In co-teaching, the “one teach, one support” co-teaching model is pretty familiar. Yet, the same teacher tends to take on one of those roles permanently, while the other teacher takes the other role. Often, the subject matter expert or general education teacher handles “one teach” while the support teacher who is working with the students who are on an IEP handles “one support.”
A frequently used co-teaching model is “One Teach, One Support” or, by another name, “One Teach, One Observe.” This is one of several effective ways to co-teach that allows for flexibility in teaching methods: it can help teachers learn to work together smoothly as they observe each other’s teaching styles; teachers can switch quickly between the teacher and support/observer roles; and they can transition quickly into the next chunk of the class period, such as moving from direct instruction to student implementation.
In a class with students at different levels, the traditional model of station teaching is one way to do it, where you split the class into two different activities to learn the same standards. But co-teachers can also individualize while doing station teaching, or mix other co-teaching models like “one teach, one support.” You can do this when chunking lessons.
When Implementing Co-teaching Models: Flexible grouping is a great way to utilize both teachers in a co-teaching classroom. Here's How to implement Flexible grouping and small groups in the co-teaching models.
Group work is traditionally fraught with challenges. Will students do their fair share? Will they behave appropriately? Will learning be effective and efficient enough to meet the achievement challenge? Research indicates that cooperative learning increases achievement. Here are a dozen things to consider when setting up and implementing independent and small-group activities in order to foster the best results.