Be safe, be appropriate, be responsible and please make sure you remain professional and follow ALL your district policies and procedures.
Only Blog Postings from NW GLRS Site Based Co-Teaching Academy Participants
Should Be Posted Here!
"Co-Planning and Models of Co-Teaching: Knowing Which Model to
Use and How"
Hello Fellow NW GLRS Co-Teaching Academy Members! I hope all is well with you and your school year is off to a great start. Hopefully, the whirlwind of starting a new year has settled and you’re finally able to teach. All the instructors from the NW GLRS Team want to commend you on all the great instruction we saw when we visited your classrooms at the beginning of the year. Most of you were teaching the standards and a few of you demonstrated great examples of differentiating instruction while teaching in a standards-based classroom.
Our major focus this year will be to: 1) help you move from the overused and not always the most appropriate model of collaboration of “one teach-one assist” to true “co-teaching"; 2) use data to drive and improve instruction in the areas of R/ELA and Math; 3) learn to effectively use various Web 2.0 21st Century Teaching Tools to effectively co-plan, differentiate instruction, and to overall enhance the teaching and learning experience of students with and without disabilities in your co-taught classrooms.
By now, each of you should have:
· Signed up for a Gmail account and emailed your Gmail address to your instructors and to Charlise Johnston at: cjohnston@nwgaresa.com
· Joined the NW GLRS Wikispace and checked it frequently for updates
· Joined the NW GLRS Blog as a Follower and followed the blog
· Read the online assignment and due date sheet and followed all the instructions listed that need to be completed for Day 1 Face-to-Face and Day 1 Online assignments (an assignment due date list for each cohort has been posted on the NW GLRS Wikispace on the Calendars, Handouts, and Forms Page)
Now, that we’ve finished our housekeeping this month, let’s getting to Blogging:
Introduce yourself to your instructors and the rest of the co-teachers in your Cohort. Then briefly discuss which model of co-teaching you used most this month and why. Then using the K-8 Access Center Co-Teaching Handout that discusses design, instruction, monitoring, and benefits as your rubric, self-assess you and your co-teacher’s level of proficiency. What did you do well and what do you still need to work on? Did you co-plan which collaborative model you were going to use before you used it, or did you just adlib? Did you both equally share in the teaching and learning of your students? Why or Why Not? Use the NW GLRS Standards-Based Lesson Plan template as your rubric to respond to this question. Did you co-plan using Google Docs yet? How did it work for you? Pros, cons, frustrations, celebrations???
Once you respond to this blog, then read at least 2 other co-teachers’ blog post and post comments. This is how we build a true professional learning community using social networking tools.
Hi, I'm Kelly Samples a 2nd grade teacher at Cloud Springs Elementary. I co-teach with Lori Younce for reading, language and math. Over the past month we used a variety of co-teaching models depending on the subject area. For this self assessment I'm going to use our math segment. In math we originally used station teaching. Remediation during this work time I felt was strong but we wanted to have our groups interact more during work time. We also didn't have much time for co-planning. Currently, Lori and I have been trying to meet at least 1x/wk to co-plan and have been using the math workshop format for our lessons. We have yet to use the co-plan format in Google Docs. During our most recent math lessons we have used more alternative teaching/team teaching. I feel we are making progress in the area of math and the students are also making progress. Moving forward I hope we can continue to co-plan and also work in some more time for remediation groups.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly! I'm glad you were finally able to post your comments on the blog. Hopefully, it will be a breeze from now on. Regarding your co-teaching, it sounds like you and Lori had a great deal of success. Things will get easier as the year progresses. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to practice using Google Docs to co-plan soon. This will provide you with "an" avenue to co-plan even if you're not together. Nothing is perfect, but this will help you both know which students need remediation and which ones need acceleration. Also, don't feel like you have to use all the models of collaboration/co-teaching all the time. You and Lori are the experts and feel free to use the model that works best for the teaching and learning taking place. Refer back to the handout I gave you by the K-8 Access Center on Differentiation. The rubric will help you a lot. If you can't find it, go to the NW GLRS Wikispace, and check on the page where handouts are located for co-teaching. Please keep up all your good work! Oh yes...feel free to post a "free style" blog posting to me or anyone else in the academy to give you suggestions with how to find time to co-plan. This is what social networking is all about. Take care!
ReplyDeleteHi, I am Carol Tindell, 3rd grade, Cloud Springs Elementary. My co-teacher is Paula Wright. We work together 3 segments a day. Currently we are using the station to station model in our reading core program (small groups with different content). We are also doing parallel teaching model in our math skills block (small groups - same content). Both models work well for us and we can cover more information. Like Kelly, we have not using Google Docs... still trying to figure it all out! We try to discuss and plan daily, but not always possible!
ReplyDeleteHi. I am Lori Younce a special educator coteacher in 2nd grade. I teach with Kelly Samples. We have used a variety of teaching models this year. We primarily use alternative teaching and team teaching. It depends on the needs of the children and the task at hand. I feel we have really made some progress as a team. For example, in math we are using a team teaching/alternative teaching model. This has worked well for our children. We have not used google docs as yet, nor have we had enough time to co-plan. We are attempting to get together at least once a week.
ReplyDeleteHI, my name is Angelia Beard and I am a 4th grade regular ed teacher from Cloud Springs Elem. I co-teach with Patti Raines 3 segments a day(Reading, Reading workshop, and Math). This is our 3rd year co-teaching together and it gets easier every year.
ReplyDeleteThis month we used One Teach, One Drift and Parallel Teaching. We mostly used parallel teaching because it helps to increase participation of all students in the classroom. We have also found that we can use interventions for students that need and work better in a small group situation.
I feel that One Teach, One Drift is proficient in our classroom. We both share the teaching of the curriculum as well as help students individually. We are still working on our Parallel teaching techniques because of the different needs of the children. We plan on adding station teaching next month because this is a technique we haven't tried.
We both share the responsibilities in the classroom with the teaching as well working with the students. We try to plan together at least 3x a week, more when possible.
My name is Patti Raines and I am special education teacher at Cloud Springs Elementary. I co-teach with Mrs. Beard and Mrs. Davis (4th/5th grade). I co-teach 3 segments with each grade. (Rdg, LA, Math)
ReplyDelete*In 4th grade, we used parallel teaching and one teach, one drift. We mostly used parallel because it helps to increase participation of our students. We have also found that we can use interventions for students that need them in small groups.
*In 5th grade, we mostly use parallel teaching also for the same reasons. One teach, one drift has also been used on occasion.
I feel that we share the instruction of the students very well in my 4th and 5th grade classrooms. We have learned to use one teach, one drift proficiently. This has allowed us to give our struggling students more help. We do need some work on our parallel teaching and we would like to add station teaching to our classroom.
*We really didn't plan how we were going to do it, we just did it like we had previously done it. We do both share in the teaching and learning of our students.
Hello Cloud Springs Elementary teachers! Kudos to you all for getting on the blog space and posting your first assignment. I am very impressed that you all seem to be using more than just One Teach, One Drift model. You mentioned Alternative Teaching, Parallel Teaching, and Station Teaching. I would love to talk with you more about how you are making these different models work even with what seems to be limited planning time with your co-teacher. It is rare that we see these other models being used in classrooms and I know we could all learn from your experiences. Would you all feel comfortable posting examples of great lessons you have designed and taught? Thanks for sharing your expertise!!
ReplyDeleteGood evening everyone! I apologize that I have not been able to respond to your blog posts this week as I've been swamped as I know you are. Please know that I plan to carve out some time for you this weekend and I'll be in touch. Take care and I look forward to connecting with you soon!
ReplyDeleteCassandra
Kudos to the co-teachers at Cloud Springs Elementary! You all are doing an excellent job with co-teaching and you're definitely proving to be model co-teachers! I'm glad you're taking risks and are trying different models of co-teaching. Planning to use different models of co-teaching/collaboration always pose some challenges simply because its new. Try reviewing the co-teaching/collaboration rubric that I shared with you from the K8 Access Center which provides you with several examples of what each model looks like, examples of what instruction looks like in each model, the kind of monitoring/assessment that can take place in each of the models and the benefits of each model. This should be a great starting place for you with planning how to use the various models along with the other handout I shared with you called "Co-Teaching in the Classroom". This provides you with examples of "if one teacher is doing this" then the "other teacher should be doing this". These are great resources. One other thought, try using the Google Docs for at least one co-taught lesson in R/ELA or Math and follow the script on the lesson plan and use these handouts. You'll be fine. Also, don't forget I placed several Google Docs tutorials for you on the NW GLRS Wikispace. I've placed podcasts examples and several handouts in PDF format and at least one slide share for you to watch. Also, YouTube has tons of video examples that I linked to Wikispace for you to watch too. It's really not that hard. Let me know if you all need some help. I'll walk you through it, as we're all learning together. Take care and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!
ReplyDeleteCassandra
Hi! My name is Jane Anne Cole. I am the regular ed half of a first grade co-teaching team. We are co-teaching during writer's workshop. We use two different co-teaching models for the most part: one teach/one drift and parallel teaching. We have found that these models allow us to better serve all the students in the classroom. Both teachers are able to work with students of all ability levels. We have a difficult time carving out big blocks of time to plan. We find ourselves making adjustments to our plans for the next day during the few minutes before and after class and in numerous e-mails. I feel that we do share the responsibility for instruction by parallel teaching. I feel it is a blessing to have another teacher's knowledge at my disposal. Corroboration is a beautiful thing! We have not yet used Google Docs. I wonder if Google Docs would relieve some of our frustrations with planning?
ReplyDeleteI would also like to respond to a couple of posts. First, it was comforting to realize that Paula and I are not the only ones finding it hard to carve out quality planning time. I also should have read the other posts before I posted my last blog, because it seems that Google Docs should definitely help with our planning problems. Now, I just need to check out some of those tutorials. Secondly, I like what Patti Raines said about parallel teaching: "that it helps to increase participation of our students". Many times, students are more apt to speak up in a small group. Paula and I have been pulling students to the side one at a time to work and conference, but I think we should talk about creating small groups and rotating them through while parallel teaching.
ReplyDeleteI loaded the lesson plan template to Google Docs. That's as far as I got. Still trying to share with co-teacher and Dr. Holifield. I'll continue tomorrow!:-)
ReplyDeleteCarol, Your tip about checking the second box when uploading to Google Docs was fabulous. I was finally able to upload our lesson plan without messing up the format. If anyone else is having trouble, you have to uncheck the firt box and check the second box before uploading. Thanks Carol!
ReplyDeleteHi, I am Jason Campbell, I do the special ed half of Math II at LFO High School. The regular ed teacher with me is Mr. Lyons. We work together just 1 segment a day. In the past month we have mainly used one teaching, one drifting and team teaching mainly due to the fact that this is my first year in math. However, once I feel like I know the material even better we will mix in Alternative Teaching. I believe students have great response to the different techniques of teaching and I feel like we throw a lot of different ideas at the students and they respond well. We have yet to use google docs because they are having trouble unblocking it.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Paule Wright and I am a coteacher in 3rd grade with Carol Tindell and 1st grade with Jane Anne Cole.In the 1st grade classroom we are coteaching during writer's workshop. We use the two different models for the most part: one teach/one drift and parallel teaching. We have found that these models allow us to better serve all the students in the classroom inclluding those with disabilities. Bhoth teachers are able to work with all students with different ability levels. We have had a difficult time carving out enough time to plan together. We find ourselves making adjustments to our plans fo the next day during the few minutes before and after class time and through numerous emails. Even though the mini lesson is introduce by the regular ed. teacher, by also parallel teaching we are able to equally share the responsibility of instructing the children over all. In the 3rd grade classroom, we use station to station and parallel teaching. These models work well in this classroom. We are able to serve all the children in the classroom in smaller groups working with their individual strengths and weaknesses. This model has worked well for us for the past coupld of years. We are in the process of learning how to use Google Docs in both classrooms.
ReplyDeleteDr. Holifield gave us a list of web sites to access. Spellingcity.com is a good one to add to the list. It's Free!! I have used it in class for weekly vocab. words or spelling words and it has helped my students. I currently have 3 students that take their spelling test on spelling city and I get a print out. The results have been pretty amazing for these students. My class can also pull it up at home and practice words on the computer instead of doing paper work.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Alicia Davidson, and I co-teach 9th grade English with Aime Welch at Heritage High School. After leaving the initial face-to-face meeting, we planned to shake things up a bit and try out the only model we had not used before. We decided to teach poetry and non-fiction at the same time using the parallel teaching model. I would take half of the class for half of the period and work on non-fiction with them, and she would keep the other half and work on poetry. We would swap at the halfway point of the block so that all students recieved the same instruction and information daily. While we both enjoyed leading our own sections, the repetition of teaching the same thing four times in two blocks was slightly tiresome. I believe it served its purpose in that the students were essentially in a smaller environment, but after that unit ended, we transitioned back into using other models. We tend to stick with alternative and shared teaching. We have not used Google Docs yet. The last time I tried to upload a document, there was still a formatting issue. I'm just thankful that Aime and I have shared planning this year! :)
ReplyDelete