1 reading instruction and co-teaching: how general and special educators can work together colleen...
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Reading Instruction and Co-teaching: How General and Special Educators Can
Work Together
Colleen Klein Reutebuch, PhD
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THINK ABOUT THIS
Currently, more instruction for students with disabilities is taking place through general education settings
Polloway, E. A., Patton, J. R., & Serna, L. (2007). Strategies for teaching students with special needs. New Jersey: Pearson.
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• Expectations associated with full inclusion, NCLB, RTI, and standards based education continue
• Increased diversity in today’s classrooms
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COOPERATIVE OR CO-TEACHING
• Has emerged as an effective way to facilitate the inclusion of students with diverse needs and occurs when two or more educators (general and special educator or other specialist) share the instruction for students in a classroom Friend, M., & Cook, L. (2003). Interactions: Collaboration skills for school professionals
(5th Ed.). Boston: Pearson.
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WHAT IS EMPHASIZED?
• Cooperative planning, instructing, and evaluating
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WHAT IS REQUIRED?
• Administrative support• Professional development and training• Adequate planning time• A willingness and comfort level to work
with a colleague in the classroom• Ongoing communication• Parity • Trust• Flexibility
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WHAT IS THE BENEFIT?
In a three-year study of effective co-teaching teams, general and special educator teachers reported:
1. Academic and social gains for students with disabilities
2. Opportunities for professional growth3. Professional satisfaction4. Personal support
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WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL FEATURES OF READING INSTRUCTION DURING
CO-TEACHING?
1. Instructional materials2. Delivery of instruction3. Instructional grouping4. Student progress monitoring
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WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF CO-TEACHING DURING READING
INSTRUCTION?
1. Establishing a co-teaching relationship
2. Identifying individual students’ needs
3. Planning for instruction4. Monitoring students’ progress
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1. Establishing a co-teaching relationship
EntryCreate the co-teaching team
Negotiation
Establishing co-teaching goals, expectations, and roles
Setting DemandsDevelop a shared understanding of classroom expectations and
student needs’
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2. Identifying individual students’ needs
Both teachers should get to know and understand all students in the classroom, not just those with special needs
Understanding the students’ strengths and weaknesses
Read and discuss IEPs for students with disabilities Develop student goals for accessing the general
education curriculum Discuss potential problems and possible solutions before
they arise in the class
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3. Planning for instruction
• Finding time to planCo-planning is most effective when teachers have a designated time to plan
• Co-teaching models
Model A: One groupModel B: Two heterogeneous groupsModel C: Two homogeneous groupsModel D: Multiple groupsModel E: Whole class
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Model A: One groupOne lead teacher
One teacher “teaching on purpose”
Student grouping: whole class
“Teaching on purpose” is giving short lessons to individuals in pairs, or small groups of students during or as follow-up to whole group instruction
1-2 minute purpose: Approach students after instruction to follow-up on key ideas or concepts, encourage participation, answer questions, check for understanding or review directions
5-minute purpose: Review concepts and vocabulary or check for understanding
10-12 minute purpose: Provide a mini-lesson on a skill that is related to the main lesson (e.g., how to find the main idea). This format is often used to teach explicitly a reading skill such as learning the sound of letters and blending the sounds together to make words.
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Model B: Two heterogeneous groupsTwo teachers teach same content
Student grouping: two large groups
This method is often used as a follow-up to Model A. In Model B, the class is divided into two heterogeneous groups with each teacher instructing one group.
The purpose of this co-teaching model is to provide a large number of opportunities for students to participate and interact with one another to have their responses and knowledge monitored by the teacher.
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Model C: Two homogeneous groupsTeachers teach different content
Student grouping: two same-ability groups
Students are divided into two groups, based on their skill level in the topic area. One teacher re-teaches while the other teacher provides alternative information or extension activities to the second group
Students’ skill levels for the specific content to be taught, not overall reading ability, is the criterion for group membership.
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Model D: Multiple groupsTeachers monitor/teach
Student grouping: groups may be homogeneous or heterogeneous
Model D is often used during cooperative learning activities, reading groups, and in learning centers. Students may move between workstations or may be assigned to work in specific areas.
This model is often used during reading to provide intensive small-group instruction for students with disabilities or other special concerns.
Several small groups work on a variety of literacy activities while the remaining groups work on activities to improve special reading skills.
Teachers monitor progress and provide mini-lessons to individuals, pairs, or small groups of students.
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Model E: Whole classTwo teachers teach together
Student grouping: Whole class
Model D is the most difficult model of co-teaching. Co-teachers may want to try this model once they have experience working together and feel comfortable with each other’s teaching styles.
In this model, teachers work cooperatively to teach a lesson. One teacher may lead the whole class lesson while the other teacher interjects with elaborations, comments, and questions to clarify material.
Often the general education teacher provides curriculum materials while the special education teacher adds strategies to help students with disabilities remember key ideas and organize information.
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4. Monitoring students’ progress
Purpose: To determine how student are performing and to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction and intervention techniques
Students whose teachers collect and record data and use the data to make instructional decisions show more academic progress than students whose teachers do not follow these progress monitoring procedures. Fuchs, L.S. (1986). Monitoring progress among mildly handicapped pupils:
Review of current practice and research. Remedial and Special Education 65(3), 5-12.
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4. Monitoring students’ progress
Use of data: If students are failing to proceed at an adequate rate then
1. Increase the intensity of instruction by spending more time providing explicit instruction
2. Decrease the group size3. Change the materials or instructional
method
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
1. Find time to plan
• 45 minutes a week is optimal
“It really
comes down to
planning.
We didn’t have tim
e to disc
uss the
curriculum so
we never new until
the middle of a lesson that w
e had a
different id
ea of what w
as best f
or
the students.
Now that w
e plan
together, we are b
etter able to
coordinate instru
ction.”
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
2. Designate space
“Eve
ry d
ay w
hen
I cam
e int
o
class
the g
ener
al ta
ble w
as
cove
red
with h
er [e
duca
tion
teac
hing
stuf
f]. It
def
inite
ly
sent
me a
mes
sage
.”
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
3. Assign grades together
4.Communicate with students and parents
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
5. Manage the classroom together
“We n
ever
sent a
nything home
unless i
t had
both of our s
ignatures
on it. N
ow parents
feel li
ke they
can ta
lk to ei
ther of u
s about th
e
child
.”
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
6. Identify and limit the number of students
“In
one c
lass w
e hav
e six
stude
nts w
ith d
isabi
lities
and
in an
othe
r clas
s, we h
ave o
nly
two-
but t
heir
need
s are
muc
h
grea
ter. I
t rea
lly d
epen
ds o
n
the k
ids.”
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
7. Attend professional development on co-teaching
8. Provide support for the general education teacher when the special education teacher is not present
9. Identify and address conflict
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TOP 10 ISSUES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR CO-TEACHING
DURING READING INSTRUCTION
10. Manage the schedule
Special educator should not be divided by more than 3 general educators or 2 grade levels
“I co
-teac
h in 3
rd , 5th , a
n a K
classr
oom as
well
as pu
lling
out 7
stud
ents.
I jus
t can
’t be
every
where
at the
same t
ime.
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WHAT ADMINISTRATORS CAN DO TO FACILITATE CO-TEACHING
1. Provide adequate planning time.2. Provide adequate professional
development opportunities.3. Make resources available.4. Support the co-teacher when his/her
partner is not present.5. Schedule co-teaching for blocks of
time in which it will be most effective.
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WHAT ADMINISTRATORS CAN DO TO FACILITATE CO-TEACHING
6. Pair teachers who can work together effectively.
7. Limit the number of students with special needs.
8. Ensure that parents understand the dynamics of co-teaching.
9. Be aware of and be responsive to staff and student needs as they change over time.
10. Recognize that other service delivery options in addition to co-teaching may be necessary to meet the needs of all students.
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HOW TO GET STARTED OR REFOCUSED
1. Start small.2. Select teachers who have a “track record” of
working well together and who want to co-teach.
3. Select students with special needs with who teachers have worked and have some educational history.
4. Integrate planning time into teachers’ schedules.
5. Attend professional development with partner.
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HOW TO GET STARTED OR REDEFINED
6. Discuss the objectives of co-teaching with the parents of all the students in the classroom.
7. Begin with two to three co-teaching models until a comfort level with these new practices has been established.
8. Ensure that teachers have sufficient blocks of time in the class together so that different co-teaching models can be implemented.
9. Collect and use data to assist in decision making about the effectiveness of instruction.
10. Conduct periodic evaluations of co-teaching procedures. What is working? What is not working? Ho can co-teaching be improved?
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NEED MORE INFO?
Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts. (2000). Coordinating for reading instruction: General education and special education working together. Austin, TX: Author.
http://www.texasreading.org/downloads/k12/2000_SERPcoteachbooklet.PDF