Reciprocal teaching uses a four-step method – often referred to as the “Fab Four” – to help students better understand text. These steps are: summarizing, question generating, clarifying and predicting. There are lots of resources on the web that detail exactly what each step entails, and I’ve added links to some of those resources below.

Studies have proven that reciprocal teaching greatly influences student comprehension skills. They also found that students became readers that are more independent, better summarizers, predictors, and critical thinkers. As an additional benefit, they found that students who participated in reciprocal teaching groups displayed fewer behavior problems.

One of the best ways to use reciprocal teaching is to practice a questioning strategy in which the reader reads the text, processes the meaning, makes connections to prior knowledge, and finally generates a question about the text.

Learning Objectives of the Questioning Strategy:
– Identify the different types of questions
– Formulate different types of questions
– Work in cooperative groups to practice reading comprehension strategies
– Synthesize information in order to respond to a variety of questions.
– Interpret text and demonstrate higher level thinking skills in creating various types of questions
– Enhance comprehension through questioning
– Apply questioning strategies in many curricular areas

Below is more information about reciprocal teaching, as well as lesson plans and helpful materials to implement this method in your classroom.

Information:
https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/bonus-materials/507-chapter-3.pdf?sfvrsn=4
https://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/resources/articles/teachtechnique/reciprocalteaching/index.php
https://www.slideshare.net/evansjenb/reciprocal-teaching-day-1-45540155
http://www.moedu-sail.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Tech-in-the-classroom-infographic-June-2016.pdf
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1114674.pdf

Lesson plans:
http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceLesson/Preview/39835
http://olms.cte.jhu.edu/olms2/data/ck/sites/1943/files/Reciprocal%20Strategy%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf

Materials:
https://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/reiciprocal_teaching_strategy_handout__copy_2_0.pdf
https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/files/2017/11/Reciprocal-Teaching-Figures-KATHY-GLASS-y2x375-q5q59k.pdf
http://www.moedu-sail.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RT-infographics-June-2016.pdf
http://www.moedu-sail.org/reciprocal-teaching-materials/

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How can we meet these students’ needs without neglecting some other part of the workload? It can be pretty tough to carve out the time. Well, these teaching strategies will help students who need it, thanks to resources available online. By combining audio resources with specific in-classroom activity, we can bolster students’ understanding of the material being taught.

Several websites offer audio and video lessons or books in a curated format that is easier to search. These include:

My Audio School – This site gives students, especially those with dyslexia, an easier way to explore different topics and books through audio. Each book is broken down chapter by chapter, so students can do their assignments in manageable chunks. The audio files can be streamed online or downloaded to be copied onto a CD or USB thumb drive as MP3 files. They’re also available via iTunes. A limited number of titles are available at no charge, but for a very reasonable $14.99 annual fee, the rest of their library is available to parents and teachers.

iTunes University – Built specifically for Apple iOS users, iTunes U is really “one of the unsung heroes of Apple’s content offering,” as a recent MacWorld article put it. For more than 10 years it has been a fantastic resource to download audio and video content on thousands of topics. And since iOS version 9.3 was released, teachers can now create their own courses, manage homework and grades and deliver lessons to students. If you haven’t yet taken full advantage of this resource or want to learn how to get the most out of it, a number of courses are available—on iTunes U, naturally—including this guide by Ohio State University.

The Great Courses – This app, available on iTunes or PC—and even, in limited form, on Amazon Prime Video—also offers a wealth of lectures, audiocasts and audiobooks as well as video. It’s pricier than most of the other audiobook or lecture sites out there, but has been around a lot longer (beginning as The Teaching Company over 20 years ago) and has a treasure trove of material across a wide range of topics.

So, how can you best put these resources to use? Here are a few effective methods:

1. Use these resources as another way to support those struggling readers, auditory learners, and English Language Learners.
2. Expose students to the patterns of language, its rhythm and cadence.
3. Provide students the opportunity to learn expressions and increase vocabulary by hearing them in context.
4. Use as a pre-reading activity. Play an excerpt and then ask students to predict what will happen next.
5. Bring a book to life, thereby inspiring, entertaining, and linking language and listening to the reading experience.

For more information about using technology to strengthen instruction, see Susan Fitzell’s book, Using iPads and Other Cutting Edge Technology to Strengthen Your Instruction.

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In this video I talk about what it takes to create a firm foundation for your inclusion and co-teaching initiatives. Enjoy the video and don’t forget to leave your comments below.

After years of teaching, I knew that simply taking the mini-skateboard away would do very little good because that same student would find something else to fidget with a few minutes later. If they weren’t flipping a mini-skateboard they would be flipping a pencil, or a ruler, or poking the student in front of them with a pencil.

I had attended a conference the week before and did what most teachers do in the exhibit hall; I got myself a tote bag then went around to all the tables and filled my bag with as many freebies as I could snag. In my tote bag, I managed to collect some squishy balls and rubber bendables, wiki sticks and some other things that would be great to focus fidgeters. At that time, there was minimal research available to validate that focus tools were a great idea. However, I had witnessed the positive effects that the right focus tools could have on those students who needed them.

I ran what I call the win-win classroom based on the work of William Glasser.

During the first two days of school, I ran my students through an exercise called the win-win classroom. The essential point was to help them understand that when students behaved appropriately in the classroom, we all won. But rather than tell the students what the rules were, we brainstormed the rules together. This meant that students had ownership of the class rules from the first week of school. This class culture allowed me the framework to pull the class together and discuss how mini-skateboards, and the distraction they created, broke the rules we had agreed upon in the classroom.

We agreed that to be a win-win classroom, students who needed focus tools to concentrate and work well in the classroom would be allowed tools for that purpose. We also agreed that the tools we were using were not toys and needed to be “teacher approved” focus tools. We also agreed on rules for how these focus tools would be used.

Here’s what I told the students when they were inappropriately using a focus tool:

“My job is to teach. I cannot do my job when there is a distraction in the room that is preventing you or other students from learning. Your job is to learn. You cannot do your job if the focus tool you are using is hindering your learning. We need a win-win solution. That means, if a tool is not working for you and helping you focus and learn, we need to use a different tool.”

Teaching Strategies: What to do about spinners

I didn’t make it a punishment. I didn’t take away a focus tool without an explanation. And I offered the student the opportunity to come up with an alternative that would respect the class rules that everyone agreed upon and still support that student’s learning.

Examples of focus tools can be found in several of my articles that you can find here.

So, what has this got to do with the current spinner craze? Use the same technique. If spinners are to be used, there needs to be a rule in place, preferably agreed upon by students and the teacher, that create a win-win learning environment. It may also be necessary to teach students appropriate use of a spinner, just like any other focus tool. For example, flipping a focus tool in the air or throwing it would be inappropriate. Although that may seem obvious to a teacher, it may not be obvious to your students.

If the rules are broken, then the student is reminded that the teacher’s job is to teach and the students’ job is to learn and, unfortunately, the spinner is preventing both the teacher and the student from doing their jobs. Consequently, the spinner must be put away and the student may choose a teacher-approved focus tool.

I would give a student two chances to make a good choice on how they use the spinner. I would say, “The rule is respect. Using the spinner in a distracting way is disrespectful. Can you make a better choice and use the tool with respect to the rules we’ve agreed upon?” If the student responds with yes, I’d walk away and move on. If the student responds negatively, they will have to choose an alternative to the spinner. Sometimes, I might give a student one more chance, if appropriate. However, three times and they’re out. At that point, the student must put the spinner away.

This option eliminates issues raised by parents who feel their child needs a focus tool. You are not taking away the opportunity for the student to focus using a fidget item. Rather, you are providing an alternative that respects the agreed-upon rules of a win-win classroom.

Another really good read (with links to research on the efficacy of using focus tools) that you might enjoy on this topic is Five reasons to ban fidget spinners from every classroom in America.

To browse a variety of different fidget options, visit Tammy Jeralds’ Pinterest page on Fidgets

Disclaimer: Susan Fitzell has an affiliate relationship with Oriental Trading Company.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!.

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I hate rules. Seriously! I used to wonder why. Looking back, there were a few clues…

(Insert Wayne’s World alternate ending music… )

The time in theology class when I decided to argue like a seasoned trial lawyer with the well-meaning priest who had to be at least 100 years old. I got him so upset that he leaned down, banging on my desk and said with as much restraint as he could muster “young lady I have had about enough of you!” My reaction… I laughed. Stopped laughing when I had to spend the afternoon in the Dean’s office.

Or the time, I think I was 8 or 10, during a 4H class when the nice volunteer mother had the boys make Balsa Wood racecars and I was assigned to sew a wrap skirt. I remember making her afternoon a living heck, refusing to sew like a good girl and demanding that I get to make a racecar like the boys. To this day, if a button falls off a garment, I take it to the dry cleaner or bribe a friend to sew it on.

Don’t get me wrong; there is a time and a place for real rules. Rules, for example, to keep us safe. I am referring to limiting thoughts and actions masking as rules. Ones that society and us unintentionally place on our children, we need to break those rules so that our children can love to learn.

As a rule breaker, family author, and relationship expert, I look for simple and everyday ways we can teach our children to love to learn so that their unique strengths and ways of learning are celebrated.

When we understand our children’s natural talents or strengths, it sets them free to learn in a way that makes learning a joy. So, how do we do that? Sounds complicated…correct? Actually, it’s not hard at all. It starts by watching them play.

Let me tell you a story, it’s the story of four children playing in a sandbox.

Johnny, Megan, Matt, and Christine are very excited. It’s playtime at school. The sun is out as they run from the classroom to the play yard. Their teacher, Miss McMasters, encourages them to build a sand castle in the sandbox.

As they approach the sandbox, Megan stops with her hands on her hips and begins to ask questions. “How big is the castle?” “Remember the last time we built a castle?” “Why are we building a castle?” Megan is our ‘why’ child and she solves problems by gathering information. It’s important for her to know all the facts before getting started. This is a child who might get frustrated at school if simply told to do something. She needs information first and then watch out, she will go to town. Megan loves to learn by collecting information and ‘noodling out’ the answer.

Johnny is not stopping for anything! He has great ideas! Johnny is holding court in the middle of the sand box, gesturing very enthusiastically as he tells his friends all his amazing ideas for the best sand castle ever made. Johnny is our ‘idea’ child. His ideas are imaginative and creative and he is not shy about telling his friends all about them. He can see the castle in his head, complete with a moat and drawbridge. He is a visionary and likes to do things his own way. This is a child who doesn’t pay particular attention to the details of his school homework and will become disheartened if told to do things without the freedom to put his spin on things. Johnny loves to learn by being creative and having the go-ahead to jump in and explore.

Matt is the kid with a plan! He has a process for building the castle. Matt is our ‘process’ child. First you level the sand, then you gather pebbles for a walkway, next you very carefully construct the walls of the castle. His approach is very systematic. Matt needs to be able to sort information and organize it. If asked to ‘wing it’, Matt will get nervous that a mistake will be made. Matt likes to do things one at a time and gets discouraged when expected to ‘multi-task’ or to work without a plan. Matt loves to learn by getting organized and having a plan.

Miss McMasters decides to check in on the little monkeys. As she walks towards the evolving sand castle she notices that Christine is knee deep in the sand, building the castle as if it will stand the test of time. Christine is our ‘demonstrator’ child. Christine likes to get her hands dirty and will get frustrated if the castle is not of the highest quality. When given math homework, her mom knows that numbers need to be more than figures on a piece of paper. Christine needs tangible items like blocks, or something to get her hands on. Christine loves to learn by getting three-dimensional and interacting with her environment.

When we embrace our children’s natural strengths and structure learning in a way that celebrates these talents, they will love to learn and ultimately become the person they were meant to be.

About the author:

Lisa Baker-King is a nationally recognized and televised family author and relationship expert who is creating a movement to connect families and celebrate children. She is passionate about helping children to find their voice while giving parents and adults the tools they need to recognize what is right about them so they can break free and be who they were meant to be.

Join the Journey at www.zebecs.com

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Over 20 years ago, when I first began working and consulting nationally with teachers to implement brain-based, best practice teaching strategies in classrooms, the terms we used were much different than those we use today. We’ve gone from “Learning Styles” and “Multiple Intelligences” to “Differentiated Instruction.” We now have brain-based research to back up much of the strategies some of us have used for decades. We’ve seen and heard the terms, “Brain-Based Learning” or “Whole Brain Learning.” Now we are hearing and seeing terms like “Neuro-diversity.” We’ve gone from “Mainstreaming” to “Inclusion.” Then there’s “Response To Intervention” and, in at least one state in the union,  special education teachers have been re-designated as “Intervention Specialists.” Today, we are hearing  much about “Universal Design for Learning” and we now have the massive research analysis by Dr. John Hattie referenced in “Visible Learning.”

The Shocking Truth

At the heart of all these theories, ideas, and different classifications, regardless of the labels, what we’re really talking about is adjusting our teaching to respect the way our students learn. It’s about employing strategies that reach students, that have been proven to work through research and resulting data analysis, and then using that information to teach so that all students can achieve to their highest potential. Ultimately, it is about applying what I like to refer to as Really Terrific Instruction (See what I did there?).

Honor Your Students’ Learning Preferences (And make your teaching even more amazing!)

To honor all the changes that we’ve seen over the years, I’m highlighting five of my “12 Ways” articles that offer timeless strategies on how to teach  all students, no matter what labels you, your school, or your state are currently using. Even though the language changes, and the framework in which they are presented may be “upgraded”  and “fine tuned,” these are practical, no-nonsense, research-based strategies that help show us how to teach all students.

• 12 Surefire Ways to Remember Vocabulary

• 12 Ways to Help ESL and ELL Students

• 12 Do-Able Homework Assignments for All Students

• A Dozen Ways to Support Learning Styles

• A Dozen Surefire Ways to Boost Memory in the Diverse Classroom

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While it’s easy to look at underperforming students and label them as lazy, in reality, research indicates that most students lack motivation because of three fundamental factors:
1. Students don’t believe they can succeed even if they try.
2. Students don’t feel they have any control over their life choices.
3. Students have a need to avoid failure.

How to combat negative beliefs

The best way to combat these negative beliefs and behaviors to motivate students is to use teaching strategies that engage learners and support their experience of success in the classroom. That said, these strategies will work with most of your students, yet may not work with all of them.

Walk your talk: Don’t feel like a failure if you can’t reach one

It’s important to understand that, as teachers, we should not give up on using engaging strategies because there might be a few students on our roster who, no matter what we do to reach them, we cannot reach. Just as we need to help students focus on their success, we as educators, also need to focus on our successes and not give up because our efforts are not 100% successful. As a teacher mentor, I see, all too often, that teachers will give up because they focused on the one or two students in the classroom that they cannot reach. Don’t fall into that trap.

Strategies that support success:

1. Chunking
Chunk tasks for students so that they approach their learning challenges a piece at a time. Students who struggle in the classroom are best served by breaking assignments into manageable parts, with manageable deadlines, that focus on success. Chunking does not require teachers to reduce rigor.

Imagine that you have to clean a very messy, seven room house. If you were to chunk the task of cleaning the house, you might tackle one room at a time, or first declutter, one room at a time, and then dust on another day. On the third day, you might wash and polish floors, then wash and clean the rugs. Eventually, if these tasks are spread out over a period of time, the house will be impeccably clean. Essentially, this is the same approach as chunking assignments in the classroom. Each chunk, completed well, is a success to be celebrated.

2. Offer choices in academic assignments
Offer students choices as often as possible to allow them to exercise control over their lives. Too often, students feel they have no control over their success or their emotions. They blame others for their failure or attribute their success to good luck rather than their hard work and ability, or they blame themselves, using the excuse that they are stupid. When students have choices, they must exercise control to make decisions. Once they make a decision, it’s critical that they accept the consequences of those decisions. They own it, for good or for bad.

3. Ask students what went right
Focus on what the student has learned from an exercise or an assignment as opposed to what went wrong. Most importantly, encourage students to think beyond the grade and to understand that mistakes are an opportunity for learning. Recently, I observed a teacher handing back assignments and highlighting how many points the student had improved from the previous assignment. Students cheered for each other, acknowledging everyone who made gains. If there were students who did not make gains, that was handled discreetly because I never heard a negative number called out. It was exciting to see students and teachers celebrating even small successes.

4. Create opportunities for students to exhibit their strengths
When assigning students to groups in a high school biology class, the teachers asked for five volunteers who could draw well. Three students quickly stood up. The teachers announced again that they needed five and asked for the rest of the class to share who they felt was good at art. Students quickly named two additional students. Each of those students was then assigned to a separate group. Now, each group had an artist to work with on the project. The teachers then went on to ask for excellent internet researchers. Five students quickly stood up. Those five students were assigned to five separate groups. Now each group had an artist and a researcher. Student individual strengths were celebrated so even students who may not have been outstanding biologists had an opportunity to focus on their success and how it contributed to the team.

5. Students need personal goals
Ask students about their goals and frequently show the connection between what they are learning in the classroom to their personal goals. Be ready to answer the question, “Why do I need this?” rather than share careers that may be meaningless to specific students, try to find examples from a wide spectrum of interests and career paths so that students might see the possibilities and the light that is meaningful to them.

6. Energize your class
Infuse your classroom with short musical energy breaks once or twice during a class period. Set a timer for 90 seconds, crank up some Vivaldi, Mozart, or other Baroque period pieces that play at about 60 beats per minute. Then, have students stand, stretch, move, clap, stomp, or dance to the music. If you want to take that up a level, create an “I can do it!” chant to the beat of the music.

7. Teach students how to learn
Allow students opportunities to study the way that they learn instead of the way you learn or way the teacher’s manual dictates. Some students learn by writing what they hear. Some students learn by drawing pictures and labeling what they hear. Some write best from a traditional outline. Some write best if they start with a graphic organizer. Some work best standing or sitting on a Pilates ball. Some prefer the traditional desk and chair. Some memorize better by singing their notes. Some need to repeat what they have learned over and over again in a chant. Avoid forcing all students to learn the same way at the same time and at the same pace. There’s no faster way to de-motivate students than to fail to recognize their individuality.

Motivating students to be engaged learners, using these seven strategies effectively, will make a difference for your students in 30 days or less!

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I was driving out of my comfort zone to pick up a complete stranger. You can imagine. I was both excited and nervous. Going through my mind were all of the icebreakers and questions I could conjure up while focusing on the road. It was what my heart wanted, I knew deep down that it was all going to be worth it; we’d give it our best shot, and things would work out for the best. One thing that I wasn’t prepared for, though, was that first car ride home.

I figured that the drive would give us a nice opportunity to open up and get more familiar with each other. Before much was said though, Freddie grabbed his earbuds (headphones to me) out of his pocket and plugged in his iPod. I was left alone with my thoughts, “How can you have a conversation when the headphones are in? How do you hear what is going on?”

I have to confess, as Bev told her story, my mind wandered, comparing a typical ride in the car with my two children. When they were little, we didn’t have iPods, but they weren’t allowed to listen to their personal CD players in the car. I felt it was important that we agreed on music in the car. We shared different people’s music. Maybe it was Dad’s turn to choose a CD, then my daughter’s turn to pick one, and so on. Then with the music in the background, we had conversations.

Even today, my kids don’t get in the car and put on their headphones. They listen to the music playing in the car. Why? Because we still often have conversations while we ride. I can get the Internet on my phone with the latest news, and sometimes I will pipe up about something interesting when I’m in the passenger seat. That is just one way we start a discussion.

Tuning back in, I heard Bev continue with her story…

When we arrived at home Chuck was in the backyard busy grilling dinner. I took Freddie out back and introduced the two of them, but still, Freddie didn’t take out his headphones. As we sat down for dinner, I finally asked, “Freddie, I’d like you to unplug yourself while we eat.” Once I had access to his ears I said, “I do not advocate headphones at the table. Dinner is a great time to talk and get to know each other a little.”
He looked at me baffled and asked, “What does ‘advocate’ mean?”

I was surprised. Isn’t that a common word, something a teen should know? But I explained what it meant, and I said, “Thank you for asking about the meaning of that word because we don’t want to use language that you don’t understand. If there is any word we ever use that you don’t know, just ask, and we will tell you.”

Eventually our conversation moved to our plans for the coming weeks. Chuck and I soon realized we had very different opinions about our plans and time commitments. But we discussed our ideas, considered the alternatives, asked Freddie for his opinion, and came to a compromise. Freddie ate but didn’t say much else until dinner was over. As we were leaving the table, Freddie asked, “Do you two always do that?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“You know, talk like that.”

“Like what?”

“Well, in my house everything that gets brought up turns into an argument. People get mad, they throw things, I put my music in and try to block it all out. You guys just talked, talked a lot, and then you agreed, even though you both had different ideas, even though you both thought your idea was better.”

I had to tell him, “That’s the way adults make decisions. And, yes, sometimes we have to compromise.”

Listening to Bev’s astonishment at Freddie’s response, I could appreciate her surprise; my husband and I also talk out our disagreements rather than argue. It brought me to thoughts of my classroom, “Freddie’s the type of kid I have in class. I wonder how many of my students also never see two adults work out a problem in a respectful way.”
This is one of those tidbits that might appear to be a bit of fluff, but it’s not. Research has shown that when students feel safe, comfortable, and positive in their environment and can participate in discussions, achievement goes up.

In another way, for me, this is one of the silver linings because it’s the kind of thing that feeds our souls. When two teachers work together in front of our students, we’re role models of adults working well together, collaborating, and respecting each other. That is something our students might not see otherwise. And that’s powerful.

As a parent, I believe in family dinner or family breakfast. We were often busy at dinner, so breakfast became our family meal. Even though my children didn’t have to be at school until 8:30 a.m., they got up at six in the morning for our family breakfast because I had to be at school by 7:15 a.m. We had breakfast together right up through their high school years until I changed careers, and even then, I usually got up to spend time talking with them before they left for school.

Why is this important? Because I had a paradigm, I had a vision of the world, and the way my children were to be raised. I thought I was the average parent doing the average thing.

I also couldn’t help but relate Bev’s conversation about Freddie not understanding the meaning of “advocate” to my classroom. How often in a high school classroom might we use the word advocate in social studies, literature, or every day conversation? To me, too, that is a common word in high school.

I have taught students with special needs my entire career. I had children in my classroom with lower ability to read. I had gone to Ruby Payne’s workshop on poverty. I read the statistics and heard the speakers say, “Children of poverty come to us with 50 percent less vocabulary than children of the middle class.”

I thought I understood. I really did! When I stood in front of my class and I taught my students, I tried to bring language to their level, enough so that they could understand but still keep up. I thought they understood what I was saying. The story taught me that probably a good amount of the vocabulary I used, my students didn’t know, and they would never raise their hand and say, “Mrs. Fitzell, what does that word mean?”

How many times was I speaking a foreign language? I had read the books! I had the experience! I used the strategies; yet I had no clue.

Bev’s story hit home, and I have become passionate about vocabulary and its importance in our children’s lives. Not to mention its importance in our world. Every research study done that measures a person’s vocabulary against their success in life shows that the better your vocabulary, the more successful you are in life, in your careers, and in every way.

So, it is important that we as teachers, especially those of us who work with kids with special needs or learning disabilities, don’t assume anything about what they know. Assuming that students understand our words is a path for failure with our students. Their home lives and experiences are often very different from ours, and we need to be mindful of that if we are to give them the best possible learning experience in our classrooms.

This article was first published on Teachers.net Gazette

For more information on differentiation and Response to Intervention, see Susan Fitzell’s book, RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers.

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Student Built Learning Centers

In this video, Becky Ramirez from Odessa, Texas talks about a great idea she’s implemented in her classroom – student-built learning stations! Often we think of station teaching as a strategy for teaching elementary school students. I’ve always encouraged teachers to use stations for classes at every grade level, and Becky’s use of stations with her freshman English classes is a great example – with a “novel” twist.

Student Built Learning Centers Incorporates Group Problem Solving Skills

Becky’s class is split into groups; as they work through a unit, each group puts together a station for their fellow students on an assigned portion of the material. One of the rules – and I think this is one of the most important things in implementing stations in the classroom – is that the Center must not be a worksheet. The point of station teaching is getting students involved with the material in unique ways, and worksheets just aren’t effective in engaging students.

Once the stations are ready, each group rotates to work on the activities at the other groups’ centers. Becky’s class had come up with some great ideas for stations; “I’ve had vocabulary quilts, I’ve had timed quizzes, we’ve had Twister with different things, Monopoly-based games on short stories.”

Student Built Learning Centers Fosters Critical Thinking Skills

Like all group activities, grading can be a challenge. In Becky’s class, goals for each station are established from the beginning. Once students have finished their stations and visited each of the other stations, the class discusses each station’s activity, pointing out the things they really enjoyed and learned from and providing constructive ideas for how the stations could be more effective. Students grade each others’ work as well as their own, and the final grades take into account how well the students worked together in their groups. As new students come into the classroom, they see examples of previous students’ work so they know what’s expected of them when they create their own stations.

Student Built Learning Centers Save Teachers Time!

Many teachers don’t implement stations because they can take a considerable amount of time – and creativity – to put together. By allowing students to teach each other by constructing centers for their classmates, this burden is lifted and students become much more deeply engaged with the material as they think up ideas to teach their classmates. As Becky says, “Their ideas are much better than anything I could have come up with, and they love it because they’re ‘owning’ their products.”

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Do you have research that co-teaching works?

I was asked this question during a public seminar on Inclusion Strategies that I was delivering in the Chicago area. The teachers asking the question have experienced great success with their students and themselves through co-teaching. Their administrator, however, didn’t believe that co-teaching works. A national guru on teaching strategies (not co-teaching) announced in one of their in-services that it does not work. That guru did not give an explanation, rather just made the statement, they explained. I wonder if that guru has any experience with co-teaching, as that’s not their area of expertise. Regardless, these two teachers were devastated. So, they asked me, “Do you have research that it works?” “We know it works,” they emphatically claimed. They saw the growth in their students while co-teaching. They are passionate about continuing the co-teaching model in their school. However, that model is threatened because of misinformation.

The Co-teaching Label is Often Wrong

Well, here’s the nitty-gritty: No matter what the research says, the label is often wrong. What I mean by that is: School districts who put two teachers in an ‘inclusive’ classroom can CALL it co-teaching, yet, it may not be CO-teaching at all. And, if it is called co-teaching on paper simply because two bodies are in the room and it doesn’t work, it’s decided that Co-teaching does not work.

Co-teaching Will Not Work When…

Co-teaching (in name only) will NOT work when a general education teacher and a special education teacher are put together in a room and the special education teacher is constantly pulled for “other” responsibilities. It will NOT work when the administration is not supportive and/or does not provide training AND follow through. It will NOT work when the administration does not hold teachers accountable for best practice teaching methods. It will NOT work when administration holds an in-service for the teachers but does not attend (how can they possibly know how to follow through with the training if they were not there?). Co-teaching does NOT work if schools use it as a budget-cutting endeavor. And, it will NOT work when teachers don’t want to cooperate and one or both deliberately sabotage the process. You see, the bottom line is: None of the above is co-teaching. It’s a weak attempt at something that might, at a glance or on paper, LOOK like co-teaching, but it’s not CO-teaching. Co-teaching means exactly that – Co, together, two, both – teaching.  Not one teacher teaching and one teacher holding up the wall.

Co-teaching Done WELL Works!

I’ve been co-teaching and working with co-teachers since 1993. Co-teaching done WELL, scheduled WELL, received WELL, and combined with BEST PRACTICE teaching strategies to DIFFERENTIATE INSTRUCTION ******DOES******* work. It works a whole lot better than one teacher, all alone, trying to deal with a classroom of 30+ students at different ability levels. It works a whole lot better than self-contained classrooms where the bar is often too low for students to make significant gains. It works when school districts don’t pretend they are doing Inclusion by putting the lowest achievers with the students with special needs and filtering out all the academically successful students into more challenging classes (that’s not inclusion, rather, that’s one big, tracked, low-level class).

Co-teaching With Teachers Who are Willing

If a district has two teachers who are willing to truly co-teach and they are co-teaching together on a consistent basis and that co-teach marriage is respected by the “powers that be” so that the general education teacher isn’t alone half the time (pulling the special education teacher out for coverage, meetings, training, crises, etc. is commonplace) and those teachers are using best practice strategies and differentiating instruction, the co-teaching model works better than almost any other model available to quickly accelerate ALL, yes I said ALL, students’ achievement. When you tier lesson plans in a co-taught class, high achievers also have the opportunity to accelerate!

So, Does Co-teaching Work?

Does co-teaching work? YES, when the district commits to implementing it correctly and truly and honestly supports teachers in the process. YES, when the teachers’ personalities mesh and they are willing to use best practice strategies to reach ALL learners. (I heard an *expert* say once that personality styles don’t matter in co-teaching. I strongly disagree! I’ve personally co-taught with many personalities and when I’m working with my opposite personality type it’s like being married to an alien and consequently a very challenging. if not impossible, ride.) YES, co-teaching works when schools don’t segregate learners into classes of high, medium, and low and pretend it’s inclusion when they put the students with special needs in a tracked low level class. YES. it works when one of the two teachers doesn’t fight the process every step of the way but instead keeps an open mind and is willing to teach with best practice strategies. YES, it can work when done well. It can even work when done half well.

YES. Co-teaching, implemented correctly, works.

Caveat: This is the first time that I’ve written a blog article without editing it ten times, filtering it to make sure it does not upset anyone, over analyzing it for political correctness and being overly cautious that I don’t burn bridges. In the past several months, I’ve begun to feel that I need to speak my heart and voice and take the flack for what I believe and if it offends someone, so be it. Some things just need to be said. So, you might find commas in the wrong places, you might not like what I wrote, or you may agree wholeheartedly. What matters most is that a message that I’m passionate about is addressed directly. The teachers I serve deserve passionate honesty. My heart goes out to the teachers in my audience that day. Only ONE was sent with her co-teacher. How does sending ONE co-teacher of a co-teaching pair to an in-service help that process to work?  If you are going to do it, do it right!

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

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