During winter quarter 2013, half of the multiple subject teacher candidates were placed in co-teaching classrooms, a new approach to student teaching in which, from day one, the candidates are involved in planning, teaching and assessing lessons with their cooperating teachers. This partnership provided enhanced learning opportunities for everyone involved.
Before the quarter began, cooperating teachers and teacher candidates met for an intensive workshop where they not only got to know each other but also had the opportunity to explore the strategies and benefits of co-teaching. When the quarter started, the candidates were introduced as teacher candidates rather than as students, which encouraged the elementary students to view the candidates as teachers.
Both candidates and cooperating teachers were actively involved in the classroom by using either the one teach/one observe or one teach/one assist strategy. “The most positive aspect of co-teaching, in my mind, is that two teachers are ‘on’ most of the day, every day,” one of the cooperating teachers said.
Station teaching is frequently used in elementary classrooms, and having two teachers instructing at the stations added to the students’ time with a teacher. Parallel teaching and differentiated teaching are strategies that also increase the students’ opportunities to seek help from a teacher.
“There were different levels of student knowledge in the classroom, and the small-group interaction truly helped the students learn,” one candidate said.
Confidence in using the team-teaching strategy typically increased as the quarter progressed. The candidates didn’t feel threatened by input from their cooperating teachers, and both cooperating teachers and candidates felt free to interject when they felt it would improve the lesson.
As the candidates and cooperating teachers worked together, the candidates gradually took on the lead teacher role. “As my teacher candidate became more familiar with the routines and the class, I felt more confident letting her take a lead role, and I provided support if she was having trouble. I believe that she also felt more confident taking on more and more leadership knowing that I was there to support her,” one cooperating teacher said.
University supervisors, the third part of the co-teaching team, witnessed some excellent teaching. They saw students benefiting when two teachers were available to answer questions, and classrooms were more orderly because student issues or disruptions were addressed by one teacher while the other continued teaching.
The School of Education plans to increase the number of candidates in cooperative teaching assignments each quarter.
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