What co-teaching has done for me!

This year I started out by being informed that one of my classes was going to be co-taught.  At first I really didn't know how to handle that notion.  I'm a pretty free thinker and I like to keep things loose with my classes.  That doesn't mean that I am one of those fly without a plan kind of people, but if something isn't working, or if something strikes me as interesting, I will divert.  But, can that be done with a co-teacher?  Do I need to ask their permission before I make every move?  I wasn't really sure, and I think that is what scared me.

(Picture is not of myself or my co-teacher) 

At this point, I can say, I was wrong.  My co-teacher is one of the best things that has happened to me as a teacher.  She is knowledgeable in an area that most teachers with my level of experience (this is year 4) know little about (special education), and she is incredibly flexible, helpful, and laughs at my jokes (mostly 80's movie references my students are too young to understand).  But, why the apprehension?

Everything I have ever read about co-teaching has said one thing: Co-teaching should be done by choice.  In some ways I agree with the sentiment.  Major changes to your teaching are not things you want to leave up to another person.  However, how many teachers out there, already set in their ways, would choose to have another teacher come into the room and share their responsibilities, their power, on an equal level?  If I had not been forced into co-teaching, I would never have learned its uses, its benefits.

First Benefit: 2 Adults in the room.  Feeling outnumbered by your students?  Well, divide the odds in half and it makes a big difference.  You could be able to give two individual students one on one attention - simultaneously.  It doesn't seem like much, but you have literally doubled your productivity.  Also, there are two teachers to do the most annoying things that we don't like dealing with.  For example: I don't have to hand select and approve every single person to go to the restroom anymore.  We both do it!

Second Benefit: Shared instruction.  Each of us has our own brain.  Obvious, right?  However, we both look at our lessons in different ways.  My co-teacher is able to explain things to students in ways that I had never thought of because she is not me.  In addition, we are teachers of two different subjects.  She is actually in the room because of the special education population.  Because of that she is an expert on how to differentiate to those students.  This makes them more likely to succeed.  Not only that, but she is able to translate their Individualized Education Plans to me.

Third Benefit (possibly the best): Shared responsibilities.  As an English teacher I get a lot of work to grade.  My co-teacher said the greatest 5 words to me that I have ever heard, "I can grade this class's papers."  Though I will be providing input and making sure that our grading is on the same page, this is going to be a HUGE weight lifted from me this year.  Day to day assignments will still be graded by me in the class since she has 3 others she is co-teaching, but the papers are always any teacher's albatross.  We have a lot of trouble allowing ourselves to be helped.  Try letting someone help you today, you'll love it!

Co-teaching has been a scary endeavor, but it has so far been quite rewarding.  It is NOT for everyone, but I am willing to suggest that everyone should at least try it, given the opportunity.  Like anything else in education you have to give it a shot, see if it can work for your curriculum, your teaching style, maybe even your ego.  If it doesn't, call it a failure and move on.  If it does, and I bet it will, you will love everything you have to gain.

There is one thing to note.  Just like in a marriage, it takes two to make it work.  Both teachers in the co-teaching setting need to share the responsibilities and treat one another as equals.  If either side cannot handle the symbiotic relationship that must be formed, then it will be doomed from the beginning.

Interested in learning more about co-teaching?

Try this link to a description of what co-teaching is, and almost more importantly, is not
CLICK HERE

Also, here is the link to Dr. Marilyn Friend, an expert in co-teaching.

This is why I teach, then and now

People are constantly interested in why teachers get into teaching, so here is my story:



When I was in high school I began to teach technical theatre to underclassmen when I became a junior. It was always a rewarding experience for me to see them begin to understand things the way that I did. In addition, when I was in high school, one of my friends who ended up in my English classes, both as students, was constantly in need of help to stay afloat. Sometimes I wonder if he would have graduated from high school without me. These times always felt like early tests. Could I be patient and interested enough to become a teacher? What would this really mean for my future? Is there anything else that I could do that would make me more money (it turned out there was nothing I was willing to do, other than teaching)?

HOWEVER, it took me 5 years of college, and one very miserable year of student teaching, to realize that I didn't know the first thing about being a teacher. I wanted to go out and change the world like every other inspired teacher, but I had no idea how to do that. College doesn't prepare you for teaching, it just prepares you to pass tests, get grades, get a degree (mine was in English in preparation for the Single Subject Teaching Credential), but it does not prepare you for teaching. My credential program itself was fraught with ups and downs and really turned into a roller coaster ride (one in which I almost fell out of). But, I didn't let any of that stop me.

The end of the student teaching was much more successful than the beginning, after some changes. Then came the scary part, job hunting. I ended up only being called by two schools in the district. One turned out to be a dead end, someone had been given the position because they were an excessed employee (no place to teach, but still had a contract). The other was my school. I had NEVER taught middle school before, and was moving into a school that was literally just built, so my room had nothing in it but desks, chairs, and way less technology than I have now, but more than most schools (ceiling mounted LCD projector, document camera, new MacBook, ceiling mounted speakers, microphones). However, this was no replacement for curriculum, a classroom library, and the like. So, another struggle ensued, and once again I was victorious. But, not feeling great, just satisfied. There lies the next leg of the journey.

I am now in the beginning of my forth year as a teacher at my school, still teaching 6th grade English (it's not as bad as it sounds), and realizing that I still have a lot to learn, a lot that I want to improve and change. These changes are not just about my teaching and preparation, but I want to start guiding other teachers towards truths that I have begun to find along the way. My reason for teaching has evolved, so much that it has almost completely changed. Now, instead of merely teaching because I want others to understand, I also teach because I want to understand as well.

Every time I get in front of my class and teach them something, I find a new way to look at it that I didn't see before. AND, if I don't see something, they inevitably will. It is an amazing experience. But, not only do I want to shift my paradigm from teacher to learner, I want to shift the scope of my audience. I want to start teaching teachers at my school to embrace the technology that they have been gifted. So far my district has begun to roll out technology at a rate that seems unprecedented (and costly to tax payers - don't worry though, they voted for it). They call it the i21 Interactive Classroom.However, there has not been a great response from teachers to the technology. Therein lies the problem.

Teachers, including myself, are never willing to do something new if it makes their lives more difficult. Why change if it is going to make your work all that much harder? My goal this year is to begin introducing to teachers ways of using their technology that will not only benefit their students, but will benefit them as well. They will see technology as a way to change learning into something engaging and relevant to students. It will help them to stay more organized, as I hope it will do for me, and it will help them to save the planet, by decreasing the amount of trees we cut down for the endless amounts of paper we use.

Technology is a gift, for so many reasons, and education should treat it no differently. This year, my plan is to help my colleagues understand that technology is going to change the face of education for good, and not evil. It will be an uphill battle, considering some of my students couldn't figure out how to turn on their computers last week, but we will come out of it stronger in the end.

Information you may be wondering:
Who am I? - Jeff Russell, Husband, Teacher
Where do I teach? - Marshall Middle School in the San Diego Unified School District
What do I teach? - 6th Grade English and 6th Grade Drama
What technology is available? - 34 netbook PC's in my classroom, a 96 inch Promethean Board, a document camera, and 1 tablet PC for myself (All 6th grade classrooms have this technology, 7th grade is currently getting it, 8th grade will be next year)
Why am I writing this blog? - To catalog my pursuit of improving my school's 21st century literacy. I plan on posting here once a week as a reflection on my week's exploits.

Update: I will be publishing my edits as they happen in order to prove that I, like my students, do not always publish things perfectly the first time.