I think we probably all remember that one class we all took in our teacher training that talked about the various models of co-teaching. After that you head off into the real world where you may or may not actually have a co-teacher to work with. And, if you do end up co-teaching in real life, it is nothing like the magical relationships our textbooks taught us about.
If you have co-taught before, you know it takes the perfect blend of personalities between the two teachers and a healthy dose of professional communication to work. Two great teachers could make terrible co-teachers if their personalities or teaching styles clash. The worst partnerships are like a bad group project, with one person doing all the work and the other person sitting in the back of the room reading a book (true story).
Adding the online element to a co-teaching relationship can make things even trickier. No face-to-face collaboration means text, email and phones calls are your new planning time. Redoing an entire curriculum to fit online means everything you usually do is new and needs adjustment. Online learning means fewer visual cues and sometimes interrupting each other to add information.
It has been a while since I co-taught, but this year I started teaching a co-taught English class for SEI and high need 11th graders. It’s a new class, a new curriculum to write, and a new adult in my classroom, all rolled into the craziest semester of teaching I have ever had. It is also the most fun I have ever had with a co-teacher.
One of the reasons I think this new partnership is working so well is we get along. We spend the time online when students are coming in cracking jokes and telling silly stories. I am not sure our students think we’re funny (I think we’re hysterical), but they are participating and seem to be engaged in class. I call that a win.
We also divide things up well. I plan instruction and let her take the pieces she wants to teach. She doesn’t judge me when I often redo lesson plans and slide decks the night before class. She makes parent phone calls during her prep to help me out. We tag team our instruction in a way that feels like we have been teaching together for more than three weeks. There is a balance in the workload that makes this all feel like a real partnership.
With in-person learning still up in the air at the moment, I am unsure if I will ever teach these students face-to-face. I might need to wait until next year to compare my new co-teaching experience online to a traditional, in-person one. I hope things will continue to go smoothly and our students will keep tuning in (even if it’s just to hear our witty banter). I hope my co-teacher agrees with my assessment of how things are going so far. I hope we can keep working well together to support our students in this crazy year.
Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels
Rachel Perugini
I am originally from Pennsylvania where I earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Shippensburg University. In 2012, I moved to Arizona to teach on the Navajo Reservation; I liked the state so much I decided to stay. I taught language arts, reading, and journalism for three years at Many Farms High School. During that time, I earned a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction for Reading. In 2015, I moved to Flagstaff where I currently teach 10th and 11th grade English. I have been an avid reader all my life, so I love that my job gives me that chance to read amazing books with my students all day long.
Comments 2
Thank you for this contribution. I appreciate the way you pointed out that two great teachers can equal a bad experiment if they are not able to find balance and a common goal. I also appreciate the way you partner with your co-teacher as an equal peer in the sense of you respecting her as a professional and treating her as one.
I was half of a co-teaching partnership for many years. Your description of it is completely accurate! I was fortunate my co-teacher and I had complimentary strengths and weaknesses and we worked really well together. I can’t imagine trying to form a co-teaching partnership in the current circumstances. Thank you for sharing your experience!