.8.

4. Read and follow the guidelines for designing a lesson plan implementing collaborative learning from Module 3.7. You should consider the guidelines when creating your lesson plan and when peer-reviewing the lesson plans of two other course participants (Final activity - Part 2).

5. Please create your lesson plan in English.

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This article on questions to consider before co-teaching is Part 10 of the Collaboration for ELLs Series .

The first EAL (English as an Additional Language) team meeting we had after last year's summer break was to set goals for the department. One of my colleagues said, "I want to research better program models for ELs... I feel like an overpaid aide. I sit in the back of the room and take notes. It's a waste of my time and not effective for the ELs."

After listening to his frustrations, I wanted to know how he used his co-planning time with the content teachers. When I co-teach in content classes, my teaching comes directly from our co-planning sessions. I see effective co-teaching as the fruit of productive co-planning.
But how can others know what questions to ask during co-planning to set up effective co-teaching?
The answer is two-fold:

1. Keep a good set of guiding questions in mind during co-planning and

2. Ask additional questions that fit the co-teaching model you'd like to use.

Guiding Questions
Sample Guiding Questions

1. What's the content that we want to teach?

2. How will we structure the lessons?

3. What are the language demands in the lesson?

4. Who's learning what, with whom, and when?

4 Things that Guiding Questions Help Teachers Determine
Use We-Focused Language

These questions are for both the content and English language teacher (ELT) to answer. Instead of Question # 2 asking, "How does the content teacher want the lesson to be structured?", it uses "we"-focused language to communicate a more collaborative approach where ELT can contribute to the lesson design.

Take Language Into Consideration

Notice how the sample questions above force teachers to consider language during co-planning. They help both teachers reflect on the texts during instruction and encourage conversations about:

1. the content-specific language demands, and

2. how will students be taught to use content-specific language.

Define Roles Based on Expertise

Lastly, these questions define the role of each teacher based on their area of expertise but recognize that you should be working with and for all students. As native-English speakers still need scaffolding to access content and communicate their understanding, the ELT should still work with them to make academic language visible. Additionally, the content teacher should learn strategies to deliver content to ELs.

Model-Specific Questions

The infographic provides a few more questions to ask during co-planning based on the co-teaching style. It's not an exhaustive list, but just a collection of some questions to consider when collaborating. I will explain these particular styles of co-teaching more in a later article.

Co-Teaching is Directly Linked to Co-Planning

I bet you're thinking: "Why are you sharing co-planning questions in an article about co-teaching?" Because co-teaching is directly linked to co-planning. Otherwise, the ELT becomes exactly like my colleague - an overpaid teacher's aide. If co-planning is collaborative, then we will rarely see ELTs sitting in the back of the room taking notes.

The running theme among these guiding questions is collaboration. Content and ELTs each contribute from their area of expertise. The content teacher sets the context for learning, and the ELT brings an awareness and focus on making academic language accessible. These questions help guide their collaboration when co-teaching and maximize learning.

What are some questions you find helpful to ask during co-planning sessions?
Next Post
Now that we know how to ask specific questions during co-planning to inform our co-teaching, the next post will describe the indicators of effective co-teaching. There are three categories of indicators, and together, they support teachers in evaluating their co-teaching.

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#53. Questions that Drive Co-Teaching - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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What questions should you ask before co-teaching with content teachers? Ones that inform collaborative teaching and bring language into focus.

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"describing people and clothes": Connect Fours Revision Quiz

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After arranging all 4 groups (or when time runs out) the correct groups are shown. You can earn 1 point per group for identifying the connection between them. If you spot all 4 groups and all 4 connections, you gain a 2-point bonus (a total of 10 points).

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This article on indicators of effective co-teaching is Part 11 of the Collaborating for ELLs Series .

Lately, I've noticed an increasing number of people using wearable technology such as the iWatch. People who own iWatches talk about how it measures key health indicators: heart rate, steps walked, and hours slept. These indicators help us determine if we've been too stationary or haven't slept enough. We can then take actions to change our behaviors so that we can become healthy again.

This analogy also works for co-teaching. Unfortunately, there's no wearable device to monitor how well you're co-teaching, but there are clear indicators of effective co-teaching between the content teacher and the English language teacher(ELT). We can use these indicators to measure the degree to which the co-teaching is asset-based, meaning that the expertise of both teachers are being capitalized.

Indicators of Effective Co-Teaching

I organized these indicators into three groups: student-facing, content-facing, and classroom-facing. Student-facing means how teachers work with students. Content-facing indicators are ones that address how teachers led instruction. Finally, classroom-facing means how both teachers use the physical space they share.

Student-facing

Both teachers are expected to work with all students.

Students seek help from both teachers based on content or language needs.

Students respect both teachers equally and follow the instructions of both educators.

When Ms. C, a science teacher is absent, we've agreed that she doesn't need to call a substitute. Because we've already planned our lessons together, she sees me as truly another teacher and has me lead instruction instead. Because of her attitude, students are used to this arrangement and also see me simply as one of their teachers, not strictly a remedial one.

Content-facing

Both educators led instruction. The content educator teaches nuances of the content; the ELT teaches strategies to access the content.

Both educators assess students and provide feedback. The content teacher assesses content knowledge; the ELT assesses use of academic language.

Both educators differentiate content, process, and product based on students' needs and interests.

In Mr. Arno's science class, students often come and ask me for help writing their lab reports because I've led several sessions on writing like a scientist. Though I am officially responsible for the ELs, I make myself available to support everyone through the writing process.

Resource-facing

Both educators share the same space and resources.

Both schedules are aligned to allow time for co-planning and co-teaching.

Both teachers can arrange the class into small groups, stations, or whole class.

In one example, Mr. Duncan wanted students to present one-by-one. This was a time-consuming structure, so I recommended that we have students simultaneously present in small groups. Mr. Duncan gave me full control of how I wanted to arrange the students around the classroom. He didn't feel like I was invading his space because we were co-teaching using the same classroom.

Takeaways

The running theme in these indicators of co-teaching is collaboration. When students see that the content teacher and the ELT are working in tandem, they begin to see that both teachers are valuable and both play a distinctive role in students' development based on the teacher's area of expertise.

We could also substitute the word "equality" for "inclusion" when thinking about co-teaching. The content teachers need to be included as a positive contributor to class and allowed to assume an expanding role in leading instruction.
Next Post
Now that we have a list of indicators of effective co-teaching, we can extend these indicators into evaluation of our collaboration in terms of co-teaching and co-planning. In next's week post, I'll share ways to evaluate one's collaboration formally or informally through self-evaluation.

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#54. Evaluating Co-Teaching: 3 Indicators of Effective Co-Teaching - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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This article on indicators of effective co-teaching is Part 11 of the Collaborating for ELLs Series . Lately, I've noticed an increasing number of people using wearable technology such as the iWatch. People who own iWatches talk about how it measures key health indicators: heart rate, steps walked, and hours slept.

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I am a teacher of English and my lesson plan is to be used with 8 graders (23-14 years old). My school doesn’t have much technological equipment, only a computer with internet connection, wi-fi and a projector in some classes. As such, I use the textbook and the media I have in the classroom. When students have to do research work, I can take them to the library, where there are 8 computers.

Here is my ling to my learning designer lesson:

https://v.gd/uxWrvu