Co-Teaching/Collaboration Tips

This school year, I’m adding a new role to my plate: Co-Teaching Facilitator! I’ll still be working as a 3rd grade teacher, but also hope to work with teacher teams and support them (and their collaboration). I’m very fortunate to work at a school where Lower School (K-5) Homeroom classrooms have co-teachers (and of course to have this opportunity to try out a new role without having to stop teaching!) and would like to support other teacher teams to utilize all the great opportunities that come along with co-teaching.

Even if you don’t (or cannot) co-teach, collaborating with other teachers is so valuable for so many reasons! I find having another adult in the room is so valuable (not only because I can actually go to the bathroom if need be) in many ways, but especially in terms of making observations and gathering information about students. Two adults means you can get a second opinion, ask, “did you notice that as well?” and learn more about your students. It also means that our students learn from two different people's experiences when we have honest conversations about the world and that we have more flexibility to innovate and make sure all students are heard/seen/best supported.

I understand that many teachers don’t have flexibility in the classroom (and certainly don’t have another adult in the room regularly) so tried to make my tips applicable to all kinds of co-teaching and collaboration set ups. Even if you don’t get to work concurrently with another teacher, you can still collaborate (and share resources, notes, ideas, and more) with other teachers or professionals in the building and this year, you might be working with push in aids, teaching assistants, or special educators.

Some tips for maximizing your collaboration potential:

• Try something new or unexpected and BE FLEXIBLE. Some of the greatest cooperation comes from unanticipated sources. We’ve worked to integrate our curriculum with the Art teacher at our school and were amazed at how the visual support took our students’ geographic understanding to a new level. We also did an amazing service learning project that never would have been possible without Homeroom and Art teachers working together. Our students’ feedback to us reflected the values of these partnerships as they reflected that they enjoyed integration across disciplines immensely. However, trying something new is hard. Know that it may not go as expected and be okay with that! Know that you won’t be totally in control and be okay with that, too.

• Be clear and open. I’ve heard the statement, “Co-teaching is like a marriage.” many times. Whether or not you agree with this comparison, it is true that clear expectations and open communication can make all the difference. You and your co-teacher (or anyone you are collaborating with) have to make joint decisions, issue joint communication, share labor, and (hopefully) support each other. The same conflict resolution strategies we teach our students apply to us as well: be respectful (of both yourself and others), try to use kind words when possible, and be clear about what you need (or would like) to happen next.

  • Define responsibilities and roles: who will be in charge of what? What will you do together? How will this work?

  • Make sure you have some time to plan and debrief together. If you don’t have time to sit down together frequently (because you’re a teacher with an extremely long to do list), use shared documents (Google docs are free to use and there are many other resources out there) so you both (or all) are on the same page.

• Show gratitude and respect. I’m so grateful to have someone else in the room with me. It makes so much possible, makes me a better teacher, and allows me to try out simulations and new activities that would require a lot more coordination (or simply be logistically flawed) with one teacher. I make it clear to my students that all teachers have equal authority - it’s not “my classroom,” it’s “our classroom and our school” and we all work together and are essential parts of the community.

• Enjoy your sense of humor. I know you have one because you’re a teacher! There are so many hilarious things that happen in classroom all the time and it’s wonderful to have another adult present to share the amusement. Also, innovation often means trying something many times before having success! You are trying something new so it might not go as expected. Laughing at yourself (and each other) in a kind way is also wonderful modeling for students. It’s a great way to show them that you took a risk, tried something out, and understand that mistakes are part of learning and life.

I hope these tips are useful for you to think about before you head back to school! Stay tuned for updates about rolling out my co-teaching facilitator work with other teachers. I’ll try to remember to be flexible and have a sense of humor!

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Sinking Ship Simulation: Who do we VALUE?

"Well in the real world not everyone can get everything and this kind of showed me that not all our decision making processes are fair."

Notes on our whiteboard from the students' brainstorming and decision making process.

How it Works:

Yesterday in Social Studies, we did our Sinking Ship simulation (idea credit: we first read about this here). We had the students in half groups (when half the class is with us and half the class is with a different teacher) so we only had 13 students at a time. For each group, we started by handing out “assignments” on folded slips of paper.

The different roles were:

migrant worker

senator

someone who is currently unemployed

child

firefighter

teacher

nurse

doctor

babysitter

college student

taxi driver

lawyer

scientist

We then asked our students to get in a circle and told them that they were on a sinking ship, and there were only FIVE spots in the lifeboat. They had to work together to decide as a group which five people should go in the lifeboat.

Students immediately started making arguments for why they should be on the lifeboat. The senator claimed that he should get on the boat because he is important. Another student countered, “Not on the lifeboat!” One of our favorite funny moments occurred when someone agreed with the “senator” that he should be on the boat and another student said quietly to himself, “It depends if he is a Democrat or a Republican.”

Why We Love this Simulation:

We love this simulation for so many reasons--

• It is fascinating to watch the students work it out amongst themselves!

• It’s also interesting to hear the arguments the students come up, and note which students give up immediately when they read their assignment and decide that their job isn’t “good” enough.

• It is also very telling (and part of our debrief) to note when students laugh. Some laugh out loud when they read their role to their classmates and others start play acting their preconceived idea of that role. For example, the student who received “you are currently unemployed” said, “I just graduated from college. I don’t have a job and I live in my mother’s basement!” in a goofy voice as if he was acting out a role, and put labels on himself.

The Two Group's Decisions:

In the first group, the students worked collaboratively and ensured that everyone’s voice was heard (with some raised voices, but general agreement), while in the second group, one student took charge and made decisions for the group that were later challenged as “unfair.” The two groups also came to different conclusions about who should get a spot on the lifeboat. Their final choices for which "characters" should be on the lifeboat were:

Group One:

1. Doctor

2. Child

3. Nurse

4. Scientist

5. College student

Group Two:

1. Child

2. Person who is currently unemployed

3. Doctor

4. Senator

5. College student

Student Reflections:

"I thought it was unfair because it was based on stereotypes and generalization."

"One thing that did not go well was there was a lot of stereotypes of "taxi driver" and the "currently unemployed". This is bad because just because someone does not have a job does not mean they are not smart. Also people were saying things like how can a taxi driver help. This made us choose people whose jobs make more money, not on their basic humanity!"

"I can connect this to the real world with people who say people who have bad paying jobs aren’t smart. In this I felt stereotyped and I can connect that with the real world because people were using the same stereotypes."

Who would you choose to go on the lifeboat? Do you have other ideas for collaborative problem solving simulations? How else can we push our students to think critically about who is valued in our society and how different people or roles are valued?  We’d love to hear your ideas!

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Social Justice Scope and Sequence Project

Now that it is FINALLY summer (happy summer, teachers!  Congratulations on the end of the school year!) We had free time to work on a summer curriculum and instruction program within our entire school. We compiled a social justice education scope and sequence based on existing work and needs from an anti-bias perspective.  I (Nina) worked with one of the Art teachers and our author in residence to come up with common vocabulary, document existing work, and identify gaps or areas we'd like to see more work done.  For reference, our school is K-8 and independent with one class per grade.

First of all, it was fascinating and inspiring to hear about and detail the work our colleagues are doing!  We have some amazing investigative work around gender in Kindergarten, work around social class, wealth, poverty, and food insecurity in first grade, action and advocacy in second, and so much more!  As a fifth grade teacher, I am so grateful my colleagues who lay the groundwork for what we try to do and of course, also the colleagues who follow up after our students leave us!

We did our best to compile resources and vocabulary to address gaps in programming that we addressed.  Some online resources we loved for this quest where: Teaching Tolerance Classroom Resources, Perspectives for a Diverse America, and Teaching for Change Booklists!

One of the gaps we noticed was around ableism.  In our 5th grade classroom, we do a "What is DisAbility?" investigation, but agreed that we needed conscious teaching around ability and language use starting much earlier.

We also created a vocabulary list with simplified and more specific definitions to use as a professional resource, with students, and as a reference for common language across the school.  We are very excited to see our exhaustive vocabulary list in action next year!

Please comment and tell us any ideas, suggestions, or connections you have.  How does social justice education build in your school or practice?  What resources inspire you??