- Introduce each other’s roles in the classroom as equal but different. For example, the general education teacher can be the content area specialist, while the special education teacher is the learning strategies specialist. Some co-teaching teams prefer not to distinguish roles and introduce themselves as “the teachers” of the class.
- Understand personality styles. This knowledge can improve your life and enhance all your collaborative relationships. Co-teaching is like an arranged marriage; how you handle your colleague’s personality can make or break the relationship.
- Plan daily lessons, activities, tests, assignments, and more together.
- Ensure the entire team, including the teacher, co-teacher, paraprofessional, parents, and students, works together as much as possible.
- Collaborate to implement adaptations, modifications, and accommodations the IEP requires without reducing content.
- Work together to develop a discipline policy and determine your roles when discipline is necessary.
- The teacher and co-teacher should work with all students individually and in groups.
- Teach and re-teach specific learning skills to students who need them. Reinforce alternative learning techniques.
- Prep time is minimal and precious, and it may not be the same for both co-teachers. To maximize planning time, share as much information beforehand as possible in the cloud (Google Classroom, Dropbox, collaboration apps) or email.
- Partner with colleges and universities to have student teachers present activities, provide demonstrations, review with games, and help with test prep. This frees up time for co-teachers to plan. Due to liability issues, teachers must be in the room, but it’s a viable option when planning time is scarce.
- Collaborate on accommodations and adaptations using email and Google or Microsoft Word’s “Insert Comments” and “Track Changes” features.
- Be flexible, focus on each co-teacher’s strengths, adopt a “They are ALL my students” attitude, and consider the impact of personality, gender, and cultural differences on your relationship with your co-teacher.
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