In order for collaboration to be effective, you need time to plan together. If you don’t have the time to discuss plans, review upcoming tests, consider recommended modifications and implementation of I.E.P. goals, it will be difficult if not impossible to have a successful inclusive classroom.

If your school provides you with planning time, stay focused on the task. Try to avoid social conversation because it will only leave you feeling as if you accomplished nothing afterward. If possible, share agenda and task information beforehand through school mail so that the time you have can be used to the maximum benefit.

Speak up if you are being asked to give up planning time for other duties. You need that time and it is legitimate to require it.

If your school does not provide planning time, it will probably make your life easier in the long run, if you can employ some of the following options:

1. Use the time before school, after school, or during common preps/specials to meet and plan. Remember: The goal is to make YOUR job easier and more successful in the long run. It is a waste of your energy to begrudge the time if you choose this option.

2. Arrange for coverage with a substitute one day a week or month to free time to collaborate.

3. Contact your local PTA and see if there are parent volunteers who may be willing to help cover classes so you can plan. High Schools seriously underutilize volunteers.

4. Oftentimes substitutes have free blocks of time when the teacher they are substituting for has prep periods. See if a substitute can cover your class during a free block of time.

5. For information that must be communicated before the next school day, you might arrange to call each other after hours.

6. At the least, communicate through the mailbox by sharing what is working, what isn’t working and what is needed.

7. Communicating through e-mail is another viable option.

8. If the regular classroom teacher can provide the special education staff person with copies of lesson plans, tests, projects ahead of time by simply photocopying and placing these items in the support teacher’s mailbox or e-mailing the plans to the collaborative teacher, it allows enough time for the specialist to assist with accommodations and make helpful recommendations. It also enables that person to go into the class prepared to help.

9. Grade reports placed in the special education teacher’s mailbox enables both the regular classroom teacher and the special education teacher to catch failures before they become quarter grades.

10. Use the time you do have face to face effectively. Avoid going off on tangents. If you are stuck, put the difficulty aside and come back to it later.

Explore even more tips, tools, and resources for collaboration at TheHowofCo-teaching.com!

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Co-planning is a critical component of co-teaching

More often than not, when teachers have some spare time on their hands, they prefer to use it to correct tests, do some paperwork, or even complain about that certain student. Little do they realize that co-planning, meaning the time they spend organizing their schedule with the other teacher, can help them transform co-teaching from a daunting and challenging task into a rewarding and genuinely fun activity.

According to advocates of co-teaching, it doesn’t really take more than one hour per week to plan a lesson, provided that both co-teachers attend the planning session with their parts of the lesson sketched out. Then, you can use most of the time establishing the most suitable adaptations and accommodations for your students.

Keep in mind that the modifications and plans you sketch for certain lessons will not necessarily work with other classes or courses. Therefore, make a habit of meeting regularly with your co-teaching partner to revisit the initial lesson plan and make adjustments when necessary. Entering these discussions with some ideas for change is always a good idea.

Reaping the most benefits from your co-planning time

In cases where you are often asked to participate in meeting or tend to other responsibilities, remember that it is legitimate to request that your co-planning time not be sacrificed and only used for co-planning. Speak up if such issues arise. Take note that effective co-planning is not all about freeing up your agenda and meeting up with the other educator, but also involves drawing up a plan on how to make the most of that time.

In all fairness, if you don’t establish an agenda for these meetings, then chances are you’ll get sidetracked by details or other discussions. To avoid wasting precious time, you should first establish the targets of the lessons and the materials each of you should bring to class. Once these aspects are clear, you can use the rest of your co-planning time to discuss methods of instructional delivery and assessment strategies.

Many co-teaching teams don’t get common planning time so, when the school provides the time to co-plan your lessons, make the best of it and focus only on planning. Focus on your plan for the lesson, your presentation methods, and ways to reach all the students in your class.

Co-Planning in the Cloud

More and more co-teachers are planning in the cloud. Many use online portals specific to their district. Some plan using Google Drive and Google Apps such as Documents and Google Slides. My favorite, and best, solution is using a combination of Google Drive apps, Dropbox, and TRELLO! First sign up for Trello and create a free account. Here are a couple examples that you can copy into your Trello account and use as a model:

And this one!

What strategies do YOU use to make the most of co-planning time?

Share your ideas in the comments section below and let’s discuss ways to be successful!

Explore even more tips, tools, and resources for collaboration at TheHowofCo-teaching.com!

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Co-teaching and Collaboration

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?

CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post Effective Co-Planning Is Key To Successful Co-Teaching appeared first on Susan Fitzell.