While using station teaching or acceleration centers as an approach to co-teaching is often very successful for both teachers and students, it is important to use this approach correctly.  To help those co-teachers already using, or thinking about implementing, an acceleration center approach in their classroom, here are:

Tips for Successful Acceleration Centers

• Reassign partners every four to five weeks.
• Don’t change partners in response to student requests or complaints. Doing so opens up a Pandora’s box of potential problems.
• Acceleration Center assignments must be able to be managed and completed independently. If students cannot manage the assignments by themselves they will often stop completely or interrupt the teachers and/or other small groups for help. The goal of the center is for students to be able to increase achievement but also for teachers to gain valuable conferencing time or small group work time uninterrupted. Teachers must be able to optimize Acceleration Center time.
• Acceleration Centers are not thematic nor do they become obsolete at any point during school year. Avoid any seasonal connotation. They are set up for sustainability, requiring minimal prep work when prep for the centers is viewed in light of creating lesson plans suitable for an entire school year.

• Use Acceleration Centers to support state standards or curriculum goals from basic to proficient.

• Create procedures and rules for utilizing the Acceleration Centers with students as part of the process. By doing so, teachers engage students in the process they are more likely to buy into.

• If setting up more than one center, start with the first one and practice the rules and procedures using the first one as a teaching tool.

• As silly as it may sound to a secondary teacher, whether middle school, junior high, or high school, it is imperative to have students practice moving from their seats to the Acceleration Center to choose an activity and back to their seats or small groups until they can do it quietly and efficiently. This typically will take 10 or 15 minutes of practice, set up as a timed contest. Use a stopwatch and practice until students can run the procedure in three minutes or less. It may be beneficial to incorporate a reward system to maintain proper behavior and efficiency over the course of the school year.

• Keep records of completed assignments and how those assignments align to state standards or curriculum goals.

• Train one or two “student experts” on how the Acceleration Centers function. They do not need to know how to do the academic portion of the center; rather, they need to teach other students how to follow the instructions in the folders, how to keep the center organized, and how to explain the logistics of the center to other students. The “student expert” makes it possible for students to work without interrupting the teacher while the teacher is coaching others.

From Co-Teaching and Collaboration in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Success

1. There are many models of co-teaching. Work with your co-teacher and your administrators to determine what will work best in your classroom. Finding an arrangement that works for everyone is a good first step in a successful co-teaching relationship.

2. Even if your co-teaching model is a “one teacher, one support teacher,” always emphasize to your students that you are both “The Teacher.” It’s not one teacher, one less-important teacher.

3. When co-teaching, we have to check our egos at the door and make decisions that are in the best interest of our students. Over the years, traditional practice has reinforced the myth that special education teachers should be with the students that need basic skills while the general education teacher teaches the whole class. That’s not necessarily true. Let the situation dictate the response.

4. Know your strengths and weaknesses. As a part of your planning together, communicate with each other about what you feel you do particularly well and in what areas you feel you are not as strong. You may find that you can fill each others’ gaps, so to speak. Together, two great teachers can make a spectacular co-teaching team.

5. You have to plan. It’s unavoidable – to be a good team you must spend time working together to create and refine your classroom plans. Administrations do not always allow prep periods where both teachers are free, or may only leave one or two periods a week free for planning. Make the most of the time you have and be creative in finding any extra time you may need.

6. Plan for your planning. As much as possible, get your lesson plans and weekly goals set before you meet with each other. Then you’ll be free to work strictly on the parts of the lesson plan for which you need each other. Efficient use of your time is essential, especially when it’s limited to begin with.

7. Do not isolate anyone. When you have a one teacher/one support model or a one teacher/one special education teacher model, it is too easy to slip into an arrangement where one teacher is always working with only a few students while the general classroom teacher always works with the rest of the class. This establishes a negative “otherness” for the small group, including the teacher. Small groups can be extremely effective, just be sure that they’re not isolating the same group of students all the time.

8. When you have a one teacher/one support teacher model, students can frequently get the picture that one teacher is the “real” teacher while the other teacher is someone secondary. Avoid this at all costs. A good way to avoid this is to have the support teacher teach the general classroom in a subject or topic that she or he is particularly proficient at, rather than having him or her constantly relegated to typical “support” tasks.

9. If you will be working in a parallel teaching or alternative teaching model, set aside a prep period for the two of you to arrange your classroom. You may need to move things around a few times to find a set-up that allows you both to be teaching at the same time without distracting students or each other. Careful planning of your shared space will pay off.

10. If you are an administrator selecting teachers to pair as co-teachers, think carefully about your choices. A supportive co-teaching pair takes work to create, but all the conflict resolution or professionalism in the word cannot compensate for two seriously mismatched personalities.

11. If you are part of a new co-teaching pair (and especially if co-teaching is new to your school) be patient with the process. It will take time for you both to adjust to each others’ personalities and teaching styles.

12. If you are using an alternative teaching model, consider using Fitzell Acceleration Centers, an advanced method of co-teaching that allows students to learn at a pace that fits them. You can learn about how to set up Fitzell Acceleration Centers in Susan Fitzell’s book Co-teaching & Collaboration in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Success.

These tips are derived from Co-teaching & Collaboration in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Success by Susan Gingras Fitzell M. Ed., available at CogentCatalyst.com.

Regardless of how you look at the year, I hope that you return to your students this month with a bright new outlook and the resolve to reach as many of your students as you can.  To help with that, I’m very excited about my new, FREE, magazine, Terrific Instruction Tips and Tools.

This magazine is full of articles to help teachers, and parents, meet the goal of reaching all learneres. If you, or your campus, service center, or organization could benefit from this information, please contact us at 603-625-6087 and we’ll get some to you asap!

Here’s to a great year ahead, filled with all the success you wish, for yourself, your family, and your students!

Team teaching is an advanced method of co-teaching that requires both teachers to have compatible personality and teaching styles.  It is also important that both teachers feel competent in the subject area.

There are many ways to use team teaching in the classroom.  Co-teachers can equally present the content being taught, ask critical thinking questions, play ‘devil’s advocate’ in order to make a point, debate with each other and the students, and take advantage of both teachers’ knowledge of the subject.

It is important, however, that students clearly see no difference in hierarchy between the co-teachers using this approach. Normally, team teaching does not occur unless both teachers are comfortable with each other. Usually they have been together for a while and know the topic equally well.

For teachers who are new to co-teaching, however, knowing what to discuss during the planning process can seem as daunting as co-teaching itself.  To help your co-teaching planning, here are some key discussion points:

Planning time

• How much time do we need to plan?
• When will we make the time to plan?
• What checks can we put in place to ensure we use our time effectively?
• What documentation or materials should we bring to the planning meeting with us?

Instruction

• How will we determine the content to be taught? Will we use curriculum compacting, curriculum mapping data, or state standards to target the most critical content?
• Who will plan what?
• When will the special education co-teacher implement instruction to students with disabilities, without disabilities, both?
• How will the co-teacher implement instruction?
• How will we decide who teaches what?
• Who creates curriculum adaptations, accommodations, and modifications?
• Who adapts the tests?
• How will we use our strengths in the classroom when planning instruction?
• How will we present the content? Will one person do all the direct teaching or will both share responsibility for teaching the lesson?
• Should we rotate responsibilities?
• If working with a paraprofessional, who will train the paraprofessional to use the specific instruction strategies?
• Who will evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction provided by the paraprofessional?

Student Behavior

• What are the classroom expectations (i.e., classroom rules) for students and adults?
• How are classroom expectations communicated to the students?
• What is the plan to address unacceptable student behavior in a timely manner?
• What are the specific roles of the adults in the room in supporting positive student behavior?
• How will we be consistent in managing behavior and support each other’s authority?
• What are our pet peeves? What student behavior pushes our buttons? What can we not tolerate in the classroom?
• If our discipline style is very different, where can we find common ground?

Student Behavior

• How will we ensure regular communication with each other?
• How will we address our communication needs with each other?
• Who will communicate with the parents of students on an IEP? The students who are not on an IEP? Do we share the responsibility for communication equally?
• How should we handle conflict or concern with each other to preserve the harmony of our relationship?
• When one of us wants to share a new idea should we present it in writing first so there’s time to process or just talk about it?
• Who will communicate with parents about: routine daily occurrences, unusual situations, other?
• What do we need to know about each other?
• What do I need in order to work effectively in my classroom?
• What can I absolutely not tolerate in my co-teacher?
• What am I looking forward to in the co-teaching relationship?
• What are my non-negotiables?
• The most important thing to me in our co-teaching relationship is…?
• What are our expectations of each other?
• How do we react to unexpected changes in plans?
• What are our expectations regarding:
1. Class work and homework being done on time, or independently?
2. Grading?
3. Noise level?
4. Small-group work?
5. Differentiating instruction?
6. Giving or receiving feedback?
7. Dividing the work load?

The program, Lab Partners v2.0, offers teachers a way to pair students, either randomly or by grades, for lab or center activities. Lab Partners is designed by Multimedia Science, a company that writes science software “By teachers, for teachers.”

I often hear teachers say that they have trouble with the process of grouping and pairing students in ways that benefit all learners in their classrooms.  This program offers a great solution for this process and makes pairing students both easy, and efficient!

For those of you who find yourself in situations where you can’t install software on your computer, the folks at Multimedia Science built a portable version exclusively for us.  This is just one of the great free programs that you can find on our Tech4Teachers USB drive!  Check it out or download the install-able version today!

One teacher, one support teacher is the most common co-teaching model; however, any one of the other models might be a better choice depending on the lesson plan, the class dynamics, available preparation time, availability of materials, etc. Some models are more appropriate for certain grade levels or subject areas, or at certain times of the year, than others.

Choose your co-teaching model based on the goals of the lesson, class personality, behavioral dynamics, and teacher comfort levels. Consider the benefits and challenges of each model and then decide, with your co-teacher, what will work best. It is not uncommon to observe seasoned

co-teachers using one model the first half of the class, another co-teaching model the second half, and a totally different co-teaching model the following day.

Co-teachers might choose approaches based on:

• The learning needs of the students, student behavior, and the level of student motivation.
• Teacher personality and learning style can significantly impact which approach is chosen. A teacher may prefer alternative teaching to team teaching, for example.
• The lesson plan often dictates which approach might work best. If the lesson involves hands-on small-group work, teachers may choose station teaching or alternative teaching. If the lesson is primarily direct teaching, teachers might choose team teaching or have one teach while one supports.
• The physical space available in the classroom may significantly impact station teaching, parallel teaching, or alternative teaching. Sometimes teachers have to be very creative in order to figure out a way to differentiate presentation styles within the physical limitations of the classroom.

From Co-Teaching and Collaboration in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Success

Over the years, traditional practice has reinforced the myth that the special education teacher should be with the students that need the basic skills while the general education teacher teaches the whole class. That, however, is not necessarily the best thing for the students. Let the situation dictate the response.

For example, I met a math teacher who was becoming very frustrated that her students with special needs weren’t making the necessary gains, even though the special education teacher had been working with them. It was already March.

The math teacher found that the special education teacher knew the math well enough to teach it to the larger group. However, the students who needed alternate strategies and ways of explaining the math actually got them better from the math teacher. Why?

Simple – the math teacher understood the math at a deeper level. In this case, she was able to present the math concept in ways that the special education teacher didn’t know because that was her area of expertise. She came up with four or five different approaches to teach the concept while the special educator was able to teach the larger group in the way that the teacher’s manual presented it.  While that was fine for the main body of students who were at grade level, it didn’t work for the ones who were struggling.

Because the general education teacher had a bigger bag of tricks for teaching the math concepts, and a better understanding of the material, she was the better choice to work with the struggling students.

She found that as soon as she began implementing intense re-teaching and intervention strategies, her students started advancing in skill level and in understanding. She had the special education teacher teach the main lesson so that she could work with the students with special needs and they soon saw better results.

In this situation, both teachers had to put aside what they wanted to do, or what they were used to doing, check their egos at the door, and make the right decision for their students.  This is co-teaching at its best.

From Co-Teaching and Collaboration in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Success

I know you’re all looking at that line and saying to yourselves, “Well of course I’m flexible; I fully intend to be.” However, I’m not talking about your own personality, though that is important too. I’m talking about what you plan together in the classroom. In essence, if you and your co-teacher can come up with some kind of a flexible plan that would meet the requirements of kids with an IEP and, at the same time, meet the requirements of the regular education kids, you’re going to have an easier time making it happen in your classroom.

Of course, this does require some planning on both of your parts, but even just snatching a few minutes during prep time or your lunch break can work wonders. You could also exchange phone numbers and e-mail so you can work together on projects. For the more technologically advanced, consider signing up for Google Wave, where you can actually collaborate on lesson plans together, in real time or whenever each of you has the time to get online.

In the classroom, have a signal planned between the two of you so that, if you need to switch things midstream, the kids won’t feel confused as to who is teaching the lesson.

The bottom line is, like I said at the beginning of this blog post, you just need to be flexible and then everything else will fall into place.

We spent the day discussing teaching strategies and ways to involve all learners in the classroom. At the end of the full day session, Dr. Twomey got up and endorsed the ideas I had spoken about.  He expressed his desire to see the strategies that we covered actually being implemented in the classroom and was so passionate about that desire that he offered an incentive to his staff.  He asked that teachers nominate each other and identify who they saw actually using strategies to differentiate instruction in their classrooms. He promised that he would have periodic drawings  to recognize and reward those teachers for implementing strategies learned in the session.

I  learned late last week that Dr. Twomey had just awarded a FREE day off to each of three outstanding teachers (one from each district campus).  I’m not talking about extra prep time, or a sick day.  This administrator awarded each of these outstanding teachers a day off, with pay, and no strings attached!

So often administrators fail to follow through, or simply don’t know how to support their teachers, or motivate them to be the best teachers that they can be.   I could not pass up the opportunity to recognize Dr. Twomey and the tenacious support he offers his teachers and, in turn, the students of Havana School District 126.

Congratulations to Wendy Saylor, Music Teacher at New Central Elementary, Janet Barker, 5th Grade Teacher at Havana Middle School, and Barb Ramsey, Chemistry Teacher at Havana High School for their hard work and dedication to good teaching!