Chapter 3 of the text introduces the concepts of consultation, collaboration, and co-teaching as a general education teacher working with all sorts of people for students with exceptionalities. It would be a very difficult task to have to teach students with exceptionalities if the general education teacher did not have the input and assistance of those specifically trained to provide the best education for such students. Consultation skills require pre-planned time and space meets for the general education teacher and special education consultant to be able to work through the consultation process. When accessing the skills of a consultant, it is important to note that the job of the consultant is to provide expert intervention information pertaining to the student's special education need, but it is the job of the consultee (usually a general education teacher) to implement that interv
ention. Collaboration on the other hand allows the general education teacher and special education teacher to meet at a specific place and time, over the course of a school year to plan, discuss and implement together how to best teach students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom. This co-planning usually co-incides with co-teaching. The general education teacher and special education teacher decide how they will both teach the same lesson in the same classroom to both regular education and students with exceptionalities: will one teacher teach the entire lesson or both share? will one teach the lesson while the other teacher circulates the room helping specific students? will they put the students in groups by ability and each work with the separate groups? These are all planning and teaching decisions introduces the concepts of consultation, collaboration, and co-teaching as a general education teacher working with all sorts of people for students with exceptionalities. It would be a very difficult task to have to teach students with exceptionalities if the general education teacher did not have the input and assistance of those specifically trained to provide the best education for such students. Consultation skills require pre-planned time and space meets for the general education teacher and special education consultant to be able to work through the consultation process. When accessing the skills of a consultant, it is important to note that the job of the consultant is to provide expert intervention information pertaining to the student's special education need, but it is the job of the consultee (usually a general education teacher) to implement that intervention. Collaboration on the other hand allows the general education teacher and special education teacher to meet at a specific place and time, over the course of a school year to plan, discuss and implement together how to best teach students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom. This co-planning usually co-incides with co-teaching. The general education teacher and special education teacher decide how they will both teach the same lesson in the same classroom to both regular education and students with exceptionalities: will one teacher teach the entire lesson or both share? will one teach the lesson while the other teacher circulates the room helping specific students? will they put the students in groups by ability and each work with the separate groups? These are all planning and teaching decisions that must be made ahead of class time in order to achieve success for all students.=======================================================================================
How to use this information in the classroom:
Become familiar with the Illinois Interactive Report Card Website, offering data and statistics concerning schools and districts in the state of Illinois, including data concerning students and subgroups. Go to the website, select by school or by district to search for AYP reports as well as other pertinent data.
Find out who your special education building and district experts are. Most school districts have a district special education specialist or director. Most schools have a special education teacher in the building. If you know that students with exceptionalities are going to be placed in your classroom, then began to immediately establish a working, professional relationship with those who will also be directing the education of such students: the school counselor, nurse, administrator, special education teacher, aides, community advocates for students with special needs.
Establish a relationship with exceptional students' parents as soon as possible. Initiate the contact if the parent does not. As a matter of fact, it helps immensely if you will put to use the one desktop computer in the classroom (hopefully it is Internet-ready, connected to the district and outside world!) by seeking out email addresses of each student's parent or contact as soon as possible. Most parents have at least one email address nowadays, either a work email or personal one. Using email whenever possible provides a wonderful way to give parents explicit information, receive feedback from them in kind and also provide a paper trail of documentation that you can save or store in that student folder on your computer's hard drive. I recommend you also save/store/back up the information to a portable flash drive or diskette.
Another excellent communication tool for parents is a classroom website. As daunting as that may sound, even teachers with next to no computer skills can get assistance in setting up a classroom website. There are easy programs available to facilitate setting up a website. I recommend starting with your district technology department to see what the district first offers in the line of technology assistance for teachers.
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Week Two Posting - The following article talks about the eight components of the co-teaching relationship - Coteaching.pdf. Each component is obviously very important. Which do you think is the most important component and why is that? After reading the chapter, listening to the audio, post your comments to the Week 2 blog posting for the question provided.
24 comments:
I believe the interpersonal communication is the most important component in co-teaching. It is the key component, because without effective communication between the teachers then success of the other components is going to be limited. This is the component that breeds trust between the teachers and the ability to exchange ideas. It also provides the backbone of effective classroom management and presentation, as well as the overall feel of a welcoming, comfortable learning environment. Who wants to sit in a classroom for a given period of time with possible tension, uneasiness with which teacher to deal with and so on? It’s the most valuable piece of the puzzle in my opinion.
I think that every component in the co-teaching article is important, but there is one that I feel stands out just a little more. Instructional Presentation is that component. This is where everything could hit home or just fall apart for the students. If this component is not fully realized and clear, the students can become confused or disengaged. If that happens, it can be very difficult to regroup and recollect their attention. In fact, this component is just as important for normal classrooms. With the limited attention spans of young people, teachers really need to be on the ball at all times.
I do find it slightly difficult to single out one component that is more important than the others, especially since each component requires the existence of other components. For example, if the instructional planning stage was not taken seriously, how could the presentation be as good as it can be? I suppose alterations can be made on the fly, and this sometimes happens with success, but it would be wise to respect each component equally when tasked with facilitating a co-taught classroom.
This is a trick question right? Yes, all are important components for co-teaching. Alas, one of the components to college that I dislike...choosing just one of anything. If I must choose, I pick the first component: Interpersonal Communication. For me, if two professionals are not on the same page from the beginning of any co-teaching arrangement(interdisciplinary unit, field trip etc...)it is likely that when it comes time evaluate, good reports would be rare. After reading the chapter and the provided inserts in our blog, it is easy to see how terribly wrong things can go in the "co-taught" classroom. I think if two teachers remember the goal (a students success)each should be able to fly through these components with ease. That probably seems naive to some but all I think about is how hard it would be for the student who had to learn from two teachers who cannot synchronize. Anyway, the student is the reason I want to teach and all of the components of the co-teaching article are important and will certainly be worth the effort for the chance to see harmony within a diverse classroom.
I agree with the rest of the replies that this must be some sort of rhetorical question. If I must give a choice though I will have to agree with a few of the above posters in picking Interpersonal Communication. Interpersonal communication, I believe, is the foundation for any effective teacher. While the other components are still essential for effective learning, Interpersonal Communication allows the instruction to take form. By that I mean that the educator(s) are able to take in information, analyze it, adapt teaching methods, and produce a superior product. Also, finely tuned Interpersonal Communication skills would allow for a clear and concise lesson being taught that was efficient and effective.
Also, collegiality is a factor which I place within the component of Interpersonal Communication. The ability to effectively work with ones colleagues allows for an expanded base of knowledge and methods that could potentially be applied within the classroom. Again, all of this is dependent on the other components as well.
I think the most important component is Instructional Planning. This step forces the teachers to always be in step with what one another is thinking and feeling as far as what should be going on in the classroom. One interesting (and very true) statement made in this article was about the special educator seen more as an assistant who is more than willing to help the students, but is really not a “teacher”. When it looks like that, it makes it harder for the special educator to be taken seriously, I think. I do know, however, that with this step, it makes the job of the teachers flow together better when there is an obvious balance between power. When I was in school and had two teachers, just like the book and article talk about, I never really thought to ask her questions. I felt I needed to wait until the “real” teacher was able to help me. One time, I remember the second teacher coming over to me when I had my hand raised and she totally helped me with a problem, which proved me wrong about my prior feelings towards her. I think the more the teachers work together and are on the same page, the smoother class time will go. The whole point of instructional planning is really to plan ahead. If the teachers both know exactly how the class will play out, they could even work it out to where they split up and one of them takes one side of the room and the other one takes the opposite. That way, more students are helped one on one and when special education students need help, the general education teacher can continue helping the kids who don’t need more than the normal amount of assistance ( I’m not really sure how else to word that, but I don’t mean for it to sound mean if it does).
A really good thing I would like to point out was something I found in the chapter when it said that most teachers’ training doesn’t include how to work with and co-teach with someone. Remembering that neither teacher fully gets how to go about co-teaching the correct way in the beginning is something that I believe will help alleviate the stress a little bit. Knowing that both teachers are trying something pretty new for them says a lot about their flexibility as teachers. It also can help them work better with others, especially if they remain flexible during the school year and are willing spend time planning together and always being on the same page.
When I began to read this chapter I immediately thought of my mom. My mom is an elementary special education teacher. She currently works with third and fourth graders, and is co-teaching in two classrooms. As I was reading a lot of the information sounded very familiar to me because I have heard my mom talk about many things in regards to her teaching. She has taught for over 30 years, and she has had both self contained rooms and co-taught. She always says that she really enjoys co-teaching. One thing that she says she likes about co-teaching is that she feels like the students do not feel as isolated or different from the other students when they are not in a separate classroom. She also says that her students are learning from the other students who do not have disabilities and those students are learning from those students who have disabilities. I definitely could see how it could be beneficial not to isolate the students with disabilities from those students who do not have disabilities. Even though my mom co-teaches there are times each day that her students come to her homeroom, and will work on their math and reading with just her. She likes this also because not only are these students receiving extra attention and don’t have as many distractions, she alos thinks that these students feel like this is a privilege that they are able to receive by being pulled out of their main classroom.
Our book refers to both teachers in co-teaching should work together in teaching all of the students. I truly believe that if co-teaching is to be effective both the teachers have to work with all of the students, and have to be able to work together and get along in the classroom. As I read the article on co-teaching all of components of co-teaching relationships seemed very important to me however, one stood out to me that I think should be of great concentration with teachers when co-teaching. The one I think that is very important is the interpersonal communication component. Like with anything, if you do not have interpersonal communication with the person you are working with you are not going to be very successful in what you are doing. I also think that the students will have a sense if the teachers are able to work together well, and when they see they are doing so I believe these students will do better. One example that I have from my mom about two teachers not having interpersonal skills is a teacher my mom was co-teaching with last year. This teacher had never co-taught before, and she was very impatient with my mom students, frequently saying that these students couldn’t stay on task and they were a disruption to her class, and she also did not care about what my mom had to say. My mom commented about how miserable her students were in this classroom at the beginning of the year. However, after a couple of collaboration sessions it got a lot better and they were able to successfully complete the year together co-teaching.
One thing that was discussed in the chapter, along with the audio, was a classroom website. This is something that I think I will use in my classroom, and I had started thinking about this when I took the teaching and technology course last fall. I think a classroom website could be very beneficial to not only the students, but very beneficial to the parents. I would include a schedule of what we were going to be learning, along with assignments, and maybe even examples from the notes we took in class. One other idea I have had is to get the students involved with this website, such as having a different student each week type a small paragraph about what was going on in the classroom that week and what we were learning. Although, I think a classroom website could be very beneficial I know that it is reality that there are a lot of students that do not have computers at home or their parents do not have access to them, so maybe an alternative or along with the website I could type up a newsletter either once a week or every other week that included assignments and what I was teaching.
I feel like two of the goals go hand in hand at being the most important. The 'Curriculum Goals and Modifications' discussed planning time and it's importance when building a collaborative relationship between the co-teachers. If not enough time is provided so that the two teachers can come to find a goal to work towards, and create a plan to execute that goal, I believe that it can lead to the problems discussed in the 'Physical Arrangement'. If the co-teachers are not very familiar with each others styles, and have not been able to determine a plan of action to meet their goal, it can feel like they are stepping on each others toes. While they are working towards the same result, they may be trying to come at it from two directions. This will cause the "two classrooms in a single space" dilemma where each teacher stays in their own designated space with their own designated students to avoid interfering with the other teacher. The Special Needs teacher may feel like they are only a visitor in another teachers classroom, when they need to feel comfortable utilizing the same space and resources as the room teacher. This makes students who are exceptional feel disconnected with the rest of the students in the classroom, and ruins the point of working towards an inclusive classroom.
I believe that communication is one of the most important component to have with a special needs student is in your classroom. Communication with the other teachers who have dealt with special needs students is very good because they can give you tips about the student that worked well for the other teachers. Also being in contact the the students parents is very important. Calling or emailing the students parents and telling them what is going on in the classroom for the year and even the parents can give you some insight on some good things to do with the student. Even a trip the the students house would mean a lot to the parents and the student.
I agree with many of the previous posters; that interpersonal communication is the most important component to the coteaching relationship. I think interpersonal communication is simply the basis for the coteaching relationship. Possessing good communication skills will not only help teachers communicate well with their coteacher, but also with students, parents, administrators and anyone else involved in the education process. Dr. Herring noted that all these people are on the same team, probably striving for the same goals. Therefore, each team member needs to communicate effectively in order to reach academic achievement.
Also noteworthy is the use of the word respect in all three works this week: Dr. Herring’s lecture, our textbook, and assigned article. As teachers, and possibly coteachers, we are bound to butt heads or disagree with a colleague’s or parent’s opinion about a student. It’s our job as teachers to respect those opinions, and communicate that feeling, to the other parties involved.
At first the communication component made me believe it was the most important. As I kept reading, knowing the curriculum goals and modifications seemed equally as important. So, since everyone basically wrote about the communication, I will write about the other because communication has to happen for this concept to occur as well.
The concept of knowing the curriculum goals is designed for creating objectives for every student. When co-teaching, the article stated both the special ed and gen ed teacher must be responsible for every student and have open communication for the goals of class. Some co-teachers seem to find they have no planning time to really lay out the foundation for the class.
At the beginning of the relationship, the teachers are working directly from the book and not working together as much to collaborate ideas. After some time, and more communication, the teachers begin to compromise and begin modifications for the students and classroom. The gen ed teacher could feel the modifications being too "watered down" for some students, and everyone not receiving the challenging experience that is needed. Once this hurdle is passed, there is a collaborative view from both teachers as to what the students need to learn, and what they should know already. This the final stage that allows the teachers to have a smooth lesson plan for their students.
I believe this is one of the most important concepts because it forces communication between the teachers which is a positive thing for the classroom. The classroom needs goals, and if the teachers never come together, the students are the ones to suffer. I know teachers don't want that to ever happen, so this collaboration of communication and goal setting is vital for a co-teaching classroom.
After reading the article, I agree that while all components are important, “Instructional Planning” is the most vital. I think this situation works best when both teachers co-teach all students. It’s not that these are “your kids” and these are “my kids”. They are all “ours”. Teachers must collaborate to the point where the regular education teacher and the special education teacher look at goals for the all the students. Then, as the regular teacher shares ideas of unit plans, she needs to be flexible in allowing for the special education teacher’s expertise in leading certain lessons. The teachers need to be ahead of the students in knowing why and how these lessons relate to the goals. If this step is not given attention, there can be a lot of misunderstandings. A common planning time is essential if a principal expects this to work. Also, students will view the teachers as equal if the teachers present themselves that way. The better the collaborative relationship between the teachers, the more benefit all students will receive. I have seen this work. The students felt that they had two teachers and did not favor either when they had a question. The teachers took turns in presenting and helping all students. Of course, the special education teacher will largely be attuned to the special education students, but if a hand is up, either teacher should be ready and willing to jump in. The regular education teacher will feel much more comfortable doing this if she is prepared with advance strategies given by the special education teacher and adequate planning.
When reading about all the components there were two that stood out to me and those were
Instructional Presentation and Interpersonal communication. While both I think are crucial, I would have to say that interpersonal communication is the most important component. With having 2 nieces with learning disabilities, I think that for students like this instructional presentation would come in as important because they can only learn when being taught a specific way. When dealing in a regular class room interpersonal communication is key to teaching effectively. Even when dealing with students with special needs, communication is key with co-teaching and collaborations. Communication is the main part of any lesson. Acceptance, listening and questioning are all discussed in chapter three as being crucial in the class room. All of these skills fall under communication. Whether it’s with other teachers or with parents, teachers are constantly communicating in some form, whether its notes home, blogs or classroom web pages to keep parents informed. Without effective communication it’s impossible to effectively both teach and keep parents involved, and keep other teachers in the loop on certain students that need additional help. Teaching is a collaboration of many different people and there is no way to work together without effect communication.
Which do you think is the most important component and why is that?
The obvious choice is interpersonal communication, I typically don’t go with the obvious choice, but in this case I agree with the obvious choice. Interpersonal communication is the most important component in a co-teaching relationship. Teachers need to be able to work together to accomplish the common goal of teaching the material to a student with special education needs. Each person brings their own valuable skill set to the table. In my opinion, special education teachers are a rare breed. They have the student’s best interest at the forefront of communications. There may be some adjustments to personalities, but that’s life. There is an adjustment to personalities in any given situation. For me, the most important parts of interpersonal communication are the ability to stop, listen and think before you speak. As for the other seven components of the co-teaching relationship, although a critically important part of the teaching process, none of these goals can be met without the ability to communicate effectively.
The article outlines three developmental levels of the co-teaching relationship (the beginning stage, the compromising stage and the collaborating stage). I think that the article gives the perception that this process takes a lot of time. While I believe in some cases it may, I tend to believe that this process flows rather quickly. There is only so much time in the school year to accomplish the educational goals.
While all eight components of the coteaching relationships are important, if I had to choose one, I, like most before me, would choose Interpersonal Communication. Without successful communication, I think it’d be hard to accomplish any of the other components. In most relationships, (friendships, sibling, boyfriend/girlfriend, parent/child) communication is the key to success (at least for me!) so I can’t believe it’d be any different in coteaching.
“The basic building block of good communications is the feeling that every human being is unique and of value.” - Unknown Author
I’m a quote girl and particularly like this one regarding communication :) I think it encompasses what Chapter 3 spoke to as well as teaching to those with exceptionalities in general.
The Understanding Coteaching Components article spoke a lot about the general teacher “giving over the chalk” and the special education teacher being “the helper" or “classroom assistant” at the beginning level. It seemed in almost every component, the coteachers moved to the collaborative level once the communication was built and they saw the other as being “unique and of value”.
I particularly liked the concept of the two teachers being positive role models for their students at the collaborative level of Interpersonal Communication. What better way to teach, than to teach by example?
And to Rachel… I really like your idea of having the students get involved with the classroom website! If they didn’t have a computer at home they could use the computer lab and still have the opportunity to get involved and contribute. Thanks for the great idea; it’s one I might have to use in my classroom someday too :)
While I feel that all eight components are vital to effective coteaching relationships, I think that the Interpersonal Communications rises to the top of my list. Communication, to me, is one of those life skills that is vital to all aspects of life and is very important no matter what your job may be. Communication is crucial to successful marriages, getting messages across to your children, and winning over a job interview. In the classroom, communication is ever so important especially if there are cooperating teachers trying to teach a wide ranged ability of students. It is important that both teachers are on the same page when instructing the class and can come to agreements without arguing in front of the students. As the article pointed out, the teachers would be excellent role models for effective communication and interaction to the students so that they will hopefully become better at expressing their own thoughts and ideas in a good way.
I agree with what tends to be the common sentiment in this class that it is difficult to choose just one component that is most important regarding co-teaching between general education and special education teachers. All of the other components can be worked out between the teachers if there are issues during the school year but none of that can happen if the first component, interpersonal communication, isn’t in place. I couldn’t possibly think of a worse way to begin a school year for students and for myself as a teacher as not being on the same page or agreement with my special education co-teacher. The issues brought up regarding each teachers role regarding students and the class and grading need to be ironed out long before the year starts and preferably before they even start discussions about the other components even begin. In order for students to feel comfortable in the context in a classroom they need to know exactly what to expect from each teacher and who is in charge or if they have equal power. Any disagreements between the teachers cannot be aired in front of the teacher as it would undermine the teacher being disagreed with in the eyes of the students. Two teachers in a power struggle regarding their individual roles in front of students is analogous to a divorced couple fighting each other through their child who spends half the time with one and half with the other. This is why I feel that interpersonal communication is the most important component. Without good communication between the teachers the other components can’t be finalized and students will be at a great disadvantage starting school. Good relations and cohesion between co-teachers is vital.
After reading several of my classmates posts, I feeling like I am just about to rehash everything they said because I would have to agree with most that interpersonal communication would be the most important component of the eight. Without the communication between teachers, almost nothing would get done. If the teachers do not communicate about what they are going to teach, they might cover the same topic twice or miss important factors in a topic or do both.
In my life, communication has become very important. I saw it growing up with my parents trying to talk to other when their English was not great and they could not say what they wanted effectively to others. These days, their English is much better and I see how it makes it much easier to communicate with others as to what they want. In all the part time jobs that I have held, customers would get mad easily when they do not get what they want and unfortunately for people, I cannot make things appear out of thin air. Thus I had to learn quickly how to calm customer down by talking to them, trying to understand why they are mad, and possibly how to fix the problem for the future. Most times after they had talked to me, they would leave if not happy; at least satisfied I was trying to help them out as much as I could.
I can not argue with the many responses related to the importance of interpersonal communication. It is undeniably one of the most important aspects of coteaching. Without the ability to communicate, we may be stuck in an endless cycle of frustration. Many of us have pointed out the significance in communication for all of our relationships. However, while thinking about this, I was lead to another conclusion on the most important aspect of coteaching.
Imagine if we went through our whole lives only being able to maintain relationships and never actually building them through communication. This makes me believe that assessment may actually be more important.
With the process of assessment we are able to evaluate and change our communication, curriculum, planning, presentation, and management techniques. This is hugely important, because we do not want to continue with a technique in a classroom that is unsuccessful or even detrimental. Assessing can only lead to stronger skills in the above mentioned Components of Coteaching Relationships.
I would say that the most important component is instructional presentation. Whatever familiarity with the curriculum, whatever goals or modifications, whatever instructional planning, and whatever classroom management skills are being used, at the center of classroom time is instruction and presentation. A student will be lost and in the dark if a teacher is unable to effectively communicate the material. This goes hand in hand with the Instructional Planning, which I would say is the second most important component. Which teacher is going to present what material? What method is going to be used? All of these components are interrelated, but all must point towards the presentation of the material.
Which do you think is the most important component and why? I believe interpersonal communication is the most important. I believe both teachers need to be on the same page. I am personally in a self-contained behavior disorder classroom, and communication is vital. The students in the self contained room have been placed there, with all intentions of returing to the regular classroom. The regular ed teacher needs to know the ins and outs of every student, so there will be no surprises. I believe with proper communication, we can properly prepare the learning disbled students for success. Many of are students enter the regular ed room midway through the year, and may or may not have covered the current lesson plan. I personally think there can never be too much communication between teachers, and we are all there for the same purpose. I have noticed over the years that some regular ed teachers are very cold towards the learning disabled. Some teachers feel like the student will be taking time from the other students, and will detour the students.
So I posted Tuesday Night, but didn't realize until today that it somehow didn't save. GRRR.
Wile I completely agree with everything that has been said so far, I want to draw attention to two of the other Components. Instructional Planning is in credibly important, in that it encompasses several of the other components. The teachers have to be able to communicate and use the Curriculum Goals - And modify those goals- together. it takes a well thought out plan in order to do the best possible job for the students in question.
Another Component that encompasses good communication, as well as good planning and presentation is classroom management. If the classroom is not managed well then it doesn't matter how long you planned or how well the two teachers work together, no one will be able to learn much of anything.
Pic up.
I feel that the most important component of effective co-teaching seems to be one that the authors spoke least about. Nevertheless, I was most drawn to, “familiarity with the curriculum”. I felt that this component, more than any of the others, served as a building block for effective teaching and learning in the classroom. I feel that if teachers fully understand why they are there—that is, what the learning goals are— then the teachers are better equipped to want to create a collaborative environment for all of their students. This is achieved by understanding similar and dissimilar curriculum goals and finding a way to negotiate it all. Both teachers in the pair need to understand each others’ methodology and content to boost confidence in themselves and in each other. If this occurs, the teachers will have a solid understanding of their own goals as either the general or special educator, as well as a of a set of unified goals that allow for each to reach their personal goals while also reaching a set of general classroom goals—a meta-curriculum for co-teachers of sorts.
In sum, when both teachers are familiar with the curriculum, they will first experience increased confidence, and then they will understand how they, as a team, can work with this curriculum to meet all of the educational goals of all students. I feel that successful acquisition of this component will allow for success in all of the other areas as well. I feel that teachers will be more apt to communicate with one another better, manage the environment effectively and arrange a better classroom when the goals are solidly in place. I also feel that modifications are allowed to happen more organically when both teachers are familiar with the curriculum first. Planning and presentation, too, will occur more naturally when teachers are teaching from a unified consciousness about the classroom. ( I won’t reference the final component, because I’m on the fence about collaborative assessment)
On and end-note I think that this component also relates to one of the most important notions that I internalized in this week’s reading; that is, we’re all on the same page: teachers, students, and parents. And when we embrace open communication and a desire to familiarize ourselves with the people and the classroom, we have a better understand of how to proceed.
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