Keeping It Real: Co-Teaching Without Co-Planning

Six practical co-teaching strategies that remain effective even in the absence of co-planning.

DR. LAURA RIGOLOSI
Curriculum & Literacy Specialist
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If you are a special education teacher and you are co-teaching in multiple subject areas, you may be running from classroom to classroom, with a cart or a crate of supplies, adjusting to your co-teacher’s teaching style and your students’ changing attitudes towards particular classes. Day after day, this can be exhausting and challenging! It is not uncommon for special education teachers to feel overwhelmed trying to stay on top of all of their classes, at all times. Throw into this mix co-teaching a new content class or one that is particularly unfamiliar to you, and it can feel impossible to stay afloat or to co-teach with confidence. 

According to the NYCDOE, the purpose of co-teaching, or the Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) program, is for the general education teacher and the special education teacher to “work together to adapt materials and modify instruction to make sure the entire class can participate.”

For this to happen effectively, co-teachers need time to meet, think, plan, and reflect on their instruction together. But what can you do when that co-planning time isn’t possible?

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​Balance your co-teaching partnership
Examine established co-teaching models that have been tested, tweaked, and turnkeyed, and imagine how you might adapt these models for use in your own classroom as you find ways to leverage the strengths and skills of each teacher in service of high-quality instruction. Learn more →

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Persevering in the absence of co-planning

This year, I am working in high schools where co-teachers do not have common prep periods to plan or debrief, or the special education teacher is co-teaching in five different content classes, so juggling between different classes and co-teachers is a real issue. 

Yet I have found that a special education co-teacher who was not able to participate in the planning of an ICT class can still be an effective and essential teacher in the room. There are ways that a co-teacher can continue to support students in a circumstance where co-planning is not an option. 

Be a vulnerable learner
If your co-teacher is showing a video clip, delivering a mini-lecture, or demonstrating a problem, sit alongside your students and try to actively learn alongside them.

For example:

• Raise your hand when something seems unclear and ask a specific question
• Ask if another student can answer the question instead of your co-teacher

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Create student-student engagement moments
Look around the room and notice students behaviors and dispositions. If students appear sleepy or disengaged, ask your co-teacher to pause for a moment, and ask students to “turn and talk” with the person sitting next to them to discuss what is happening thus far with the class content. You can guide students with prompts such as, “Something I understand so far is… “ or “Something that I don’t understand so far is…” and allow students to discuss the topic in a low-stakes way. This will prompt students to think and say something about the topic, nudging them to think on their own and become active in their learning.


Model your notetaking skills
Take notes alongside your students if they are being asked to take notes. Take the opportunity to take exemplar notes for the class, and be prepared to demonstrate to students how you took notes. Be mindful to model a particular type of notes such as Cornell notes, or even structured notes that include text features such as boxing key terms, indenting and using bullet points for lists, and using the margins for labeling or personal questions/thoughts.

When given the opportunity, show students via a document projector how you took notes, and ask them to notice your notetaking skills and how these types of notes could be used for future studying. Ask students to consider why taking clear notes is a study skill employed by top students. 


Utilize the One Teach, One Observe co-teaching model
Gather your clipboard and class notes, and circulate the classroom taking notes on your students and how they are interacting with the material, and with each other. You can vary what you are observing depending on your needs. For example, if you are looking to create groups for a future class, perhaps you are circulating and noting students’ skill levels to determine how to group students. Perhaps you are noting how well students are grasping the concepts in class by how independently they are able to work on the problem set. Be prepared to share these notes with your co-teacher. 


Prepare for the Alternative Teaching Model
By carefully observing your students during classwork, you may determine which students may need further instruction on a topic, or which group of students are ready to level up a new topic. This could lead to an “alternative teaching model” on the following day, where one teacher pulls a small group to re-teach a topic or levels up and teaches a new, accelerated topic. 


Keep discussions visible
Throughout a class period, there are exchanges between students or between students and the teacher that punctuate or highlight a particular issue. When one of these aha moments are developing, chart out the conversation by writing key ideas that are being discussed on the whiteboard or chart paper. This way, if a student zoned out for a moment or went to the bathroom and returned, they can catch up more easily with a key concept that was discussed in class. 

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​Let me be clear: I am not advocating for this type of co-teaching model where one teacher is not prepared for class (due to lack of common planning time or other reasons outside of their control). Ideally, co-teachers are receiving professional support and have time built into their schedules to meet and plan together, and even discuss which of the six co-teaching models makes the most sense for each particular lesson. 

If they do not have regular time to meet together, the content teacher can still prioritize delivering materials and lessons with adequate time for the special education co-teacher to make modifications, or create groups based on students’ needs.

But even when these options aren’t possible, there are ways that a co-teacher can play an essential role in the classroom in the absence of adequate planning or prep time. By remaining active in class — as a learner, notetaker, or observer — the special education co-teacher can raise the level of instruction and thus ensure all students are benefiting from having two educators in the classroom. 
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CO-TEACH WITH CONFIDENCE

GET TO KNOW YOUR CO-TEACHER

ARTICULATE YOUR LESSONS