I never thought that a friendly Skype catch up with a friend would forever change my teaching career.

A friend of mine who just started work at Shanghai American School explained to me how her school follows the Co-Teaching model to meet the needs of the English learner population. At this point in time, I had no idea what Co-Teaching was. My assumptions about ELL instruction were limited to my experience in the classroom with pull out support for all language learners regardless of fluency. The focus was on language only; not the relationship between content and language.

In retrospect, I was a novice ELL teacher with a lot to learn.

This notion of Co-Teaching intrigued me. It naturally made sense to integrate language and content together; after all, learning happens when students are able to connect their ideas with themselves and the world around them. I took to Google as my starting point, simply searching the keyword “Co-Teaching” to see what I can find. I found videos of Maria Dove and Andrea Honigsfeld before I even know who they were. I stumbled upon Tan Hyun’s brilliant “Bathroom Briefs”, which ultimately led me to his blog then us meeting at the most recent ELLSA conference. I wandered into Valentina Gonzalez’s’ blog and articles by Larry Ferlazzo about ELL best practice. Books about Co-Teaching on my Amazon feed started popping up.

All of this eventually led to me joining Twitter where I met literally hundreds of ELL teachers / co-teachers alike.

The rest is history.

“In retrospect, I was a novice ELL teacher with a lot to learn.”

Organization

Before Co-Teaching, I was a mess.

My desk was always strewn with loose papers. I’d misplace important documents and forget appointments. My Google Calendar looked like the most fabulous rainbow you’ve ever seen. There were so many colors representing the most obscure events that after while color coding became an arbitrary, habitual task. My Google Drive was the equivalent of a 10 year old’s closet; open it, and the contents spew out like an electronic landslide.

Co-Teaching forced encouraged me to hunker down and change all of this. Being the only ELL teacher in the entire school, I had to manage the Co-Teaching process between 12 different classrooms, each on a different spot on the spectrum of collaboration. I was full on Co-Teaching with some teachers, while others were comfortable with Co-Planning and Co-Assessment. Regardless, working across so many grade levels meant that I had to get hyper organized. I overhauled my Google Calendar, simplified my Google Drive, and wrote everything down electronically. I stuck with a single to-do list and updated it throughout the day. It took a lot of work at the beginning of the year, but once I had my routine going my days flowed effortlessly with only a few occasional hiccups.

Not only did my organization help with me maintain appointments with teachers and classrooms, it also helped with my credibility. Even though I was still figuring things out, the way I was organized made teachers feel more comfortable working with me. Something as simple as keeping an updated and accessible Google Calendar allowed teachers to trust in my abilities. If I ever missed a meeting or forgot to follow up with a teacher (which does happen, albeit rarely), it did little to compromise my credibility as I maintained a positive level of consistency throughout the year.

Pro Tip: Brainstorm ways to get organized before starting to Co-Teach. Consider what information you need and how you are going to easily access it.

This is a sample of what my day to day calendar looks like. The only things it doesn’t include are WIDA / MAP testing for admissions.

Communication

Believe it or not, I was a bit of a hot head (I still kind of am) in my early years of teaching. I’m a feisty Leo who grew up in a family of Puerto Rican / Sicilian New Yorkers. We’re very passionate people, and sometimes that passion can come across as aggressive. This attitude doesn’t translate well in a highly collaborative teaching environment. I wanted to leave a positive first impression with teachers, so I reflected on how I can change my tendency to speak directly and bluntly to being a gentle, more understanding communicator. My goal was to get as many teachers as possible on my side, but also to keep them there.

The most compelling change I made to my communication was simply reframing my questioning and commenting to make conversations more positive and empowering. We talk about shifting from “deficiency based” mindsets (focusing on the negative)  to “assets based” (highlighting strengths) with students, but this shift must also occur with adults as well. My personality leans more towards being a “directive coach” by providing solutions to problems on the spot, using the word “you should” often to a fault. While this is appropriate in some instances, being a transformational coach yields much more positive results over a longer period of time. In the linked video, Elena Aguilar (author of, “The Art of Coaching”) uses language that reaffirms teachers’ feelings, highlights the positive that teachers are doing, and uses phrases like “I’m curious about. . .” and “Can you tell me more about. . .” to delve deeper into conversations as well as the root of teachers concerns. It may take longer to get to the root of problems and collaboratively develop solutions, but it helps both build trust and respect amongst colleagues.

Pro Tip: Tone and word choice can go a long way in building respect and trust with colleagues.

We knew one of the biggest changes we had to make was how we communicated with one another about students. I set the tone at the start of the year by showing how a shift in language can lead to success in our students.

True Collaboration

Collaboration is one of those teaching buzzwords that I hear being tossed around often. Co-Teaching has taught me the about the true essence of collaboration; what it means, how to do it properly, and most of all the amount of time it takes to cultivate. I researched successful Co-Teaching partnerships, but I also took time to look into why some of these partnerships didn’t work. Many failed Co-Teaching initiatives failed primarily due to an understanding of collaboration. Co-Teaching relationships are earned, not assigned, and that simply placing two teachers in a room together is hardly a recipe for successful collaboration. Knowing this, I took time at the end of last school year to cultivate positive relationships with teachers who I knew I could work with. This carried over to the beginning of the following year, but having already laid the groundwork for our partnership, we were able to focus on the nitty gritty details rather than start from scratch.

Creating a culture of collaboration (because it’s truly a cultural shift within a school) takes a significant amount of pre-planning, from day to day interactions with colleagues right down to the hiring process within the school. The first thing I did to start building a more collaborative school was reach out to my administration. Together, we were able to brainstorm ways to initiate conversations with colleagues and to provide the necessary PD at the start of the year in order to start the collaborative process.

Pro Tip: Research effective collaboration methods beforehand.

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After Co-Teaching, I don’t think my teaching will ever be the same. It’s pushed me to become a more collaborative, communicative, and organized professional. As I reenter the classroom next year, I’m excited to put my knowledge to use as a G1 homeroom teacher. Right now, what I’m missing most is the application of all of the knowledge that I’ve gained over the past few months. Expect a massive influx of content in the upcoming school year!