Co-Teaching Observation Findings

Erica Navarrette
 Background
• Kelly* (regular education teacher)
• Sam* (special education teacher)

• 2nd grade classroom

• Classroom and co-teaching relationship

stated as “fully inclusive”
*names have been changed
 Co-teaching Form Observed
• Alternative Teaching: one teacher takes
the big group of students and delivers
instruction while the other teacher
works with a small group delivering
(usually) the same instruction

I observed Kelly working with the whole group of

students on one topic while Sam worked with the
students with IEPs in a small group on a different
 Inclusion in the Classroom
• Inclusion: an inclusive classroom gives students
with special education needs the opportunity to
learn alongside their peers in the age appropriate
classroom all day long.
Examples I saw of inclusion:
-Students with special needs were in the classroom with their peers for 2/3 of each 90 minutes
math and reading block

-Students with special needs were included in the reader’s theater presentations and were
heterogeneously grouped with their peers.

-Special education teacher delivered about 75% of her instruction in the classroom
 Strengths
• According to chapter 5, Sam and Kelly showed
various strengths

-Constructivist activities were taking place, authentic

situations and tasks
-Balanced literacy approach to instruction, students were
making meaning of various literacies
-Extended block scheduling, 90 minutes for reading and
math
-Authentic Assessments of Student Performance, for regular
education students
 Next Steps… #1
• Goal: Increase authentic assessment of student
performance for ALL students
“authentic assessment occurs when students are expected to demonstrate skills that
represent real-life learning demands in and out of the classroom, without contrived
and standardized conditions (Kelly, Quiocho, Thousand, Udvari-Solner, Villa,
2005).”

• Action Plan: Both educators share in the

responsibility in creating all assessments to ensure
all students can access the assessment. If both
educators collaborate around authentic
assessments, Kelly can use her ideas, and Sam can
offer suggestions to ensure all students will be able
 Next Steps… #2
• Goal: Increase shared responsibility of instructional
roles (teaching) and presence (multiple instructional
agents) in the classroom
“having multiple instructional agents in the classroom increases the instruction-to-
student ratio and immediacy in the diagnosing and responding to student needs (Kelly,
Quiocho, Thousand, Udvari-Solner, Villa, 2005).”

• Action Plan: Rather than Kelly instructing only the regular

education students and Sam only working with students with IEPs,
Kelly and Sam can plan to vary instructional roles. They can teach
together in front of the whole group of students. Once the whole
group learning has concluded, Sam and Kelly can pull small groups
to ensure learning was mastered or extend beyond what was
presented. This will allow for all students to stay in the regular ed
room the entire 90 minute blocks.
*Using… partner learning and constructivist tasks to their advantage
 Next Steps… #3
• Goal: Both Educators track progress for all
students rather than Kelly tracking the progress
of regular education students and Sam only
tracking students with disabilities progress for
IEP monitoring.
According to the DPI Co-Teaching Implementation Checklist, both educators
should share in the responsibility of daily record keeping of learning activities for all
students

• Action Plan: Increase collaboration time from 30

minutes once a week to either 60 minutes once a
week or 30 minutes twice a week. This will allow
 Conclusion
• How will this promote inclusion for Sam and Kelly?

-Increase the time in the regular education classroom for

students with disabilities from 75% to 100%

-Increase the use of UDL to ensure all assessments and

instruction are accessible for all learners

-Increase heterogeneous groupings and students to learn from

one another

-Increase of collaboration, relationship building, and strong

culture within the classroom amongst all students
 Resources
• Serc. (n.d.). Six Approaches to Co-Teaching. Retrieved
from https://ctserc.org/component/k2/item/50-six-
approaches-to-co-teaching

• Thousand, J. S., Villa, R. A., Udvari-Solner, A., Quiocho,

A., & Kelly, P. (2005). Creating an inclusive school.
Moorabbin, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow Education.