Introducing a new resource for co-teachers and school leaders: the Co-Teaching Lesson Plan Builder! Designed for inclusive education and collaborative planning, it supports special educators and general education teachers with clear implementation strategies aligned to best practices in co-teaching.

To Co-Teachers and School Administrators:

Co-teachers understand that the collaborative potential is enormous, but the logistical reality is often stressful. Finding the time to plan together, determining who does what, and ensuring true parity, especially when the special education teacher may not be comfortable with the content, can be a huge barrier to success. Many educators are still unsure how to effectively realize the huge potential of having two licensed professionals in one classroom.

The goal of effective co-teaching is to move beyond mere presence in the classroom to create a dynamic, engaging, and highly effective learning environment that fosters rigorous learning in an inclusive setting.

We understand the complexity involved, which is why we created the Co-Teaching Lesson Plan Builder, a new tool designed to transform your collaborative planning sessions from chaotic catch-ups into strategic, outcomes-driven blueprints.

The Problem: When Co-Teaching Fails to Reach its Potential

Historically, co-teaching models, even the popular ones like One Teach, One Assist, have often led to the specialist or special educator adopting a subordinate role as an assistant. This happens particularly when clearly defined examples of how to implement the models are missing. Teachers struggle to use more than one or two approaches consistently.

For administrators, this common pitfall means you are investing in a co-teaching initiative without maximizing the talents and professional skills of the adults involved, an outcome that risks the entire program’s success.

The Solution: Planning Beyond the Basics

The Co-Teaching Lesson Plan Builder is built on the foundation of maximizing teacher strengths and ensuring parity through highly specific, ready-to-implement scenarios. Drawing heavily on dozens of detailed strategies outlined in leading best practices, this tool focuses on The HOW of Co-Teaching, providing explicit titles and clear roles for every adult in the room.

How the Builder Works for Co-Teachers:

• Eliminate Role Confusion: The Builder helps clarify exactly what each teacher does during the lesson, offering specific titles to minimize any doubt as to roles and responsibilities.
  
• Maximize Diverse Talents: Instead of defaulting to the specialist taking the assistant role, the tool pulls from proven, precise strategies, many of which do not require the specialist to possess strong content knowledge. For instance, it might suggest One Teach—One Summarize, where the co-teacher listens to the core content being delivered and then summarizes the information to enhance student comprehension using different language or perspectives.
  
• Drive Engagement and Rigor: The Builder suggests high-impact implementations designed to foster professional respect and parity. It will recommend powerful techniques like Two Teach and Debate, where both teachers challenge, present opposite viewpoints, or play devil’s advocate to make class discussion more exciting and foster critical thinking. Or, for review, it might suggest Teach Half Then Switch, allowing both educators to focus on smaller groups for targeted instruction on specific skills versus content rigor.
  
• Instant Accessibility: You receive a structured lesson plan outline that delineates who leads which segment of instruction, allowing you to bypass hours of painstaking co-planning and utilize your limited face-to-face time for adjustments and individualized supports.

Benefits for School Leaders: Intentional Implementation and Staff Maximization

When implemented correctly, co-teaching works, but it requires administrators to commit to correct implementation and support teachers in the process. This tool provides the necessary structure.

• Fidelity to Best Practices: This tool ensures that your co-teaching teams are making intentional choices about which implementation to use, rather than “punting” or relying on the common, but often ineffective, One Teach, One Assist model. The ability to vary approaches based on lesson goals, student needs, and teacher comfort level is essential for successful, well-scheduled co-teaching.
  
• Effective Use of Certified Staff: By providing a clear framework for specific implementations, such as those that require only minimal content expertise from the specialist, administrators can be confident that two certified teachers are fully utilizing their professional talents to support rigorous learning and student growth, rather than having one teacher acting as a “glorified paraprofessional”.
  
• Support for Collaboration and Parity: The Builder provides a common, structured language for planning, to enhance communication and foster mutual respect and parity between team members.

Stop losing valuable planning time struggling to coordinate roles and map out complex activities. Give your teachers the clarity they need to achieve high standards and show growth across all learners.

Ready to maximize your co-teaching potential and save crucial planning time? Discover how the Co-Teaching Lesson Plan Builder supports inclusive classrooms, special educators, and co-teaching teams with step-by-step planning tools.

Frequently Asked Questions About Co-Teaching Planning

Q1: What is the primary purpose of effective co-teaching?

Effective co-teaching is defined as two or more certified teachers working together to provide instruction, typically in a heterogeneous inclusive setting. Its main purpose is to create a dynamic, engaging, and highly effective learning environment that promotes rigorous learning in an inclusive setting. When co-teaching is implemented correctly, it works significantly better than other teaching models to accelerate the achievement of all students,.

Q2: Why is the traditional “One Teach, One Assist” model often ineffective or discouraged?

While the “One Teach, One Assist” approach requires minimal co-planning, it is considered the least effective co-teaching approach and is often discouraged,. This model frequently results in the specialist or special education teacher adopting a subordinate role as an assistant. Consequently, students may consider one teacher the “real” teacher and the other teacher as the teacher’s aide. Furthermore, the supporting teacher often becomes distracted from the core lesson, dealing with student behavior or helping students who are off-track.

Q3: Does a co-teacher need to be a content area expert to successfully co-teach?

No, a co-teacher does not always require strong content expertise to be effective. Many high-impact co-teaching implementations, such as One Teach—One Summarize or Two Teach and Debate, are specifically designed so that the specialist does not need strong content knowledge,. For instance, in One Teach—One Summarize, the co-teacher only requires the ability to think and be a good listener to summarize the content.

Q4: How do specific co-teaching implementations differ from general co-teaching models?

Co-teaching models have evolved and, without clearly defined examples, educators often struggle to use more than one or two approaches consistently. The focus shifts to defining precise implementations, often called “The HOW of Co-Teaching,” which provide highly specific titles and scenarios to eliminate any doubt about each teacher’s role during the lesson. This shift helps fully utilize the talents of all adults and foster professional respect.

Q5: How important is dedicated planning time for a successful co-teaching partnership?

Dedicated co-planning time is essential and should be considered sacred. If co-teachers do not carve out time to plan together, their instructional effectiveness is minimized. Without this time, it is difficult to implement a successful co-taught classroom that incorporates state standards. Teachers need time to determine appropriate accommodations and adaptations. That said, The How of Co-teaching Lesson Plan Builder saves hours of co-planning time. The dedicated time you have can be as efficient as both of you coming together and deciding what strategies in the generated lesson plan you’ll use or not use. Have the discussion and move forward from there. It’s a huge time saver.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of co-teaching strategies and resources to maximize student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Best Practices in Co-teaching and Collaboration: the HOW of Implementing the Models

The post Why Co-Teaching Often Falls Short, and How to Fix It appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

Introduction: 

Teaching fractions to third graders can be a dynamic and engaging experience when co-teaching strategies are thoughtfully implemented. Co-teaching offers a powerful way to reach diverse learners by leveraging the strengths of two educators working collaboratively. This lesson plan integrates two highly effective co-teaching approaches—One Teach, One Summarize and Teach Half Then Switch—Skills & Rigor—to ensure that all students develop a strong foundational understanding of fractions. These strategies not only enhance student engagement but also allow for differentiated instruction that meets the needs of learners at varying levels of readiness.

In the One Teach, One Summarize approach, one teacher delivers the primary instruction while the other teacher listens actively, takes notes, and then summarizes key points to reinforce learning. This method strengthens student comprehension by allowing them to hear the information twice, in two distinct ways. Teach Half Then Switch—Skills & Rigor divides the class into two groups, with each teacher delivering instruction focused on a specific skill or concept. After a set time, students switch groups, ensuring that they receive well-rounded instruction in multiple formats. This approach allows students to interact with both teachers and engage in different types of learning experiences.

By incorporating these co-teaching strategies, we create a lesson that is not only structured and effective but also fosters collaboration, active engagement, and a deeper understanding of fractions. This lesson is designed to support educators in making fractions meaningful and accessible for all students, while also strengthening the partnership between co-teachers. Whether you are a general education teacher or a special educator, this lesson plan offers practical strategies to enhance student learning and create a supportive, interactive classroom environment.

Lesson Plan: Teaching Fractions in a 3rd-Grade Classroom

Lesson Title: Understanding Fractions Through Co-Teaching Strategies

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Standards:

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.1: Understand a fraction 1/b as one part of a whole divided into b equal parts.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.3: Explain equivalence of fractions and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will understand the concept of fractions as parts of a whole.
• Students will identify and represent fractions using models and number lines.
• Students will compare simple fractions and recognize equivalent fractions.

Co-Teaching Strategies:

1. One Teach, One Summarize
2. Teach Half Then Switch—Skills & Rigor

Lesson Sequence:

Warm-Up (10 Minutes) – One Teach, One Summarize

• Teacher A presents a short introduction to fractions using visuals (e.g., pizza slices, fraction bars).
• Teacher B listens and takes notes to summarize key points.
• Teacher B then provides a concise summary of what was just taught and checks for understanding through student responses.
• Quick question prompts:
  • “What is a fraction?”
  • “Can someone describe 1/4 using an example?”
  • “Why do we need fractions in real life?”

Direct Instruction (15 Minutes) – Teach Half Then Switch

• Class is split into two groups.
• Teacher A teaches one half of the students using visual fraction models.
• Teacher B teaches the other half using number lines.
• After 10 minutes, students switch teachers and learn the other method.
• Mini-checks for understanding: Students solve a simple problem related to each method.

Guided Practice (15 Minutes) – Teach Half Then Switch

• Teacher A leads a hands-on fraction activity with half of the students using fraction circles.
• Teacher B guides the other half in a comparison activity using fraction strips.
• After 7-8 minutes, students switch groups and complete the alternate activity.

Independent Practice (10 Minutes) – One Teach, One Summarize

• Teacher A provides students with practice problems to reinforce learning.
• Teacher B walks around to check for understanding and takes notes.
• At the end, Teacher B summarizes the main takeaways and provides quick review questions.

Closure (5 Minutes)

• Review key concepts as a class using a fraction quiz game.
• Ask students to reflect on their learning: “What was easy? What was challenging?”
• Assign a simple take-home activity: Draw a picture representing a fraction and write a sentence about it.

Assessment:

• Informal assessment through teacher observations and questioning.
• Exit ticket: Write one thing you learned about fractions today.
• Review independent practice work to check understanding.

Materials Needed:

• Fraction circles, bars, and strips
• Whiteboards and markers
• Chart paper for visual modeling
• Printed fraction number lines
• Small dry-erase boards for quick checks

Differentiation Strategies:

• Provide extra support with manipulatives for students struggling with fraction concepts.
• Offer challenge problems for advanced students (e.g., introducing mixed numbers).
• Use visual aids and interactive activities to engage all learning styles.

This lesson effectively uses co-teaching strategies to maximize student engagement and comprehension of fractions. By implementing these collaborative techniques, educators can create an inclusive and supportive learning environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed. With thoughtful planning and execution, co-teachers can build a classroom that not only strengthens mathematical understanding but also fosters a spirit of teamwork and shared responsibility for learning.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of co-teaching strategies and resources to maximize student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Best Practices in Co-teaching and Collaboration: the HOW of Implementing the Models

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Lessons from the Assembly Line

After high school, I worked in a factory to put myself through college. The assembly line had production quotas, dictating how many “pieces” we had to produce per hour. One of the first things I learned was to look busy. As a young college student, my energy level was high, and I often finished the work quickly. After finishing, I would socialize with my friends who were also working to pay their way through college. The seasoned workers quickly told us that finishing early and chatting looked bad. They explained that we would be assigned higher quotas if we didn’t look busy when the foreman came by. At least that’s better than Amazon’s AI algorithms. Amazon employees get fired! While we could meet our quotas quickly, those who had been working for decades couldn’t keep up the same pace. If we looked like we had time to waste, it concerned management.

The Principal’s Dilemma

A couple of years ago, I was sitting next to a principal who had just been told by his superintendent to let go of three teachers. He was upset and struggling with the decision. He asked if I had observed a certain co-teaching pair. I had. He asked if I saw the special education teacher sitting in the back, focusing on one or two students while the general education teacher delivered the lesson. I had seen exactly that. He then asked, “How can I justify keeping that teacher when I can replace her with a paraprofessional who could do the same job?” Every time he walked by that classroom, the special-education teacher was sitting in the same spot, working with the same few students. This teacher had resisted all coaching to change her practice and be more involved. If he had to choose, why not choose that one?

The Need for True Co-Teaching

Unfortunately, this reality exists in more than one district. I’ve heard this story multiple times. In a time of budget cuts, principals must make difficult staffing decisions. It becomes even more crucial that special education teachers in co-taught classrooms truly co-teach.

Data Collection as a Co-Teaching Strategy

We know there are times when a general education teacher is direct teaching. What can the other teacher do besides position control, redirecting students, or quietly answering questions when this happens?

In this data-driven age of education, a valuable co-teaching strategy is to collect data while the other teacher delivers core instruction. This isn’t only the role of the special education teacher. Depending on who is teaching, both teachers should collect data. A great extension is for the general education teacher to collect data while the special education teacher is leading the class.

Practical Steps for Data Collection

While one teacher is direct teaching, the other can be in the background with a clipboard, pen, and chart to note student behavior. The data collector might observe:

• Are students engaged, sleeping, or off task? Looking out the window or texting?
• Which students came to class prepared?
• Which students struggle with note-taking and need extra support?
• Are specific students attentive, asking questions, looking confused but not asking, or sleeping?

Note these observations on the chart.

Using Data to Improve Instruction

After the lesson, the data collector—whether the general education or special education teacher—shares the results with their co-teacher. With this objective data (ensure it’s objective; don’t write that your colleague is boring the students to sleep), co-teachers can enhance their next lesson plan to address any issues. This data can also be used in IEP meetings, 504 meetings, RTI planning meetings, or other settings where student data is useful.

Responding to Observations

When an administrator, school board member, or parent walks through the room and sees one teacher teaching while the other stands with a clipboard and pen, both teachers can confidently answer, “We are collecting data. In this classroom, we plan data-driven instruction.”

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of co-teaching strategies and resources to maximize student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Best Practices in Co-teaching and Collaboration: the HOW of Implementing the Models

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1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. Plan daily lessons, activities, tests, assignments, and more together.
   
4. Ensure the entire team, including the teacher, co-teacher, paraprofessional, parents, and students, works together as much as possible.
   
5. Collaborate to implement adaptations, modifications, and accommodations the IEP requires without reducing content.
   
6. Work together to develop a discipline policy and determine your roles when discipline is necessary.
   
7. The teacher and co-teacher should work with all students individually and in groups.
   
8. Teach and re-teach specific learning skills to students who need them. Reinforce alternative learning techniques.
   
9. 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.
   
10. 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.
    
11. Collaborate on accommodations and adaptations using email and Google or Microsoft Word’s “Insert Comments” and “Track Changes” features.
    
12. 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.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of co-teaching strategies and resources to maximize student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Best Practices in Co-teaching and Collaboration: the HOW of Implementing the Models

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The Power of Collaboration

Back in 2003, I was coaching co-teachers at a high school in a tough part of town. I walked into a classroom with just a list of room numbers and teacher names. I didn’t know who the special education teacher was or who the English teacher was. The administration had warned me that the students in this class were very apathetic.

Engaged Students and Lively Discussion

When I entered the room, I saw two teachers leading a lively discussion about a piece of literature. I couldn’t tell who was who because they were both engaged in the discussion. All the students were involved, passionately debating the author’s intent, motivation, characterization, and purpose. The teachers took opposing views, and students shared their perspectives energetically. This was far from apathy—it was amazing.

Building a Collaborative Environment

At the end of the day, during our debriefing session, I asked, “How did you get to the point where you could work so well together and engage students in such an energetic debate?” They replied, “We’ve worked at it.” They explained that at the beginning of the school year, they couldn’t even pair students for a think-pair-share activity because there were four gangs represented in the classroom. Putting two gang members from opposing gangs together led to a fistfight. They quickly realized they couldn’t sit certain students together.

Modeling Respectful Debate

The teachers couldn’t involve students in critical discussions until the students learned that disagreement didn’t mean disrespect. Their solution was to model respectful debate all semester. They demonstrated that you could disagree without fighting. By the time I observed them in January, they had created an inspiring classroom environment where students learned valuable life lessons alongside academic content.

The Benefits of Co-Teaching

Reflecting on our debriefing session, I realized that co-teaching is a powerful model for students to learn respectful collaboration and debate. My colleagues Kathy and Peter taught social studies together and used role-playing to illustrate different sides of a political issue. They staged a debate, pulling students into the discussion, making it personal but not disrespectful. They successfully engaged their class in thoughtful discussion, using emotion and energy to draw students in. Modeling disagreement and debate is a powerful benefit of effective co-teaching.

Real-Life Example of Effective Co-Teaching

Kathy and Peter set the stage: Kathy stood on one side of the door and Peter on the other. As students entered the classroom, they walked between the two teachers, who were debating a political issue. The teachers continued the debate as the students sat down and then pulled the students into the discussion. They maintained intensity and passion without being disrespectful, engaging the class in a thoughtful and energetic discussion.

By using co-teaching to model respectful debate and collaboration, teachers can create a dynamic learning environment that goes beyond academic lessons to teach valuable life skills.

If you liked this article, you may also find the following articles interesting:

Long-term Coaching – The Unique, Hidden Benefits

Co-teaching Models: Making time for Co-teaching, Planning a Path to Success

Co-teaching Model – Teach Half, Then Switch — Pre-Teach or Enrich

Co-teaching Model, Teach Half, Then Switch—Reading in the Content Area

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of co-teaching strategies and resources to maximize student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Best Practices in Co-teaching and Collaboration: the HOW of Implementing the Models

The post Co-Teaching: An Opportunity to Teach by Example appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

It happened again…

…and it only took until March!

Reflecting on my 20 plus years of coaching co-teaching teams, I’ve recognized a pivotal trend: the trans-formative power of ongoing, long-term, collaborative coaching for co-teaching pairs. 

Today was another reminder. I was working with an elementary school. I spent the day observing co-teaching pairs and debriefing with them afterwards. It’s March, and I saw the best co-teaching today that I’ve seen since September. Co-teaching implementation almost always shifts from the  One Teach, One Assist model to more effective implementations by March when co-teaching teams have ongoing coaching.

Schools often approach me to deliver comprehensive presentations on co-teaching, usually lasting a day or two. These training sessions are packed with content, strategies, and collaborative insights. Following these, I’m typically asked to engage directly with co-teaching pairs and provide them with personalized coaching. Initial requests usually involve having me observe a class and then offering a single coaching session, post-presentation, aiming to reach as many teachers as possible. 

One visit is rarely enough

However, I’ve consistently observed that this one-off coaching approach rarely leads to tangible, lasting improvements. It’s akin to those one-day workshops that offer no subsequent support – both are insufficient for fostering genuine change.

Schools often end up disappointed, witnessing their educators struggling to fully adopt and implement co-teaching implementations. They mistakenly conclude that co-teaching and coaching are ineffective. They don’t realizing that the real issue lies in the lack of continuous support.

In my early years as a consultant, I would accommodate a school’s request to have me observe and coach different teams every time I arrived in their district. I was so disheartened when, at the end of a year of coaching, I realized that the majority of the teams I worked with had made no progress. However, when there are teams, in those same school districts, whom I coached every time I visited, I saw growth. Often, this happened because those co-teaching teams demanded that they see me every time. They told their administrators that if they were going to co-teach they expected me to be there to support them. Because of these outspoken teachers, I have seen the difference ongoing, long-term coaching makes in comparison to one-off coaching.

A new approach to promote success

Several years ago, I began informing schools that I wouldn’t coach teams “only once” over the course of the school year. I explained my reasons, sharing that it didn’t feel right to accept their money knowing that the approach they requested would fail to result in the change they sought. This decision might have cost me some coaching jobs, but I could not, in good conscience, do something I knew wouldn’t deliver the results the schools wanted. I prioritize delivering real value to my clients, supporting teachers, and ensuring all students, especially those struggling, receive the support they need. 

From my perspective, the key to success in co-teaching lies in sustained, ongoing coaching and support, particularly when schools select co-teaching pairs who are both willing and in need of guidance. 

Focus on those who are willing

Instead of focusing on the most resistant pairs, targeting the more receptive teams for regular coaching – ideally monthly or at least every six weeks throughout the academic year – can lead to significant progress. It’s a process, and sometimes it’s not until March that we start to see the fruits of our labor. It takes that long for co-teaching pairs to truly embrace a range of strategies, improve their collaboration, and begin to deliver more effective instruction to support student growth.

This journey has reinforced my belief in the critical importance of ongoing, embedded coaching. It’s about more than just a single touchpoint; it’s about building a foundation of trust, continual learning, and adaptation. Schools should prioritize depth over breadth to ensure that each co-teaching pair receives the focused, consistent support they need to evolve and succeed. 

This commitment can transform the educational experience, foster a collaborative environment where teachers grow together, enhance their effectiveness and, ultimately, enrich the learning experiences of their students.

Bring Susan to your campus!

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Sometimes it’s hard to know how best to work together in support of students when you and your co-teacher seem to be so different.

There are almost always things that you can do, or ways to make the co-teaching relationship work, even when you and your partner appear to be operating from different planets.

In this podcast episode, I share a story about one such team and how we found ways for them to work together and support each other in ways that still helped all the students in the classroom.

Bring Susan to your campus!

The post What Do I Do When My Co-teacher is Completely Different Than Me? appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

#24 Team Teaching

If there is one co-teaching term that instigates misinformation, conflict, and the demise of co-teaching efforts, it is Team Teaching. Expectations and misinformation about the Team Teaching co-teaching model significantly impact the success of many co-teaching initiatives. Here, I will present a simpler definition of Team Teaching.

Specialist expertise required: Varied

Planning time required: Varied.

Bring Susan to your campus!

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#23 Two Run Acceleration Centers

This co-teaching model utilizes Fitzell Acceleration Centers™, a merging of several “station” teaching methods. If you have ever created a learning center, implemented an Accelerated Reading program, or if you are familiar with Science Research Associates’ individualized direct instruction for Reading Mastery (SRA), you have worked with stations. The Acceleration Center takes the best from each of these strategies and combines them into a model appropriate for elementary and secondary levels.

Specialist expertise required: A solid understanding of the skills being taught or reviewed and their application to the curriculum is necessary.

Planning time required: The planning time is front loaded. Acceleration Centers are built prior to first use. They can be time-consuming to build. This implementation is only worth the time and effort to build and implement if it can be utilized at least twice a week for a minimum of ten to twenty minutes. This implementation incorporates repetition and practice of skill deficits.

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#22 – Three Same-Ability Stations—Re-Teach, Reinforce, Enrich

Same-ability groups have earned a negative reputation because, too often, they are overused, sentencing students to a school career imprisoned in an academic caste system. Yet there are times when same ability groups are beneficial. Find out the key to ensuring that this co-teaching model doesn’t hold students back.

Specialist expertise required: A solid understanding of the skills being taught or reviewed and their application to the curriculum is necessary.

Planning time required: Each teacher prepares the lesson he or she is teaching to his or her rotation. Communication is essential to ensure both teachers agree on what they are trying to achieve as it relates to the curriculum.

Bring Susan to your campus!

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