Getting Started with Co-Teaching
As I enter this newly revived role of Co-Teaching this year, I was reminiscing on my introduction to this model of teaching several years ago. I had started an ELD position that wasn’t developed, so I had the autonomy to tailor it to the needs of the school. At that point, I hadn’t even heard about Co-Teaching until a friend brought it up to me, and since then I’ve been hooked. I’ve done deep dives, reading, and engaged in professional development specifically geared towards Co-Teaching. I had to learn fast, and I had little help in this endeavor. I was thinking about what tools I would have found useful if I were to enter a new Co-Teaching program myself with little training or knowledge of its practices.
In this post, I wanted to recommend some starting points for new Co-Teachers to go to if they’re establishing their own program.
Getting Started
Suggested Readings
I prefer to start my own learning with reading. This way, I can get a deeper understanding of whatever research based pedagogy it is I’m studying and stories of what it looks like in practice. The first book I started with was “The Art of Coaching” by Elena Aguilar. Co-Teachers also have the essential role of EL Coaches; assisting teachers in implementing best practices and working with them at their level of comfort. “The Art of Coaching” helped me navigate the difficult conversations that coaches inevitably confront not just with teachers, but with administration as well. This book not only helped me get into the mindset of working with colleagues, but provided me the language to interact with them on a deeper, more professional level.
“Co-Teaching for English Learners” by Maria Dove and Andrea Honigsfeld is the next book I would suggest. This book digs in more into the specifics of Co-Teaching; the reader explores the Co-Teaching models and strategies that they will be implementing on a day to day basis. It also goes in depth with the Co-Teaching cycle; Co-Planning, Co-Teaching, Co-Assessing, and Co-Reflecting. This is a helpful guide that I went back to several times in the starting year of my practice, and it helps new Co-Teachers dip their toes in the water before starting.
The last book I would recommend is one that I only finished recently. It’s called “Race, Empire, and English Language Teaching” by Suhanthie Motha. I think this book should be read by all teachers of English as it explores the racist and colonial roots that run deep in the field of English teaching. It’s very theoretical; don’t expect a go-to guide of strategies that help you decolonize your instruction (lol). Motha designed this book to provoke readers into thinking critically about their practice, and for them to come to their own decisions on how to make change. This essential reading has helped me develop an anti racist lens in ELT, and now I’m thinking of how to decolonize and decenter whiteness in my practice. I’ve noticed a lot of more recent books are using language like Multilingual Learners and Culturally Responsive Teaching. Motha writes about these concepts in her book, which was published over seven years ago, but doesn’t receive the acclaim and attention she deserves.
Build Relationships
So much of Co-Teaching is built upon relationships with colleagues. Co-Teaching relationships, when forced, are likely to be unsuccessful. I know of several schools that attempted to start a Co-Teaching model but didn’t build a strong foundation of trust and cooperation beforehand. They ended up reverting back to isolated pull out models because teachers’ relationships became strained.
A part of Co-Teaching is also being an effective coach. Many Co-Teaching models have language teachers work directly in classrooms, but also with individual teachers/teams during planning times. The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar was a starting point for me. It gave me tools to reflect on my own values as a collaborative educator within school structures. It also showed me different methods of coaching, and common pitfalls/habits that coaches tend to fall into especially when they’re new in the field.
One thing I noticed that The Art of Coaching lacked was the exploration of intersectional identities within classrooms. This is particularly necessary as we work with students who come from several different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Much of contemporary English language teaching strategies is steeped in racist, colonialist, and heteronormative ideologies (Motha, 2014 pg. 2). Her book that I mentioned, “Race, Empire, and ELT” as well as “So You Want To Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo are great starting points to understand and challenge the status quo of whiteness and ELT. As English teachers, it’s imperative for us to challenge problematic rhetoric and practices within our contexts.
Starting Resources
Going into Co-Teaching, I searched Twitter to find as many resources as possible to help get me started. I found a lot of stuff, almost too much to the point of being overwhelmed. Eventually, I was able to collect several useful tools as well as modifying some to fit my needs. Others I drew inspiration from and used them to create my own.
Lesson plan templates
One resource that has been of insurmountable help is a Co-Teaching Lesson Plan Template created by Michelle Gill. It’s designed specifically for WIDA schools, but teachers can manipulate the rubric formatting and language to fit their context. I would highly recommend going the electronic route because, if you’re like me, you’ll be Co-Teaching across several grades. Meeting with teams in person and Co-Planning live with everyone is impossible. This electronic template saved me so much time and helped me plan without actually having to meet with teachers constantly. Schools will likely be closing from time to time this coming year (at least in Thailand) so the more we can get used to electronic materials, the easier it will be to transition to online learning modalities.
Collaboration tools
Jon Nordmyer created a Collaboration Menu as a tool for teachers to use for a quick Co-Teaching reference. Co-Teachers don’t necessarily Co-Teach with everyone. So much of Co-Teaching is dependent on relationships that we have with our colleagues and their comfort level with deep collaboration. A Collaboration Menu is a way for hesitant collaborators to select something they would like to work on a Co-Teacher with. Co-Teachers can also get creative and make a fun design like I did :p I used www.canva.com to design mine. You can find a lot of examples online to get ideas on what you want to include in your menu.
Protocols
I’m sure many teachers are in the same situation as me in that they’re starting a Co-Teaching program from scratch. It’s crucial to get with your administration team and discuss some key factors in supporting students; who receives support, how is support provided, who needs to know, and a timeline of how support falls into practice throughout the year. For instance, in my protocol document I created a timeline that indicates when students receive language assessments, when parents are communicated with, and school wide assessment dates like MAP. It’s important that documents like these are living documents in that they are being revisited and changed periodically throughout the year as you discover what works and what doesn’t. Include links for documents and folders so that everything is organized. This will also ensure that when you leave your position, there’s documentation to show how your Co-Teaching program works. This is especially crucial as international schools tend to have frequent teacher turnover.
Communication and follow up with teachers is key, especially if you have a large caseload like me. My current caseload is 31 students, but it will continue to grow as I assess younger students when we open back up for in person classes. I created an EL student report document that’s aligned with WIDA and recommends potential strategies that teachers can implement in their classrooms for each language domain. The strategies come from the CAL Go-To strategies developed by Linda Levine, Laura Lukens, and Betty Ansin Smallwood (2007).
My caseload spans across grades K-12, so it’s impossible for me to be in every classroom consistently. I’m only able to target grade levels/classrooms that have the most immediate needs. However, I still want to support other grades when I can. To help with this, I created a tracking spreadsheet for teachers to document observations for their English learners. Drop down boxes can help mitigate some of the time it takes to fill these out, but teachers are also encouraged to write their own anecdotal notes instead. I communicate with teachers via email every two weeks to check in on them and their students, and each time I link this document to remind them to fill it out as needed. I also write my own observations when I visit classrooms.
Resources to develop over time
Some resources you will likely build over time as you Co-Teach. Another resource that I have started working on again is an EAL Strategies Playbook developed by Dr. Virginia Rojas. This playbook is a list of research based strategies for teachers to utilize within their classrooms. I developed one for my own context and organized each strategy by domain. I also included links to research/articles for each strategy. I haven’t touched this document in a few years, but now that I’m back in the EAL role again I will be adding to it periodically. It can take a while to fully develop a resource like this, and it should always be growing! For instance, my next goal is to add the access/engage/express columns to each strategy to demonstrate the relationship of each strategy with student learning
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Starting a Co-Teaching model isn’t easy. It requires a lot of preparation, research, and some trial-and-error. The most important things to focus on is taking it slow and building relationships with colleagues. This method of teaching may not be familiar to everyone, so it will take some time to get comfortable with it. Just keep moving forward and I’m sure you’ll be successful!