Co-teaching seems like a buzz word right now, doesn’t it. I’ve attended a few co-teaching trainings this year, and was surprised that I’ve done it before, but called it inclusion!
This year, I am co-teaching math two days a week. Why not five, you ask? Well, my fifth grade teachers teach ELA and Math at the same time, and I couldn’t very well ignore ELA, could I?! So on Mondays and Tuesdays, I co-teach math and on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I pull my most struggling students with special needs to do my own reading and writing work with them. I have four kids in this group and the highest reader is comprehending at a beginning second grade level. I’m also including an ELL student who does not get special education services, but who needs to learn how to read. It is quite a diverse little group (and a difficult one to plan for)!
Anyway, back to co-teaching. We decided that we wanted to do a three group rotation. One group would be with me, one with the general education teacher, and one would be on iPads on MobyMax. Don’t know about MobyMax? Stop everything and check it out. (Pssst…it’s FREE!)
Sorry about that. I tend to get off track easily. I think it’s a side-effect of teaching special education. Each one of our rotation stations lasts about 20 minutes. The general education teacher has 25 minutes at the beginning of each math class for a whole class minilesson or to go over any homework. This was necessary so that I could pull a group for intense phonics and root word instruction while the ELA teacher was doing the same with the higher ability kids.
This is just a rough outline of how we are making co-teaching work for us. I’ll be adding more details and tips so be sure to check back!
Do you co-teach? What are your tips, thoughts, or challenges? I’d love to hear them! Just leave them in the comments!
