Tips for Co-Teaching

From the Marshall Memo #430

In this article in Teaching Exceptional Children, Wendy Murawski of California State University/Northridge has ten practical suggestions for regular-education teachers as they plan instruction with their special-education, Title I, or English language specialist co-teachers:

• Establish a regular time to plan collaboratively. Teachers are incredibly busy, and it’s essential to establish a mutually-agreeable time for planning and hold that time sacrosanct. 

• Select an appropriate meeting place without distractions. Classrooms are not ideal, says Murawski, and are only okay if the door is closed and teachers can really focus. It’s a better idea to use the school library, a conference room, a testing office, or another classroom that’s free. Some teachers meet at each others’ houses after hours.

• Save rapport-building for another time. “Co-teaching is frequently compared to a marriage,” says Murawski, “and it is definitely important for partners to get along and build rapport.” But she believes griping and sharing should be left for other times. Stick to business!

• Have an agenda and snacks. Start the meeting with a quick recap of what needs to be accomplished – a checklist helps, as does a clear idea of how much time is available and when unfinished business will be dealt with. Snacks really help: “Hungry teachers do not make the most agreeable or creative collaborators,” says Murawski. 

• Determine regular roles and responsibilities. At the beginning of the co-teaching relationship, it’s a good idea to establish who is good at what and divide up tasks accordingly. Murawski lists some of the different ways that co-teachers can work together: one teaches the whole class, one supports; team teaching of the whole class; parallel teaching of two groups; station teaching (both teachers circulate among learning stations); and alternative teaching (one with a large group, the other with a small group). 

• Divide and conquer. “Both teachers need to feel they have an equal share in the planning, teaching, and assessing,” says Murawski. “If they don’t, one may begin to feel like he or she is an overqualified aide, whereas the other feels the workload is not equitable and he or she is having to do most of the work.” 

• Keep a list of individual student concerns. Murawski says it’s not a good idea to start a co-planning meeting by discussing students of concern. “This type of discussion will derail your planning,” she says. “It is simply too easy to spend 45 minutes talking about how frustrating it is that Jake doesn’t do anything in class, how amusing it is to watch Patrick’s crush on Sandi and how exciting it is that Quinn finally did his homework!” Better to keep a list of needy students on a piece of paper and talk about them at the end of the meeting.

• Build in regular time for assessment and feedback. At least once a month, co-teachers should check in honestly with each other about their own teaching and interactions. 

• Document your planning for future reference. Murawski recommends keeping notes on planning to save time and effort later. 

• Use the What/How/Who approach to lesson planning. What needs to be taught in this lesson in terms of standards, objectives, timeframe, big ideas, and essential questions? How will it be taught, and what role will each teacher play? Who among the students will struggle, who needs accommodations and differentiation, and who needs additional support from a speech teacher, occupational therapist, parent, or Braille teacher? Murawski has a template for lesson planning at http://www.2teachLLC.com/lessons.html. 

“10 Tips for Using Co-Planning Time More Efficiently” by Wendy Murawski in Teaching Exceptional Children, March/April 2012 (Vol. 44, #4, p. 8-15), no e-link available; Murawski can be reached at Wendy.murawski@csun.edu.