Collaborative Classroom

Co-Teaching in Inclusive Settings
A Graduate Course

 

 


Course Description

The purpose of this course is to provide educators with a strong foundation for planning, implementing and maintaining successful co-teaching programs.  Since most of today’s classrooms include a diverse student population that has different learning styles, cultural differences and educational needs, it has become important for teachers and administrators to find effective methods to help every student achieve greater success.  Starting first with developing a clear definition of co-teaching, then examining critical components of co-teaching models, and finally evaluating current co-teaching programs, the focus of this course will be to explore both the conceptual and operational aspects of this approach to delivering instruction.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA) have brought increased pressure on all educators.  Policy makers and school reformers have set higher standards making teachers and administrators responsible for ensuring students meet the higher standards on state assessments.  All students including those with disabilities are expected to achieve the same success as other students.  IDEA requires that students with special needs be educated in the least restrictive environment and whenever possible, in the general education classroom where they are provided with access to the same general education curriculum as all other students.  In addition, many educators are finding that increasing numbers of students come to school with a variety of other problems putting them at greater risk of failing.  In order to successfully address the challenges of meeting the needs of all these different students, co-teaching has received widespread attention and has become an accepted form of delivery of instruction.  IDEA will be reauthorized in 2008 and it is expected that school districts will be required to include co-teaching classes as part of their educational program.

This course examines the most commonly accepted co-teaching practices between general and special education teachers on the elementary, middle and high school levels.  It is based on current research and experiences of prominent individuals in the field of education including Richard A. Villa, Dr. Marilyn Friend and Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Objectives
Participants will:
  • Establish a working definition for co-teaching and distinguish it from collaboration and team teaching.
  • Identify the key elements of the cooperative process.
  • Establish a rationale for using co-teaching in the general education classroom and as part of students’ program services.
  • Explore the foundations for co-teaching as they relate to educational law and classroom practices.
  • Provide a rationale through philosophy and research for implementing co-teaching.
  • Relate co-teaching to current trends toward collaboration in public schools in                   both general education and special education.
  • Review the research findings that support collaborative models and methods as effective ways to generate greater student and teacher success.
  • Examine the roles of both the general and special educators in a co-taught classroom.
  • Examine and analyze the components of successful co-teaching relationships.
  • Identify, discuss and analyze co-teaching models and how they impact student learning.
  • Learn and implement key instructional strategies that optimize student learning in co-taught classrooms.
  • Examine the elements of differentiated instruction and how they apply to collaborative classrooms.
  • Develop and implement effective co-taught lessons that utilize elements of differentiated instruction.
  • Analyze and critique Response to Intervention and its impact on teachers and students.
  • Outline school factors that impact co-teaching including the roles of paraprofessionals in the co-taught classroom.
  • Evaluate school co-teaching programs.

Curriculum Design
The activities are designed to allow participants to experience various co-teaching models. The methodology used in this course provides participants with the necessary tools and practical strategies to work effectively in a co-taught classroom.  Participants will apply course curriculum to a school study or project that will be presented during the last class sessions.  The students will be required to complete and pass a final examination that reflects their course knowledge. This is a forty-five hour graduate level course taught in the classroom and online.

Course Materials

The required text for this course is “A Guide to Co-Teaching:  Practical Tips for Facilitating Student Learning”by Richard A. Villa, Jacqueline S. Thousand and Ann I. Nevin.  The text begins by first examining what co-teaching is and the importance of each of its elements.  It also looks at the day-to-day workings of co-teaching teams on each of the different teaching levels and how the effective partnerships can benefit student learning.   Each co-teaching model is thoroughly explored and vignettes of each model are provided.  The text includes additional resources, references, supplemental aids and a glossary. In addition, participants will receive a student guide.


Session Outline
Module 1: Defining a Collaborative Relationship
Contents:
  1. Personal reflection and experiences:  How would you define a collaborative relationship?  What have been your personal experiences in collaborative and/or co-teaching relationships?
  2. Introduction and sharing of reflection responses
  3. Classroom demographics chart (i.e. – class representation)
  4. Definition of collaborative relationship:  A class consensus
  5. Course requirements
  6. Instructor’s expectations
  7. Course registration
Module 2: Establishing a Rationale for Co-Teaching a it Relates to Research and Legislation
Contents:
  1. History of inclusion
  2. Overview of IDEA and NCLB
  3. T-Chart of advantages and disadvantages of having two teachers in a classroom
  4. Research-supported benefits of collaborative classrooms for teachers and students

Module 3: Examining and Evaluating the Key Elements for Effective Collaborative Relationships
Contents:
  1. Individual prerequisites
  2. Defining roles of the general and special education teachers
  3. Who should co-teach? (i.e. – beginning teacher with beginning teacher)
  4. Defining a professional co-teaching relationship
  5. Utilizing the co-teaching rating scale
  6. Achieving parity between co-teachers using preliminary discussion points
  7. The administrator’s role in co-teaching:  providing support for personnel

Module 4: Essential Components of a Co-Teaching Relationship
Contents:
  1. Developing effective interpersonal communication:  scenarios
  2. Physical room arrangements
  3. Familiarity with curriculum
  4. Curriculum goals and modifications
  5. Instructional planning
  6. Instructional presentation
  7. Classroom management
  8. Assessing the co-teaching relationship

Module 5: Co-Teaching Modules
Contents:
  1. One teacher/one assist/observe model
  2. One teacher/one drift model
  3. Parallel teaching
  4. Alternate teaching
  5. Team teaching
Module 6: Working with Support Personnel:  Paraprofessionals as Part of the Co-Teaching Team
Contents:
  1. Definitions for paraprofessional, teacher aide and teacher assistant
  2. Types of teacher aides (i.e.- 1:1 Aide)
  3. Roles of paraprofessionals:  classroom responsibilities
  4. Legal responsibilities of paraprofessionals

Module 7: Response to Intervention (RtI)
Contents:

    Legal requirements for teachers under IDEA
    Use of RtI as an evaluative tool on the elementary level
    RtI models
    The impact of RtI on general and special education teachers
    How RtI is used in the classroom
    Assessment tools and early intervention strategies

Module 8: The Use of Differentiated Instruction in the Co-Teaching Classroom
Contents:
  1. Identifying the diverse learners in today's classroom
  2. Critical components of differentiated instruction lessons
  3. Pre-assessing students’ needs and abilities
  4. Pre-assessing students' interests
  5. Assessing students' learning styles
  6. Developing and implementing effective differentiated instruction lessons
  7. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy in differentiated instruction lessons
  8. Evaluating differentiated instruction lessons
Module 9: Assessing Co-Teaching
Contents:
  1. Examples of co-teaching programs
  2. Factors that undermine co-teaching programs
  3. Surveying teachers, administrators, students, parents about the effectiveness of their co-teaching programs
  4. Other strategies used for evaluating programs
Module 10: Final Projects and Final Exam
Contents:
  1. Review
  2. Final project reviews and presentations
  3. Final exam
  4. Evaluations
Grading
  Assignment Points   Grading Scale  
  Attendance and Classroom Participation 030      100 – 93 A
  In-Class Assignments 020       92 – 85 B
Final Project 020     84 – 77 C
  Final Exam 030      
         
  Total Points 100    

Student Requirements
1. Attend all class sessions for the requisite number of hours (45) and actively participate in all class activities.
2. Complete all reflection assignments. 
3. Complete the dropout prevention strategy
4. Pass a mid-term and final exam.

Student Academic Integrity
Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Register
To register to take TEI's Collaborative Classroom graduate course, go to the Course Registration page.

  

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