Co-teaching models and practices in education

¶ … 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, she was delighted by her performance and her ability to assist students with special needs. 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 easily learn to put up with in exchange for a good co-teacher.

Trickier to deal with is Audrey and Betty's attitude toward the accelerated students. If the two teachers met after-hours, perhaps with other teachers as advisors or mediators, they might have been able to reach an agreement on how to meet the needs of accelerated students as well as special needs students. In short, Audrey and Betty should talk openly about their concerns so that they can reach consensus about how to run their classroom. Intervention on the part of other educational professionals such as principals might have helped.

2. Co-teaching a classroom as diverse as theirs involves careful lesson planning. As Audrey noted, Betty worked especially well with the special needs students and catered to their needs well. However, Audrey was concerned that the accelerated students were suffering because of the extra attention paid to the students whose first language was not English, or those with behavioral problems. In an environment in which all students need to prosper on their own, but not at the expense of any other, cooperation and collaboration are essential.