By Elizabeth Stein

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently participated at a day-long workshop with special educator Anne Beninghof, author of several books, including most recently Co-Teaching That Works: Structures and Strategies for Maximizing Student Learning. Anne agreed to an interview for our Two Teacher blog, and I’m delighted to have you see for yourself what a dynamic speaker and innovative educator she is.

Some background: Anne is considered a pioneer in the area of inclusion and has published six books on teaching diverse learners in inclusion classrooms. She is a professional development consultant who firmly connects her ideas to research and real-world experience. Anne has a practical, solution-seeking mindset that she’s able to bring to bear on any educator’s situation, with the ultimate goal of achieving success for all students. Amid her workshops and keynotes, she maintains a part-time teaching position to stay strongly connected to the realities of today’s classrooms. For more information about Anne, check out her website.  OK, enough from me…let’s hear from Anne.

Anne Beninghof

Elizabeth:  Please tell us about your teaching career and how you became so passionately involved in supporting teachers and reaching students with special needs.

Anne:   My first teaching years were spent in schools that served only children with disabilities. While the purpose for segregating these students was sometimes noble – more specialized facilities, and access to more intensive health care – my experiences led me to believe that the negative outcomes surpassed the positive possibilities. Segregated programs led to lower expectations and standards for both students and staff. Time after time I saw that views about learning were skewed and that services to the most needy were not given priority. After several frustrating years, I realized that the vast majority of children with disabilities would be best served in the same settings as their non-disabled peers.

Elizabeth: Through your writing and presentations, you share such valuable, practical advice about how to make co-teaching work in real-world classrooms. Please share some of your own co-teaching experiences.

Anne:  I am truly fortunate to have been able to co-teach with a number of gifted classroom teachers. From each partner I have learned new things – from absorbing their curriculum expertise, to picking up tricks for classroom management. One example: I was co-teaching with Lora, a veteran teacher, who uses a simple strategy when a student gives what appeared to be an incorrect answer to a question. She says, “Tell me more about your thinking.” I frequently noticed that the student was able to explain his thinking in a way that showed he really was on the right track. I decided right then and there to incorporate that little phrase into my own interactions with students.  What excites me most is that I can take this kind of new learning with me and share it with my next co-teaching partner and our students.

Elizabeth: Please share your views on the various co-teaching models you discuss in your book and workshops. How can teachers create and maximize a natural, comfortable experience that demonstrates true parity? What about when one teacher is not willing?

Anne: Most educators are very professional and place the needs of students first. Occasionally we encounter a teacher who is reluctant to co-teach. (I prefer the term “reluctant” to resistant because it feels more hopeful!) A first step is to determine what is at the root of the reluctance. Thoughtful, non-threatening questioning can gather helpful information. For example, as a special educator or facilitator I might ask, “What do you think is making it difficult for your co-teaching to move forward?” Just recently I used this question as a probe and the classroom teacher blurted out, “I’m a control freak!” Once this admission was out in the open, it was easier to develop strategies to help the team take some steps to improve.

Elizabeth: The ultimate goal for an inclusion classroom is to allow all students to access the general education curriculum in ways that result in meaningful learning. What are your thoughts regarding balancing the learning and individual needs with the higher expectations that all students are required to achieve?

Anne: Special education is defined as “specially designed instruction” to meet the needs of a student with a disability. As partners analyze standards and design responsive instruction, we often see that the ideas generated benefit many other students in the class. For example, the partners may decide that using a skill groups model for the lesson will be most effective. They divide the class into three groups – one that needs support, one that is on grade level, and one that is ready for more. Learning and practice activities are developed that fit each group’s unique needs. In a lesson on area of a circle, for example, one group may learn the formula, practice it using wikki stix as manipulatives, and work on memorization strategies. Another group might learn the formula, practice it and develop real-world applications. A third group might learn the formula and explore the question, “How is the area of a circle related to the area of a rectangle?”

Elizabeth:  How do you think we can make the benefits of co-teaching attainable for more co-teaching situations at the elementary and secondary levels?

Anne:  Schools that are implementing effective co-teaching programs are beginning to show improved student test scores. The reality is that this kind of evidence is what will drive an increase in co-teaching. We need districts to evaluate their co-teaching initiatives and publish their results. I also want teachers and administrators to be ready to respond to questions about co-teaching with a thorough and confident response regarding the benefits for all students. If a parent of a general education student tells me that she is concerned after hearing that her child might be placed in a co-taught class, I want to be quick to respond with “You are so lucky! Co-taught classes are much more effective at differentiating instruction so that all students learn at their best pace.” That’s our goal, and it’s certainly within our reach in every school.

Thanks, Anne!

As for our readers…I will leave you with one of my many favorite quotes by Anne Beninghof:

“Co-Teaching isn’t taking turns; it’s teaching together.”

In addition to commenting here, I encourage you to learn more about Anne and what she is up to by visiting Ideas for Educators. At her site you’ll also find downloadables that you can apply in your classrooms tomorrow.

Enjoy!

by Elizabeth Stein

The winter break is over and the rhythms of school life have resumed. It’s the perfect moment to do a mid-year check in.

With half of this school year behind us (so hard to believe!), and another half of the school year ahead (so exciting!), it is a good time to reevaluate the procedures and structures that are in place in our inclusion classrooms. It’s important to reevaluate our procedures, so that we can make any necessary changes that are in our control.

Classroom Management: Reality Check

When it comes to effective co-teaching, flexibility is the key. Yet a certain amount of structure must be in place to keep the organization solid. So there you have it. It’s simple: a balance of flexibility with structure.

But it’s not just a balance with each side pulling against the weight of the other. Each component must weave naturally within the process of the other to create an effectively managed classroom. Maybe the right metaphor is “a balance of matched threads throughout the weave.”

So how is this naturally woven balance created? The short answers are “over time” and “with determined focus and incredible patience.” In any co-teaching classroom, here are some things to check:

The Physical Set-Up: Are students desks arranged in ways that are conducive to effective instruction? Also, we must make sure that the students with IEPs are included, not integrated. If they are “integrated” (this should be avoided) the students with IEPs are all seated next to each other—together, but still separate. When they are “included” (the way it should be) the students with IEPs are seated strategically amongst their general education peers.

Thinking about the way to set up the desks: personally, I’m not a fan of linear rows 100 percent of the time. This setup seems to scream, “sit-up, face forward, look at me, for I am the most important person in the room, or else!” I consider myself a facilitator of learning — not the sage on stage all of the time. I want students to know that their thoughts are valued.

There are other options that encourage students to share their thinking out loud and learn so much from one another. As we reach this half-way mark into the school year, think about how you and your co-teachers are setting up your classrooms. One of my co-teachers decided to change from traditional linear rows to stadium seating where the rows are in an arc shape. The students can now see each other as we engage in class discussions.

We make time to allow students to push their desks together when we want them to think-pair-share. And other times, the desks are arranged in groups of four to five, allowing students in each group to have time to problem solve and work together. Of course, there are also times when linear rows are fine.

Classroom Procedures: Is your class routine one that your co-teacher, all of the students, and you are comfortable with? Is it working? Are any updates needed? Are your routines predictable enough to help students to be independent, yet crazy enough to spark students to wonder and be excited about what the class will do next?

Also, is your behavior management plan working? This is the time of year to evaluate what is in place and then tweak as necessary. No need to wait for next year’s students to make some positive changes that you think of now.

Student Engagement: Do you and your co-teacher hand out the fish? Or do you make your students go fishing? Typically when students are actively involved in the learning process, they are engaged. If you are offering meaningful questions that make students think, and you are requiring students to generate their own questions and seek answers, then you are helping your students to develop valuable life-long learning habits.

Your co-teacher and you should allow yourselves to find the balance between the pressures of a fast paced curriculum and the need to guide students toward higher level thinking. Encourage kids to question, to interact, and to enjoy the moments of learning when they are in your classroom.

Student engagement in the co-taught classroom is a topic that I will delve more deeply into in a future post. For now I’ll leave you with a blog post that expresses my own thinking about student engagement in general. Check it out; hopefully, it will spark some honest reflecting for you and your co-teacher(s): The Problem with Student Engagement is written by Canadian teacher and teaching coach Shelley Wright.

Our responsibility to engage our students — all students — lies heavily upon us, considering what we are asking them to do. Just think about it.

Co-Teacher Role Check

Are you and your co-teacher sharing the responsibility of teaching? More specifically, does each of you have a significant role during the planning, instructional, and assessment phases of teaching? If so, great! Please consider sharing your experience here. If not, do not worry, you are far from alone. This is also a good place to share your frustration. Just add your voice to the comments below, so that we can get some solution-seeking minds together for a productive discussion.

Also, to further spark your voice, please check out these wise words from Anne Benninghof.

She sensibly states:

“Co-teaching isn’t taking turns — it’s teaching together.”

I feel like standing up tall, high on the top of a soapbox, and shouting that out for all to hear. My own situation is probably not too far off from so many of you. I truly appreciate and enjoy working with all of my co-teachers.

Yet the “easy way out” seems like a universal problem that so many co-teachers live with every day. Far too many of our colleagues still see the process of co-teaching as a “taking turns” kind of experience.

I am finding (once again) that changing mindsets about our shared roles takes lots of time and patience. And along my journey, in the midst of this change, I am making sure that I notice and enjoy the small positive baby steps I take with my colleagues each day.

We’re half way home. Please share how things are going with you at this milepost in the school year. What’s going well? What changes would you like to make? Let’s search for some solutions together…

By Elizabeth Stein

I’ve come to the conclusion that successful co-teaching is not just about what we can do for our students. In fact, I can say with conviction that the top priority of co-teachers should be about what each can do for one another. (What! Did I really just say that out loud!?)

I’ve just turned my whole co-teaching perspective inside out and upside down. My focus has always been on what I — and we — can do for the students (with my attention zoomed in on our students with disabilities). My new perspective places the needs of my co-teacher at the top of the agenda.

Wow, what a mind opener! It makes crystal clear sense to me. Let me explain for those skeptics out there. You see, before we can successfully put our students first, we have to make sure that we have three perspectives in place:

• a strong sense of self
• a strong sense of our partner’s self
• a strong sense of how the two come together to give the students all we’ve got!

My belief that students come first is still my main focus. But I realize that to truly make students the center of all we do, I must view the needs of my co-teachers as an urgent priority. Does this make sense to anyone else?

Let’s think some about the need for teachers to be more aware of their own personality and teaching preferences—as well as the preferences of their co-teachers. The trick is how do we gain this sense of understanding of ourselves and our co-teachers? I think I may have found the path to a solution.

Personal understandings

The Myers-Briggs Personality Types can serve as one tool to help co-teachers gain an understanding of one another’s needs and so create positive co-teaching relationships. This personality inventory was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs-Myers, around the beginning of World War II. The hope was to help women, who were entering the workforce for the first time, find a job that would help them to feel comfortable based on their personality preferences.

The Myers-Briggs personality preferences were based on their extensive study of the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. Jung believed that people perceive the world through four main psychological functions: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. Additionally, Jung believed that these four mental functions characterized a person’s overall general attitude as primarily introverted or extroverted.

Myers and Briggs took Jung’s theory and put it into language that could be useful in everyday life to guide people to understand themselves and others. I believe that this four-minute test can work to strengthen the language of co-teaching. Before we go on, let’s take a four minute break to take the test: just click here.

Know yourself

OK. So I’m an INFJ — specifically introvert, intuitive, feeling, and judging. What a relief! This explains so much! My results do not surprise me. I’ve always known that I prefer tranquil and quiet settings vs. crowded social scenes. I am not one of those who speak loudly and draw attention to myself. In fact, my most effective way to get the attention of a crowd or classroom filled with students is by speaking softly. And truth be told, I would rather sit peacefully reading a book than going to a crowded party.

Also, I know I drive some of my co-teachers crazy as I strive to find time to plan with them. I am that squeaky wheel that just doesn’t stop until the right amount of oil is added — hence, my result of “judging.” INFJs are known to be organized planners and proactive solution seekers. That explains why I twitch when I am put in a classroom situation where I am expected to just “jump in” without a co-planned lesson. Although I am able to go with the flow, I am always thinking that my students deserve more than that.

I know I will continue to strive to co-plan and be proactive for my students, but my new inside-out perspective is reminding me to take the knowledge of my own preferences and then ask myself, what can I do for my co-teacher—first and foremost? Why? Because I believe that my focus on my co-teachers’ needs will allow me to reach my ultimate goal of giving my students all I’ve got!

I am using this Myers-Briggs test as a tool for understanding how my personality can work side by side with my co-teacher’s personality. I think it will be a natural process. At least I hope so, because I work with three different co-teachers—three different personality types—and there’s only one of me.

Know Your co-teacher

The Myers-Briggs test helps me to understand my co-teachers. For example, one of my co-teachers agreed to take the test. He got an INTP. Our preferences are compatible, but it explains why he has an aversion to co-planning. The P reflects his “perceiving” preference and explains he is a go-with-the-flow kind of person. He has no desire to plan — he would rather improvise and just respond as situations arise.

Even if a co-teacher does not take the test, you can use the language to help you to understand your partner’s preferences. For example, another one of my co-teachers is clearly an extrovert who also must have a preference for perceiving rather than judging. Not only is co-planning an issue, but he is extremely social with students and colleagues. In addition, he yearns for the limelight when in the classroom, which can be definitely overpowering to my more reserved self.

He seems to view co-teaching as a threat to his desire to have the students’ attention on him. Rather than see this as a problem, my knowledge of this just makes me more aware of my need to consider the reality of the situation. I understand this co-teacher’s needs and respond to them, so in turn he is more welcoming of my contributions. And this connection goes a long way toward building that mutual respect that co-teachers need.

Rather than getting frustrated that a co-teacher is not interested in co-planning, I know I will have to kick it up a bit. My old approach was all about trying to find the time to plan and then to use that time effectively. But some people are just not cut out for that, so I will problem solve by planning on my own and then going to him and say, “How about we try this…”

I think it will work. He’ll be happy because he won’t be forced to sit and plan ahead. I’ll be happy because I will sit and plan ahead. And we’ll both be happy because the needs of the students will be met. So it will be a good compromise — it will be a balance of thought out plans and going with the flow on the spot teaching. Life is good.

My hope is that the emphasis on my planning and then sharing with him will turn into a natural connection between us — leading to a stronger co-teaching experience during the actual moments of teaching. And who knows, maybe it will even evolve into a shared desire to co-plan. I’ll let you know how it all unfolds. I’m really psyched about this! (Definite pun intended!)

A tool for co-teachers

This Myers-Briggs approach has really helped me to relax and find that balance that Laurie spoke about in her last post. For me, it is helping solve that all-too-familiar problem of building positive co-teaching relationships. It’s a solution because it confirms the value of my own preferences and teaching style, as well as helps me to understand the preferences and styles of others. I can move forward in constructive ways and communicate effectively.

It gives me the language to articulate what frustrates me and then provides me with a focused lens for looking deeper into how my strengths and weaknesses can complement the strengths and weaknesses of my co-teacher — creating a balance to meet the needs of our students. And I think it can work wonders in the areas of mutual respect and open communication. (Of course I’m an INFJ!)

So, what do you think? Could this be a solution for you or anyone you know?

And for all of you who read this post but didn’t actually take the Myers-Briggs test — go on and do it. It’s really kind of fun. And the four minutes required to take the test could possibly transform endless hours of co-teaching time. So, just click here…and let us know what you think about questions like:

• How does the knowledge of your attitude and preferences help you to get along with your co-teacher?
• How can the knowledge of yourself help you to keep your focus even if your co-teaching experience is fraught with challenges?
• How can this help you to understand your co-teacher’s needs and ultimately meet the needs of your students?

Let’s chat!