Each classroom has four teachers that are present in class at all times. Two homeroom teachers (One English and one Chinese), a teachers assistant (a Chinese teacher who speaks English and mandarin) and a Life teacher.

The class day is divided into two duties (morning and afternoon), with the homeroom teachers alternating. The TA and LT are on duty during both periods. All classroom design, parent management and behavioural structures are handled as a single unit between the HT's and TA, with the LT taking responsibility for students' well-being. Our LT's cover food, dressing, hygiene and health needs (for example, a nose bleed has the LT take charge of the student, and she'll take them to the nurse if needed).

When an HT is off duty, they are still present in class at their desk doing paperwork. This divides the workload between all teachers, meaning the students have access to a teacher quite easily if they require it. I always explain to new teachers that off-duty doesn't mean you have no work. It just means you aren't the primary teacher at the minute. If your students or fellow teachers need help, you need to be available.

The TA is responsible for assisting the HT's in any way possible, each HT has their teaching methods and requirements, so this role may vary.

At the grade level, we have bi-weekly meetings about curriculum progress, behaviour and additional content. In these meetings, we share ideas that worked, discuss approaches that could be changed and in a straightforward way, share experience to improve the students learning experience. 

Additionally, we also do class observations monthly for each class. The aim is to have teachers experience other teachers teaching methods and styles. Seeing the approach taken by a peer often helps teachers find new instructional practices or see behavioural management systems in action. This is especially helpful for our first-time teachers, as we often get "fresh off the boat" teachers who have little to no experience and find themselves overwhelmed. 

As above, we have monthly meetings with all teachers to discuss curriculum progress, new ideas and effective strategies implemented during a month. These meetings often include training for a specific topic presented by one of the teachers, which we then discuss and expand upon. Last month's meeting had training by our drama teacher; she covered how she uses drama to teach reading—introducing concepts like roleplay, acting out, and retelling. These pieces of training often include TPR based games, structures for language content or behavioural tips that teachers have found effective. They also create a dialogue where teachers have their methods questioned, which helps them improve their plan during the meeting.

Without collaboration, many of the systems that make my school function at the level it does would not work. Many new teachers rely on these practices to supplement their understanding, and our older teachers use them to avoid relying on outdated methods.

Our students always have four pairs of eyes on them, with teachers in the classroom can rely on their immediate peers in any situation.

Co-teaching partnerships require educators to make joint instructional decisions and share responsibility and accountability for student learning (USOE Co-Teaching Guide).

Pros of One-Teacher, One-Assist Model:

Cons of One-Teacher, One-Assist Model:

In order to make this model successful, the general education teacher and specialist should review the material so they are both knowledgeable.  Though, in this model, the teacher that is most familiar with the material will usually take the lead on the lesson.  Leaving the second teacher to assist and manage behavior throughout the lesson.  

Below is a video that provides a little more insight on what the model would look like within the classroom.

Time:
Time must be intentionally set aside on a regular basis to allow for reflection, collaboration, brainstorming, and the opportunity to listen to one another. I find this comes down to the teaching team prioritizing collaboration. If they have a scheduled meeting once a week, for example, it will be worked into their practice.

Communication:
Having an open mind to diverse ways of thinking and having a positive attitude will make all members of the team feel more equal. I find that honest communication between group members creates feelings of trust.

Sharing of Expertise:
Each member of the collaboration comes with their own specialities and experiences. Sharing of this knowledge enhance's each individuals ability to support student learning in all areas. Circulation of information can come in the form of sharing plans, planning together, and sharing multiple resources. I have learned so much from watching co-teachers in their area of expertise. It has strengthened my visual art teaching practice, for example, to incorporate kinaesthetic elements into my lessons which I have learned from co-teachers who specialize in theater. This allows for  diverse ways for students to show what they know, which offers UDL strategies as well.

Professional Development:
By giving teaching the support they need, they will feel more comfortable and more willing to participate in the collaborative environment. Ideally, schools would provide funding for this on a regular basis. Various departments would benefit from not being so isolated, but rather creating courses that incorporate multidisciplinary material like STEAM.

Administration:
All of this must be prioritised by a school’s leadership. Principals who favour inclusion, prioritise students with disabilities, and offer support to their teaching staff generally promote more motivation among teaching teams. They must designate time in the school schedule for this.

Parental Involvement:
A parent’s knowledge of their child’s likes, dislikes and behaviours outside of class can be of great value. They also play a critical role in support and behaviour plans. Creating consistency between supports at home and in the classroom make for stronger student outcomes. 

Parallel teaching works well to differentiate instruction when the content being taught is particularly challenging. Students can benefit from learning difficult material in a smaller group. 

·       Provides both teachers with an active instructional role

·       Lowers the student-teacher ratio and reduces the load of teaching a large class

·       Allows for small group instruction, which can be especially helpful for students who learn and think differently

·       Gives students the chance to ask more questions during lesson time 

·       Provides a chance for students to work in heterogeneous groups (made up of varying abilities instead of groups of students with similar strengths and challenges)

·       Keeps the academic rigor of a demanding lesson, but splits the responsibility between both teachers

 

Challenges: 

·      Requires both teachers have strong knowledge of the content so students will learn the same thing

·      Can be challenging to control for noise, distraction, and space when working in the same classroom

·      Requires careful timing to make sure both teachers end the lesson at the same time

 

Teachers use this technique when both teachers have content expertise and there’s a lot of information to be covered. 

 

 

-       Station teaching:  

The class is divided into three or more groups and the classroom has multiple learning centers. As the students rotate through the stations, the teachers teach the same material in different ways to each group. 

Both you and your co-teacher are responsible for planning and teaching an in-depth concept that helps meet the overall lesson goal. 

 

What a station teaching looks like stations are set up in various areas of the classroom one for each teacher and with one independent student work. 

 

·      Provides both teachers with an active instructional role

·      Allows teachers to use flexible grouping to tailor teaching to each groups’ needs

·      Lowers the student-teacher ratio

·      Resets student focus with each station rotation, increasing engagement

·      Provides time for students to engage with the content on their own as well as with teachers

·      Supports a UDL approach to teaching

·      Allows for more material to be covered in a shorter time frame

·      Provides a clear teaching responsibility for each adult in the room

 

 

·      Requires significant planning for teaching and material preparation

·      Students may not get to all of the stations if they’re not moving at the same pace

·      May be noisy and distracting for some students

·      Requires pre-teaching around expectations for independent work time

This teaching technique varies with depths of knowledge on a topic and the students would benefit from differentiated instruction. 

I think the collaboration between both teachers are really important, because student who are at average learning speed can be introduced to techniques which they might like but aren’t introduced since they aren’t special needs. I think different approaches to education need to be normalized such as having more than 1 teacher in the classroom. 

 

Teachers can collaborate and create a setting in which the students feel like they are learning in a fun way as well as being introduced to different points of view. 

 These are some techniques which educators can use in class:

When teachers take turns teaching the class, team teaching can also be called “tag team teaching” this is when both teachers act like they are doing a presentation together. You don’t plan what you say but you divide the lesson up, and when one of you makes a point the other can jump in with another point, Making teaching collaborative. 

 

-       Provides both teachers with an active instructional role

-       Introduces students to complementary teaching styles and personalities

-       Allows for lessons to be presented by two different people with different teaching styles

-       Models for students what a successful collaborative working relationship can look like

-       Provides more opportunities to pursue teachable moments that may arise

 

-       Takes time and trust for teachers to build a working relationship that values each teacher equally in the classroom

-       Necessitates a lot of planning time and coordination of schedules 

-       Requires teachers to have equal involvement not just in planning, but also in grading, which means assignments need to be evaluated using a rubric or other non-subjective methods

 

-       When all the students can benefit from the multiple strategies and having access to more than one teacher for more than one perspective.

-       Station teaching:  

The class is divided into three or more groups and the classroom has multiple learning centers. As the students rotate through the stations, the teachers teach the same material in different ways to each group. 

Both you and your co-teacher are responsible for planning and teaching an in-depth concept that helps meet the overall lesson goal. 

 

What a station teaching looks like stations are set up in various areas of the classroom one for each teacher and with one independent student work. 

 

·      Provides both teachers with an active instructional role

·      Allows teachers to use flexible grouping to tailor teaching to each groups’ needs

·      Lowers the student-teacher ratio

·      Resets student focus with each station rotation, increasing engagement

·      Provides time for students to engage with the content on their own as well as with teachers

·      Supports a UDL approach to teaching

·      Allows for more material to be covered in a shorter time frame

·      Provides a clear teaching responsibility for each adult in the room

·      Requires significant planning for teaching and material preparation

·      Students may not get to all of the stations if they’re not moving at the same pace

·      May be noisy and distracting for some students

·      Requires pre-teaching around expectations for independent work time

This teaching technique varies with depths of knowledge on a topic and the students would benefit from differentiated instruction. 

 

one teacher instructs most of the class and the other teacher teaches an alternate or modified version of the lesson to a smaller group of students. Alternative teaching is also sometimes described as “big group/small group” teaching.

 

The classroom would look like one teacher is at the front of the room or roaming providing large group instruction, while the other teacher works with a small group of students in a different space.

 

Benefits:

·      Provides both teachers with an active instructional role

·      Allows for a lower student-teacher ratio 

·      Provides additional support to struggling students without specifically singling them out 

·      Gives a chance to re-teach, review, and pre-teach 

·      Allows for intervention as well as enrichment opportunities

·      Let’s teachers use flexible groups

 

Challenges: 

·      Requires strong data collection in order to group students appropriately

·      May make students feel self-conscious, especially if they’re often in the small group

·      Can be challenging to control for noise, distraction, and enough space when working in the same classroom

·      Needs careful planning to make sure students don’t miss material being taught to the large group

When there is a small group of students who need pre or re teaching of skills or content or who would benefit from enrichment on the topic. 

 understood.com. (n.d.). Understood.Com. Retrieved July 1, 2021, from https://www.understood.org/articles/en/6-models-of-co-teaching

 

Benefits for Students with Disabilities 

Challenges:  

I originally used this teaching style with my co teacher during our play based centers time, we had 5 different tables, three independent tables and two with an adult. We used a timer that alerted us when to switch and had a "freeze" in place system with students as well as a rotation chart to help students during transition. After some time of using this during centers we began to use it in our math class, following the same system. It was particularly helpful for our students for differentiation purposes, as we had some students that were very high in math and needed more of a challenge. Overall I saw how it benefited students academically and socially, while also helping my co teacher and I be on the same page and both playing an active role in the student learning and engagement.