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Integrated Co-Teaching


 

Course Outline


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 these 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 an increasing number 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. With the reauthorization of IDEA, state regulations and guidelines have set parameters to address how educators can meet the needs of diverse populations. For example, the New York State Commissioner of Education's Part 200 Regulations now allow school districts to include integrated co-teaching on the continuum of special education services.

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

  • Establish a common language and working definition for co-teaching
  • Compare and contrast co-teaching, collaboration, team teaching, cooperative teaching and inclusion
  • Establish the purpose and goals for co-teaching
  • Provide a rationale through philosophy, research and recent federal and state legislation for implementing co-teaching
  • Assess the impact of district, state, and federal guidelines on co-teaching
  • Assess an educator using the Co-Teaching Rating Scale
  • Assess the roles of the general and special education teachers
  • Create a definition for the professional relationship between co-teachers
  • Address skills, strategies, and issues as professional development topics for co-teachers
  • Evaluate the eight critical components of the co-teaching relationship
  • Compare and contrast the most commonly accepted instructional models used in co-teaching classrooms
  • Evaluate how instructional module provide a format for teachers to modify both instruction and student work
  • Explain the roles and responsibilities of paraprofessionals
  • Compare and contrast the Discrepancy Model and RtI
  • Assess how co-teachers can best utilize differentiated instruction in their inclusive classrooms
  • Evaluate differentiated instruction lessons
  • Evaluate program efficacy from teacher, student, administrator and parent surveys
  • Predict future implications for co-teaching
  • Create an action plan

Curriculum Design & Time Requirements

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

Session 1: Building the Foundation for Effective Partnerships
Contents:
  1. Personal Reflection and Experiences: 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. Finding Commonalities in Partners
  5. Course Requirements
  6. Instructor's Expectations
  7. Course Registration

Session 2: Establishing a Rationale for Co-Teaching a it Relates to Research and Legislation
Contents:
  1. Defining Co-Teaching
  2. History of Inclusion
  3. Overview of IDEA and NCLB
  4. T-Chart of Advantages and Disadvantages of Having Two Teachers in a Classroom
  5. Research-supported Benefits of Collaborative Classrooms for Teachers and Students
  6. Establish a common language and working definition for co-teaching.
  7. Recognize other commonly accepted terms for co-teaching.
  8. Read research support for collaboration and inclusion.
  9. Compare and contrast co-teaching, collaboration, team teaching, cooperative teaching and inclusion
  10. Establish the purpose and goals for co-teaching.

Session 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 Between Co-teachers
  5. Utilizing the Co-teaching Rating Scale
  6. Clarify the Roles of and Establish Guidelines for the Collaborative Relationship Between Co-teachers and Other School Related Professional Who Serve to Meet Students' IEP Mandated Goals. These Individuals May Include the Literacy Coach, ESL Instructor, Resource Teacher, Speech and Language Pathologist, and School Psychologist.
  7. Achieving Parity Between Co-teachers Using Preliminary Discussion Points
  8. The Administrator's Role in Co-teaching: Providing Support for Personnel

Session 4: Essential Components of a Co-Teaching Relationship
Contents:
  1. Developing Effective iinterpersonal 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
  9. Implement Strategies for Effective Dialogue that will Improve and Enhance C0-teaching Relationships

Session 5: Co-Teaching Modules
Contents:
  1. Understand the Most Commonly Accepted Instructional Models Used in Co-Teaching Classrooms
  2. Identify How Each Model Provides a Format for Teachers to Modify Both Instruction and Student Work
  3. Identify the Categories of Student Disabilities
  4. Examine How Co-teaching Models Meet the Needs of Students with Disabilities

Session 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
  5. Teacher Supervision of Paraprofessional

Session 7: Response to Intervention (RtI)
Contents:
  1. Legal Requirements for Teachers Under IDEA
  2. Use of RtI as an Evaluative Tool on the Elementary Level
  3. Evaluate the Discrepance Model vs. RtI
  4. RtI Models
  5. The Impact of RtI on General and Special Education Teachers
  6. How RtI is Used in the Classroom
  7. Assessment Tools and Early Intervention Strategies

Session 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 Iimplementing Effective Differentiated Instruction Lessons
  7. Using Bloom's Taxonomy in Differentiated Instruction Lessons
  8. Evaluating Differentiated Instruction Lessons

Session 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
  5. Final Project Reviews and Presentations

Session 10: Final Projects and Final Exam
Contents:
  1. Issues of Common Planning Time
  2. Resources for Common Planning Time
  3. Review
  4. Final Exam
  5. Evaluations

Grading

    Assignment Points   Grading Scale  
  Classroom Participation   20      100 – 93 A
  Journal Assignments   10       92 – 85 B
  Project: Lesson/Activity   25       84 – 77 C
    Project: School-wide Study   20            
    Research Writing Assignment   15            
    Final Exam   10            
  Total Points 100    

Student Requirements

  1. Attend all class sessions and actively participate in class and group discussions and activities.
  2. Complete a written assignment at the end of each class session that reflects on how the roles of co-teachers evolve.
  3. Prepare a lesson or activity that demonstrates how co-teaching is implemented in the classroom. A written outline must be included with your presentation.
  4. Prepare a school wide study of co-teaching that includes the key ideas included in this course.
  5. Research at least two articles of your choice on co-teaching and write a two-page paper on what learning and thoughts you had regarding co-taught classrooms. You will share your articles with other members of the class.
  6. Complete the 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 Integrated Co-Teaching course, go to the Course Registration page.