¶ … Audrey's complaints and problems were due to her being unfamiliar with co-teaching, with sharing her classroom with another educator. For someone who has worked alone for twenty years, sharing her classroom involved as many changes as entering into any new relationship. Therefore, both Betty and Audrey need to communicate, collaborate, and cooperate. They need to discuss their needs and their concerns with each other to avoid growing difficulties and resentments because ultimately the two teachers have the potential to work well together and completment each other in the classroom. Both teachers are adept at working with students with special needs: Audrey is simply more concerned about gifted students than Betty is and vice-versa. Among Audrey's main gripes were Betty's teaching habits, rather than her teaching approach. In other words, Audrey was not disappointed with Betty's ability as a teacher. In fact,...

What Audrey was concerned about was keeping the classroom well-organized and neat. The second of Audrey's concerns was regarding the accelerated students, whom Audrey felt were being shortchanged by paying too much attention to the special needs students.
Although Audrey benefited greatly from the co-teaching training course, she was not prepared for the nuances of sharing her classroom. One of the first things she could have done would have been to meet privately after hours with Betty to discuss matters related to classroom management and organization. Just as if she had a roommate, Audrey also needed to make some compromises of her own, such as accepting a few messy desks in exchange for a harmonious co-teaching relationship. Having to wipe the blackboard clean every morning is not a major issue, one that Audrey can…