Co-Teaching in a Year-long Professional Development School Gary Weilbacher, Illinois State University Keith Tilford, St. John’s County School District ABSTRACT: While there is considerable research concerning co-teaching among special educators and regular classroom teachers, little work has been published regarding co-teaching that involves teacher candidatesandtheircooperatingteachers.Duringthelastthreeyears,twomiddleleveleducationfaculty membersinvolvedintheirUniversity’sProfessionalDevelopmentSchool(PDS)programmadeaconcerted effort to promote co-teaching among cooperating teachers and their respective teacher candidates. This qualitative study used interviews with five pairs of cooperating teachers and teacher candidates to examine how co-teaching influenced their professional development and their instructional practices. Results of the study suggested that co-teaching was useful in meeting the needs of middle school students and seen as a strong form of both teacher preparation and professional development for cooperating teachers and student candidates alike. NAPDS Essentials Addressed: Essential #2/A school–university culture committed to the preparation of future educators that embraces their active engagement in the school community; Essential #3/Ongoing and reciprocal professionaldevelopmentforallparticipantsguidedbyneed;Essential#4/Asharedcommitmenttoinnovativeand reflective practice by all participants; Essential #5/Engagement in and public sharing of the results of deliberate investigationsofpracticebyrespectiveparticipants;Essential#6/Workbycollege/universityfacultyandP–12faculty in formal roles across institutional settings. Introduction One Teach, One Assist - One teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other assists The term co-teaching is generally defined as a partnership students with their work, monitors behaviors, or between regular classroom teachers and special educators that corrects assignments. involves including students with disabilities in the activities of Station Teaching - The co-teaching pair divides the instruc- the regular education classroom. Evidence indicates that co- tionalcontentintoparts.Eachteacherinstructsoneof teaching has been on the rise in the last decade (Dieker & the groups, groups then spend time at each station. Murawski, 2003; Kamens & Casale-Giannola, 2004; Patel & ParallelTeaching-Eachteacherinstructshalfthestudentsbut Kramer, 2013). Hildenbrand (2009) reported that the increased they address the same instructional material using the attention to the inclusion of students with special needs and same teaching strategy. mandates related to Response to Intervention (RtI) has made Supplemental Teaching - This strategy allows one teacher to such pairings more common. According to Arne Duncan, work with students at their expected grade level, while the other teacher works with students who need the Secretaryof the U.S. DepartmentofEducation, as many as ‘‘60 information and/or materials retaught, extended or percent of students with disabilities today spend 80 percent of remediated. their time in the regular school environment’’ (2011). Clearly, Alternative (Differentiated) - Alternative teaching strategies new teachers entering the schools will be expected to be able to provide two different approaches to teaching the same co-teach during at least a portion of theirday, and their teacher information. The learning outcome is the same for all preparation programs need to provide experiences to prepare students however the instructional strategy is different. them for such collaborative settings. Team Teaching - Well planned, team-taught lessons, exhibit Thelistbelow,developedfromtheworkof St.Cloud State an invisible flow of instruction with no prescribed University, Teacher Quality Enhancement Center (2012) division of authority. Using a team teaching strategy, describes a variety of co-teaching formats: both teachers are actively involved in the lesson. From a students’ perspective, there is no clearly defined One Teach, One Observe - One teacher has primary leader. responsibility while the other gathers specific observa- tional information on students or the (instructing) Part of the foundation for our study is embedded in the teacher. recognition of the importance of and models for co-teaching. School—University Partnerships Vol.8,No.1 37 38 GARYWEILBACHERANDKEITHTILFORD However,instead ofseeingco-teachingasapartnership between Theoretical Framework special and regular educators, our work studies co-teaching as a Theoretical underpinnings for our study are grounded in our collaboration between teacher candidates and their cooperating prior experiences as middle level educators. Middle level teachers.Asstated previously,thepredominantliteratureonco- educational frameworks have historicallychampioned collabora- teaching references partnerships between special educators and tive forms of teaching (Carnegie Council,1989; NMSA,1995). regular classroom teachers (Conderman, 2011; Friend & Exemplary middle schools use interdisciplinary teaming, which Bursuck, 2011; Miller, 2008; Villa, Thousand, & Nevin, often involves co-planning and co-teaching with two or more 2008). Our goal is to add to the rather limited number of teachers who are certified in different subject areas (Arnold & studiesthatexaminethebenefitsofco-teachingbetweenteacher Stevenson,1998). Jackson and Davis (2000) detail the processes candidates and their cooperating teachers (Casale-Giannola & that effective middle school teams use to grow professionally: Wilson, 2004; Kamens & Casale-Giannola, 2013). The ongoing dialogueof teachers onateam, especially whenitisregularlyfocusedonlookingatstudentwork Co-teaching and Teacher Education to assess student learning and guide instructional One such study examined teacher candidates who were strategies, is potentially the most powerful source of scheduled to receive dual certifications in elementary and professional development for middle grades teachers. special education. Kamens and Casale-Giannola (2004) found The shared insights, critique, conjecture, search for thatthesedualcertificationstudentsreceivedvaluable‘‘exposure evidence, discussion of lessons learned, prodding, to collaboration and varied teaching styles, ongoing opportuni- probing, and small celebrations of success that ties to plan for diverse needs, and awareness of the effective permeate the conversation of effective teams are the components of co-teaching’’ (p.30) by being placed in co-taught primary means by which teachers create their profes- classrooms during student teaching. sional knowledge about teaching (p.128). Goodnough, Osmond, Dibbon, Glassman and Stevens The belief that teachers grow professionally by working (2009) placed pairs of pre-service teachers with single collaboratively with each other is a central tenet in ourdecision cooperating teachers for a 12-week clinical experience. to study co-teaching. Strengths of this model included mutual learning, professional In addition, the current attention to differentiated support, benefits for the K-12 students involved, gains in pre- instruction and curriculum demands that new teachers be service teacher confidence, and ample feedback in teaching. proficient in meeting the needs of every student. Given that One of the major problems encountered with this approach middle level philosophy, inclusion practices, and demands for was related to competition between pre-service teachers. In differentiation are all dependent upon teachers working addition,boththecooperatingteachersandpre-serviceteachers together, researching the presence of co-teaching within our were concerned about becoming co-dependent, losing of teacher training program is grounded in both current individuality, and creating confusion regarding classroom educational policy and foundational theories of middle level management. education. BadialiandTitus(2012)reviewedsixdifferentmodelsofco- teaching and provided examples of how cooperating teachers, Background pre-serviceteachers,andthestudentsbenefitedfromengagingin co-teaching in a PDS setting. Work by Heck, Bacharach, and TheMiddleLevelEducationprogramatIllinoisStateUniversity Mann(2010)indicatedthatstudentswhowereEnglishLanguage (ISU) has been providing specialized teacher preparation for Learners, qualified for free and reduced lunch, and received education majors learning to teach young adolescents for over special education services had higher math proficiency scores fifty years. The program is accredited by the Council for the when placed in classrooms that utilized co-teaching during the AccreditationofEducatorPreparation(CAEP),anditsgoalsare student teaching experience. aligned with the Association for Middle Level Education Therearestudiesthatreportclearbenefitsforincludingco- (AMLE)standards.Studentsenrolledintheprogramaremiddle teaching in teacher preparation programs. Both cooperating leveleducationmajors,meaningtheyareendorsedintwosubject teachers and teacher candidates gain valuable collaboration areas. These students complete a total of 39 credit hours of skills,mutualprofessionalsupport,andtheabilitytolearnfrom specialized course work in young adolescent development, eachother.Inaddition,thereisevidencetosuggestthatstudents middle school practice and philosophy, and participate in co-taught classrooms are also positively impacted. The exclusively in clinical experiences and student teaching place- motivation for our study was to determine if similar benefits ments in middle grades schools. wereevidentinourPDSprogram.Morespecifically,weexplored Oneoptionformiddleleveleducationmajorswhodesirea the question, ‘‘What impact does co-teaching have on teacher more clinically intensive senior year is the middle level candidates and cooperating teachers during a year-long PDS Professional Development School program. The PDS program experience?’’ consists of partnerships with four school districts and involves Co-Teaching 39 seven middle grades schools. Teacher candidates can choose to They took seriously their role of mentor rather than looking be placed in schools within socio-economic contexts categorized for the ‘‘down time’’ mentioned above and welcomed the loss as rural and small urban. of isolation that can be common to teaching. During the first semester, teacher candidates begin the school year as members of a team of practicing teachers. They Method attenddistrictin-servicedaysandhelptheircooperatingteachers prepareforthearrivaloftheirstudents.Thefirstsemesterallows School Settings teachercandidates to acquire 350 to 600 student contact hours and complete a minimum of 12 university credits in middle Thefiveinternsandtheirrespectivecooperatingteacherstaught school curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and current issues. in three different schools. Oakdale Junior High School is the Teacher candidates spend the entire first two weeks of the only middle grades school in a district that has one area career semester in their assigned classrooms in order to get to know center high school, one comprehensive high school, one early their students and the school routine. During weeks three childhood center, and six elementary schools serving approxi- through ten, candidates attend their assigned schools on mately5,605students.Accordingtothe2011InteractiveReport Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, as Thursday and Friday are Card, the enrollment at OJHS is 1,161 students. Demograph- reserved for university classes. In late October, the university ically, the population is 54% White, 25.5% African American, classes cease, allowing candidates to be in the schools during a 10.7% Hispanic students, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 7.2% four-week clinical experience. A semester-ending conference bi/multiracial.ThefreeandreducedlunchpopulationatOJHS between the university supervisor, teacher candidate, and is 56%. Just over 55% of OJHS students met or exceeded the cooperating teachers allows time to review successes and standards, meaning that the school did not meet federal concerns from the first semester, and to set goals for student education standards. teaching, which occurs in the same setting during the second The Two Rivers School District is an Early Childhood semester. Education-12 district located in a bedroom community seven miles south of a larger community in central Illinois. The Encouraging Co-Teaching in the PDS population consists of a mix of students whose families are mainly involved in farming and white-collar employment. Atthebeginningofthefallsemester,PDSfacultymembersmeet Demographically, Two Rivers Middle School (TRMS) is almost with each teacher candidate and their cooperating teachers to 97% White, with Asian, Hispanic, and African American answer questions and discuss the program requirements. We populationsforming3%of thetotalpopulation.Approximately encouragethemtotryco-teachingandreviewthedifferenttypes 9%ofthestudentsqualifyforfree/reducedlunch.Standardized of co-teaching available (Teacher Quality Enhancement Center, test scores are typically some of the highest in the region. 2012). According to the research, this can be a challenging Dillon Middle School (DMS) is the sixth through eighth message to convey as many veteran teachers were ‘‘trained’’ in programs that lacked co-teaching experiences: grade school for one of the largest geographical districts in the state. DMS can be described as a predominantly rural school In traditional programs, it is common practice for that serves students living in or near eight small communities. cooperating teachers to leave the candidates alone in Ofthe424studentswhoattendedDMSin2011,approximately the classroom to sink or swim. As a result, many sink, 95%wereWhiteandonethirdofthestudentsqualifiedforfree to the great detriment of children’s learning. Others and reduced lunch (2011 ISBE report card). Performance data may swim, but awkwardly at first without much on all state tests indicated that 93.5% of OMS students either support. The practice of letting teacher candidates go met or exceeded the state benchmarks, placing them approxi- ‘‘solo’’ is rationalized by two arguments. First, cooper- mately 11 percentage points higher than the state average. ating teachers feel they deserve some down time for being generous enough to open their classroom to a teacherintraining.Thesoloisakindof‘‘payback’’for Participants access to their classroom. Second, many veteran Barb, Cathy, and Kate were veteran cooperating teachers at teachers feel that a new teacher must carry the burden Oakdaleinthesensethattheywereusedtoworkingwithteacher of an entire class load to prove that she will be able to candidates in their classrooms and all had been at OJHS for at be successful in the profession (Badiali & Titus, 2012, least ten years. Barb taught Language Arts on a five-person, p. 75). seventh grade team that provided inclusion services to students While the majority of cooperating teachers listened with disabilities and English learners. Much of her classroom politely to our request for co-teaching, relatively few embraced focus involved using Language Arts to help her students co-teaching and imbedded into their practice. Those who did understand social justice and equity issues. Mary, a twenty-one indicated that they remember how difficult it was for them yearoldwhitewomanfromthesuburbsofnorthernIllinois,was when their cooperating teachers left them to ‘‘sink or swim’’. theteachercandidatechosentoworkwithBarb,inpartbecause 40 GARYWEILBACHERANDKEITHTILFORD Table1. Themesand Sub-Themes Data Gathering and Analysis Theme Sub-Themes This study used semi-structured, individual interviews to gather qualitative data from the participants (Rubin & Rubin, 2005). Strong form ofteacher Sense ofsecurity preparation Developingmentorships Interviewswerechosenbecausetheresearchersareformerpublic Comfortofcooperating teachers school teachers who spent numerous hours supervising teacher Risk-taking candidates and working inpublic school settings and have what Goodformiddle school Increasedindividual attention Mischler (1986) called ‘‘ordinary language competence’’ (p.7). students Flexible grouping Ordinary language competence is a ‘‘critical but often Modelingcollaboration unrecognized precondition for effective research practice’’ that Professional development Newideas involves using ‘‘culturally shared assumptions about how to Technology express and understand beliefs, intentions, experiences, and Areasofconcern Importanceofcompatibility feelings’’ (p.7). In other words, because the researchers were Interndependence Sense ofloss accustomed tothe language, intentions, and experiences related to schools they also understood the language and instructional methods used by practicing teachers. her Spanish minor was seen as a valuable asset for some of the Interviewswereconductedduring thespringof2011atthe English Learners on Barb’s team. respective schools. All interviews were audio-recorded and Cathy was in her twelfth year of teaching seventh grade transcribed by the researchers. Transcriptions were sent to each science at Oakdale. For the last six years she had been involved participantinanefforttoconfirmthenarrativeaccuracyoftheir inpredominantlyaoneteach,oneassistpartnershipwithaspecial individual responses. Each researcher independently coded the educator and was looking forward to expanding herco-teaching interview transcripts (Rubin & Rubin, 2005). The researchers withKelly.Kelly,atwenty-twoyear-oldteachercandidate,hadan met to share and discuss their initial, independent codes and understated classroom presence that fit in well with the special collaboratively agreed upon the names and definitions of the needs students assigned to Cathy. She was also White and had codes or developed new names for codes when necessary. This attended an exemplary middle school in northern Illinois. collaboration resulted in five main themes that emerged from Kate, an eighth grade math teacher in her 29th year at the data: types of co-teaching, strong form of teacher Oakdale, was a proponent of hands-on, manipulative instruc- preparation, good for middle school students, professional tion. She had numerous teacher candidates during her career development, and areasof concern. Sub-themeswereevident in and was regarded as a strong mentor. Kate was looking forward four of the five themes, as depicted in Table 1. toadditionalclassroomassistancebecauseshehadfourdifferent Additional data were gathered during observations of the preps related to the ability grouped math program starting this teachercandidatesteachinglessonsthroughoutthecourseofthe year. Dee Dee was the 24 year-old White woman from central school year. Non-participant observation was the predominant Illinois who was placed with Kate. She consistently demonstrat- form of observation used although there were times when both ed strong planning skills but had struggles in connecting with of us were drawn into brief periods of participation within the students and classroom management. classroom,suchasansweringamiddlegradesstudent’squestion about the lesson being taught (Hennink, Hutter, & Bailey, Anna was in her fifth year of teaching language arts at 2011). It isimportant to notethat the primarypurpose of these Dillon middle school. Anna had a quiet classroom demeanor observations was for evaluating and mentoring the teacher that complimented her student-centered philosophy. She candidates as we were both employed as university supervisors, frequently used literature circles and writer’s workshop to making it imperative that we evaluated the teacher candidates’ engage her students. Molly, the twenty-one year old White performance. However, observing classrooms allowed us to see teachercandidate could be described as a morevocalversion of the types of co-teaching that the participants were using and to Anna. As a team, they consistently provided numerous project witness the interactions between the teacher candidates, options for students to demonstrate their knowledge. cooperating teachers, and the middle grades students. These Sherry chose teaching math as a second career after classroomobservationsalsoprovidedasenseofhowthemiddle spending years in the business world. She was starting her sixth grades students responded to co-teaching when it took place year at Two Rivers Middle School, her third teaching seventh during our observations. grade math. Sherry promoted multiple ways of understanding butwasnervousaboutusingtechnologyasaninstructionaltool. Results Tara,atwenty-oneyearoldWhitewomanfromthewesternpart of the state, had a high-energy classroom presence and was an This section examines both cooperating teacher and teacher advocate for technology. Of all the pairs, Sherry and Tara had candidate self-reports regarding the kind of co-teaching that the most opposite classroom demeanors, yet they probably had occurredinadditiontotheresearchers’observationofthekinds the strongest bond. of co-teaching we witnessed (Table 2). The voices of the Co-Teaching 41 Table2. Types ofCo-TeachingUsed One Teach One Teach Station Parallel Supplemental Alternate Team CT/TCNames One Observe One Assist Teaching Teaching Teaching Teaching Teaching Barb (CT) yes Yes yes yes yes no yes Mary (TC) yes Yes yes no yes no yes Observed 1 2 3 0 0 0 1 Cathy(CT) yes Yes yes yes yes yes yes Kelly (TC) yes Yes yes no No no yes Observed 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 Kate (CT) yes Yes no yes yes no yes DeeDee(CT) yes Yes no no yes no no Observed 2 3 0 0 1 0 0 Anna(CT) yes Yes no yes yes no yes Molly (TC) yes Yes yes no yes yes yes Observed 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 Sherry (CT) yes Yes no yes No no yes Tara(TC) yes Yes yes no No no Yes Observed 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 participants are highlighted in order to discuss the themes that One teach, one assist was the most common form of co- emerged from the interviews. In order to aid the reader in teaching that we saw throughout the year and these situations distinguishing between the participants, we took the liberty of typicallyinvolvedtheteachercandidatetakingtheleadwhilethe adding the parentheticals CT – cooperating teacher and TC – cooperating teacher assisted with the lesson. Many of the pairs teacher candidate, next to the names of the participants. used terms like ‘‘butting in’’ or ‘‘just jumping in’’ in order to embellishthelessonorassistthecandidateduringachallenging part of the class period. While Tara’s (TC) terminology ran Types of Co-Teaching counter to her professional demeanor, her summary illustrated The chart above lists each pair of cooperating teacher’s and howteachercandidatesandcooperatingteachersfrequentlyused teacher candidate’s recollection of the kinds of co-teaching they one teach, one assist: indicated that they used during the school year. Table 2 also indicatesthenumberof times thedifferentkindsofco-teaching So most of the time we just unconsciously butt into were observed by the researchers (‘‘observed’’ row): each other’s lessons. This is how she’ll [reference to Itisinterestingto notethat atleast onediscrepancyexisted Sherry(CT)]buttinwhenI’mteaching:‘‘ThisishowI between each pair of participants regarding the self-reported remembertodivideby25.’’AndI’llsay:‘‘ThisishowI kinds of co-teaching they used during the year. remember it guys – so how many quarters is that?’’ It’s By the end of the school year we had observed all seven thingsthatthestudentsrelateto,andif theycancome kinds of co-teaching at one time or another—although not by up with anyother way to relate to it, because there are everypair.Themostfrequenttypesofco-teachingwesawduring many different possibilities, then the butting in is teachercandidateobservationsessionswere,oneteachoneobserve, beneficial because probably at least one of those ways one teach, one assist and team-teaching. In addition, three of the will stick with them. stationteaching sessionswereespeciallypowerfulastheyinvolved Cooperating teacher assistance often took the form of Barb teaching with Mary, a special education teacher, and the asking a clarifying question, providing an additional explana- ESL teacher in a classroom that contained five students with special needs and seven English Learners. tion or example to the candidates’ initial presentation of a For the most part, one teach, one observe situations involved concept,aidingstructuralprocedureslikehelpingstudentsform teacher candidates teaching the lesson while being observed by groups,orassistingindividualstudentswhowerestruggling.We theircooperatingteacher(andbyoneofus,makingsuchperiods founditinterestingthatwhenitcametimeforthecandidatesto more like one teach, two observe). At the end of the lesson, we give the classroom back to the cooperating teachers, the reviewed the experience with the candidate and cooperating candidates provided the same kinds of assistance that the teacher, which meant that the majority of the professional cooperating teachers had – in other words, they had switched growth was directed towards the candidate. If cooperating roles. teachers needed to teach the next class, such collaborative During one teach, one assist observations, it was rare for debriefing sessions were short, but as supervisors we continued cooperating teachers to provide classroom management or to discuss the lesson with the candidates for as long as was disciplinary assistance. Most of the cooperating teachers necessary. indicated that they wanted their candidate to deal with such 42 GARYWEILBACHERANDKEITHTILFORD issues so as not to show them up in front of the students. We observed three lessons where the special education teacher Cooperating teachers tended to step in as disciplinarians only also had a clinical student, which resulted in team-teaching duringthefirstfewmonthsofthesemester,typicallytakingover sessions where two teacher candidates – one special education the class until the students were settled, and then gradually major, one middle level major – were acting as lead teachers returning the lead-teaching role back over to the teacher while their cooperating teachers assisted. An unexpected candidate if time allowed them to do so. outcomeoftheseexperienceswasthattheyledtoacollaborative The evaluation sessions after such lessons typically focused effort between the middle level and special education programs onwaysofaddressingdisruptivestudentbehaviors.Onespecific to deliberately increase these types of team-teaching opportuni- exampleoccurredwhenDeeDee(TC)didnotunderstandhow ties forour respective students. The major goal of this initiative important it was for her to take the lead on disciplinary issues. was to get special education majors and middle level majors to Kate(CT)indicatedthatDeeDeecouldbeseenasweakinfront understand that regular education and special education of the students. This, Kate claimed, could ultimately lessen Dee partnerships are valuable, hopefully increasing the possibility Dee’s credibility as an authority figure. Two major benefits of of them co-teaching when they have their own classrooms. usingoneteach,oneassistinthesekindsofsituationswasthatthe Along the lines of having multiple adults working within students still learned because the room did not erupt into total oneclassroomisstation-teaching,whichinvolvesmovinggroupsof chaos. Further, teacher candidates observed strategies that they students through multiple stations. It was a key component of could use to stem disruption. Barb’s (CT) seventh grade language arts class that contained Basedonparticipantself-reportsandourownobservations, both English Learners and students with disabilities. This class team-teaching was the second mostcommon form of co-teaching. of twenty-sevenstudentsoftenhadsixadults–Barb(CT),Mary (TC),theESLteacher,thespecialeducationteacherandhertwo Four pairs of teacher candidates and cooperating teachers paraprofessionals – engaged in simultaneous co-teaching. became adept at team-teaching. Three of the pairs spent Students rotated through stations in which the ESL teacher considerable time making specific plans that described which traveledwiththeEnglishLanguageLearnerswhileteam-teaching member would teach the distinct parts of team-taught lessons. with the adult leading the lesson at the particular station. The Theydescribedhowcriticaltheircommonplanningtimewasin special education teacher and her paraprofessionals were team- allowingthemtomakethekindsofplansthatwerenecessaryto teaching or using one teach, one assist arrangements with content make their team-teaching effective. Anna (CT) summarized the teachers. Groups of no more than six students would move importanceofcommonplanningforthosewhowerecommitted together among the three or four stations that were often being to team-teaching: taught by two adults. I think common time is absolutely necessary so you It isimportant to note that this groupof adults wasable to have time to touch base and figure out what you are do stations because they had a block schedule consisting of 90- doing, and also to divvy up the lesson. There were minute periods. While they did station teaching only three or times when Molly (TC) would work on part of the four times each month, the individual attention it provided for lesson,I’dworkonanotherpartofthelessonandthen the students made the extensive planning time well worth the we would come together. And that was the strength of effort.Itwasexcitingtohearstudentscomeintotheirclassroom, it because I think we were able to do more with our almost begging and asking ‘‘Do we get to do stations today?’’ time and develop better lessons because of that. It wouldhavebeentoomuchforonepersonforthekinds Benefits of units we were creating. Another theme that grewout ofour interviews was tied toways Anna and Molly taught Language Arts using a writers’ in which cooperating teachers and student teachers found co- workshop approach, and they both reported that team-teaching teaching was beneficial. These benefits were divided into three allowed them to differentiate their instruction and assessment. different categories: co-teaching as a strong form of teacher For instance, they provided their students with eleven different preparation,co-teachingasgoodformiddleschoolstudents,and project choices for one of their units– something that both of co-teaching as a form of professional development for the themsaidtheycouldneverhavedoneifteachingalone.Inother cooperating teacher. words, team-teaching went beyond the sharing of instructional Strong form of teacher preparation. Teacher candidates and duties and was portrayed as a significant part of planning cooperating teachers described co-teaching as teacher prepara- lessons, designing projects, and assessing students. tion because it gave the teacher candidates a sense of security, Becausefourofthepairstaughtstudentswithspecialneeds, which, in turn, encouraged them to be greater risk-takers. The four of the teacher candidates gained valuable team-teaching cooperating teachers encouraged the teacher candidates to try experiences with special education teachers. It was not unusual new instructional strategies because they remained in the to observe candidates leading lessons with three or more adults classroom to provide support when needed. Molly (TC) in the classroom who were helping the candidate and the explained how she viewed the balance between support and students–sortofaone-teach,two,three,orfourassistarrangement. trying new strategies or lessons: Co-Teaching 43 She [Anna, her CT] knows that I need to make co-teachingcanmakeworkeasieroritcanjust makeit decisions, sometimes on my own, and that they can’t better. always be co-planned or co-taught. It was really helpful Commentsfromthepre-serviceteachersweresimilartothe thatshe letme takechancesand dothings on myown cooperating teachers when viewing co-teaching as a strong form and see, find out for myself how that would work or of teacher preparation. Both Tara (TC) and Mary (TC) shared not. their concerns about ‘‘missing’’ key content ideas in a lesson. Co-teaching was also viewed as a way to deepen the They believed that working from a co-teaching model made mentoring relationships between teacher candidates and coop- contributions from their cooperating teachers less threatening erating teachers. A quote from Molly’s (TC) interview was andmoresupportive.Mary(TC)sharedhowthatsupportplayed especially insightful here: out in her placement classroom: I think team teaching definitely made the relationship I felt less stress because I knew that, you know, Barb stronger. I think working with someone that I look up (CT) would have my back if things were going to was very helpful and that we worked well together. wrong...but knowing you have that support, whether And we really didn’t have a lot of problems, so that she’d be right next toyou or in backof the classroom, definitely made our relationship evenstronger. And to or you’re switching and you’re in the back of the go through some of those mistakes together saying, classroom,youknowthatshedoeshaveyourbackand ‘Man, that didn’t work! We need to try something that if anything does happen – that the students are totally different.’Justkindof laughingoff those things shouting out and you can’t get them to be quiet or to and saying, ‘We’ll make it better the next time.’ manage them, you have someone there. Beingrespectfulofone’smentor,nothavingproblems,and While many pre-service teachers were rightly concerned working well together seem like strong components of a about their own teaching performance, Sherry (CT) influenced mentoring relationship. Even more telling is the power of Tara (TC) to be focused on what the students were learning: mutual reflection regarding lessons that were less than I think that us butting in as much as we do is like the successful, and then engaging in problem solving to improve mostbeneficialthingbecausewearejustgivingthemas each other’s’ practice. many ways, so I would say one teach one assist just Part of the role of mentor seemed tied to the notion that student teachers are often overwhelmed with the work involved because it’s like having those kids get two different in being a full time teacher. Once Sherry (CT) felt comfortable lessons rather than one lesson so they can cling to thatTara(TC)hadasolidgraspofthecontent,shewaseagerto whichever one they want to cling to and they know transition into co-teaching which enabled her to assist Tara: that’sokayforthemtopickadifferentwayofdoingit. What led us to the one teach, one assist was just I Strong teacher preparation must be about providing probablyfeltitwasastrongerlearningexperiencefora learning opportunities for middle grades students and both student teacher just because there’s so many roles as a Sherry(CT)andTara(TC)werewillingtosharethespotlightin teacher. And when you have to come in as a student order to do so. andjustsimply‘Okay,nowtheclassisyoursfrom8am Good for middle school students. With the increased need to to 3:15,’ it has to be an overwhelming feeling. I differentiate instruction, both cooperating teachers and teacher remember that feeling. And to me it wasn’t beneficial. candidatesfoundco-teachingausefulstrategy.Havingtwoadults My thought about teaching is I can give and do so in the classroom teaching the same concepts in different ways much more in the mentoring role if they have breaks wasseenasmoreengagingforstudents.Mary(CT)puttheidea during the dayto actually takeon adifferentrolethan of student engagement this way: the one in charge. I think co-teaching is a way for students to be more Barb (CT) also indicated the content knowledge of the engaged and not hearing the same teacher over and studentteacher wasanimportantpre-requisitetohermovement over again. Because sometimes students can get into intoco-teaching.LikeSherry,Barbaddressedhowoverwhelmed that routine and become bored easily and I think that Mary was with a plethora of tasks. In Barb’s (CT) mind, co- byhavingthis itkindofspicesupyourclassroomabit teaching allowed her to help narrow the focus for Mary (TC): because students are able to see different perspectives and are able to see different teaching styles. Sometimes I think professionally that any time you havesomeonethatyoucansplitthecommontaskswith Being taught by two adults simultaneously also allowed themandyoucansharetheworkwiththemwhetherit students to use a problem-solving method that was clear or makes the work lighter or it makes the work more comfortableforthem.CommentsfromTara(TC)demonstrated comprehensive or in-depth...So I think professionally, differentiation in relation to learning style preferences: 44 GARYWEILBACHERANDKEITHTILFORD ...for math [teaching] least common multiple and absent was one type of individualized attention that could take greatest common factor it was like, ‘Okay, so we’re place during class: goingto do it myway and Mrs. P’s way’.And that way It’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, you’ve missed all these notes’. those kids were okay doing it whichever way they Or they’re behind on a project, so we’re able to split wanted.IftheycameforhelpIwouldaskthem,‘doyou up.Wedidananimalprojectwhereweusedthelibrary want to do it my way or Mrs. P’s way?’ And that gave andtheclassroom.SoIwasupinthelibrarywiththose them that sense of taking ownership, of doing things who missed class, helping them research on line and thewaytheywantedtoinsteadofdoingthingstheway typing,andCathy(CT)wasdownherewiththosewho theyweretold[emphasisinoriginal]thattheyhadtodo were ready to assemble their posters. it. Along those lines, Dee Dee (TC) mentioned that ‘‘getting Especially revealing in her comments is the focus on students to retake tests and pass them’’ while Kate (CT) was re- empowering her students to own their learning and guiding teaching a lesson provided time for one to one assistance. Most themtotheunderstandingthatthereareoftenmultiple waysto of the time, comments related to providing individual attention solve math problems. involved additional assistance the moment a lesson was taking Differentiationalsoappearedtohavearelationshiporsocial place,especially whentheco-teachingmodelbeingusedwasone component to it, as Cathy (CT) pointed out: teach, one assist. It’s just nice with the different personalities that we Whileourstudydidnotaddressthegrowthofthestudents have in here because there are some students that just in co-taught classrooms in any empirical sense, Cathy (CT) did feel more comfortable going to Kelly (TC) and some mentionthatshesawmoretangible resultsforstudents because students feel more comfortable coming to me. of her collaboration with Kelly (TC): We heard similar comments during observation debriefing I feel like, well, I know that they [the students] are sessions. During these conversations both cooperating teachers benefiting. They’re learning more, um and, just from and teacher candidates questioned why certain students would questioningwhenwe’rebothinhere.Ifeellikethey’re work or not work for her, but would for her partner. The picking up the information faster and quicker...I’m consensus seemed to be that having two different personalities really happy to see their test scores when I grade the andteachingstylesworkingtogetherinthesameclassroomgave tests and quizzes. But we haven’t actually measured students another teacher with whom to connect. that, you know. Thoseinvolvedinconsistentco-teachingalsoindicatedthat theywereabletousemoreflexiblegroupingwithintheirclasses. Afinaladvantageofco-teachingmentionedbythepairswas Such grouping arrangements could occur within the classroom the ability of the teachers to model collaboration for their orinseparatespacesbuttheunderlyingrationaleforregrouping students. There were many different ways that the pairs of students was to meet their needs. For instance, Mary (TC) cooperating teachers and interns described their collaborations. mentioned that struggling students and English Language As cooperating teachers, Sherry and Barb mentioned the Learners were often grouped in ways that would help them importance of not ‘‘contradicting each other in front of the succeed academically. However, flexible grouping was not students.’’ Taking this idea of not being contradictory a bit limited to helping students with academics, as Barb (CT) further,Tara(TC)explainedhowSherry(CT)madeitapointto pointed out that interpersonal relationships also played a role explain to her students that teachers can work together and when creating groups: remain unique individuals when she described a day when Sherry took over the classroom: Both of those classes were large so it was divide and conqueralittlebit.Someofthemdidn’tgetalongwell I think she said something like ‘the old lady’s back in together. We had lotsof personalities, especially in the charge now, but Ms. B [Tara] has a higher noise special education classes and sometimes we couldn’t tolerance than I do. I’m not saying that her teaching trust splitting up kids based only on needs. Then we style is wrong. She can handle you guys shouting out wouldn’t have this and that student in the same buttheoldladycan’t.Soyouneedtoraiseyourhands.’ activities together, because they couldn’t get along. Andshemadeitverycleartothekidsthatnotoneway was wrong and not one way was right, but it’s a Related to flexible grouping was the idea that both pre- preference of style and her teaching style was different serviceteachersandcooperatingteachersviewedco-teachingasa from mine. way to more effectively provide individual attention for their students. In fact, every pair of candidates and cooperating Collaboration went beyond the two adults as every teacher teachersmadesometypeofcommentregardingtherelativeease candidatediscussedtheimportanceofbeingopentosuggestions of providing individual attention to students who needed it from all members of the classroom. Mary (TC) captured this most. Kelly (TC) indicated that helping students who were attitude when she said: Co-Teaching 45 [I]f Barb (CT) or someone were to jump in and start out I’ve never gone to match.com or any of those saying something or adding to the conversation I was matching sites, but that’s kind of what I envision if alwayswelcomingofthat.AndIthinkyouneedtohave you’regoingtohavethisbesuccessful.Ithinkyouhave that – that you’re not like ‘this is just my classroom.’ to have some kind of format where you can actually You need to make sure that everyone is learning from pair them by teaching styles. each other because, you know, every day I learn from Our program does not use match.com to arrange my students. placements but we do have cooperating teachers interview Sending messages to students that they can teach their prospective teacher candidates before placements are finalized. teachers can be motivating for students, especially those who The goal is to provide both parties with the chance to indicate may not see themselves as capable students. whether or not the potential pairing seems viable. These Professional development. Cooperating teachers spoke of the interviews appear to be effective as we have only changed four learningopportunitiesthatco-teachingwiththestudentteachers placements inthirteenyears;and,wehavehad onlytwoteacher provided for them. Working as team teachers provided them candidates denied access to the PDS program because a match with experiences that could be transferred to their work with could not be arranged after they were interviewed by multiple other educational professionals in their classroom. Observing cooperating teachers. and working with the student teachers also provided the Compatibility seemed tied to relationships characterized by respect and trust. An excerpt from Cathy’s (CT) interview cooperatingteacherswithnewideasandstrategiesforclassroom summarized the importance of trust and respect: instruction. BarbandSherryareseasonedandtalentedteachersyetboth I see Kelly more as a co-teacher – not so much as a appreciated what they learned from their pre-service teachers: student teacher. And it’s also the same for other teachers on the team because she is good. She’s very Igottoseelotsofgoodthingsthatshedidandshehas professionalandtheotherteachersontheteamrespect such a nice way of interacting with the kids. It was her and treat her as a co-teacher...Because she was so refreshing,youknowcominguponmy20-yearmarkin good, I just really trust her. I guess trust was the big my teaching career. You get jaded or less patient with factor. some things. [Barb] Incontrast,DeeDee(TC)providedanobviousexampleof Technology is one area in which Tara (TC) really provided when co-teaching could be unsuccessful: support for Sherry (CT). The school recently had several interactive whiteboards installed. Tara (TC) shared how she If therelationshipbetweentheteachersisn’tverygood assisted Sherry (CT) in developing her technology skills: I don’t think the co-teaching will work very well. Because we have such a good relationship co-teaching It’s [co-teaching] helping me and technology wise, I’m doesn’t offend either one of us. It doesn’t make us helping her. I mean it’s funny now because the class anxious. It’s not like ‘‘Oh my God, I’m going to break will give her a round of applause because she does down and stop teaching if Kate (CT) says something.’’ something on the computer (laughs) because she’s like SoIthinkifthatrelationshipisn’tthereyoucouldtryit ‘Ms.B.,comehelpme.Ican’tfigurethisout,’Butnow but I don’t think it will work out so well. sheknowshowtousethesearchbarbetterthanshedid and now’s she’s ‘look at me, I found it all by myself’. Sherry (CT) provided additional insights into relationship dynamics that would make co-teaching undesirable: Iwouldnotwanttobeinaco-teachingsituationwhere Areas of Concern power was an issue. Because if you have two people While the majority of participants’ responses portrayed co- fighting for either the favorite teacher or the smartest teaching in a positive light, some potential concerns were also teacher or something where they want to send the discussed. Potential is the key word here because none of the balanceof thescale off,Iwouldn’twanttofindmyself pairs reported problems that prevented them from co-teaching. in that. So I don’t think that would help the situation Most participants mentioned a lack of compatibility between because then I think the students are being put in a teacher candidates and cooperating teachers as a factor that situation where they have to choose between two could make co-teaching a negative experience. Sherry (CT) teachers. indicatedthatwhilesheandTara(TC)werecompatible,shealso Sherry’s mentioning of power seemed particularly appro- stated how important that trait was for successful co-teaching: priate as it related directly to work by Goodnough, Osmond, Well,Ijustfindit[co-teaching]awin/winforeveryone Dibbon, Glassman and Stevens (2009) that cited competition but I just want to stress this again: as long as you are among co-teachersas problematic. In contrast, a comment from compatible.Andjustfromthissideofthedesklooking Kate (CT) exemplified how power issues were often mitigated 46 GARYWEILBACHERANDKEITHTILFORD among the pairs and particularly during co-teaching with Dee ...for...that...[thelongpausesbetweenwordswere Dee: because she was crying]. So Ryan catches us all of the timelookingateachotherallsad.It’sjustoneofthose I’d saystuff totheclassfromtheverybeginningof the things that you grow on each other so much that we year like, ‘‘There are two teachers in this room. I am really have become a team of teachers. I have that not in charge and Ms. M [Dee Dee] is not in charge. support. We are both here to help you, both hear to answer questions and we are both here to teach you. Strictly describing the sense of loss as a negative factor for co-teachingwouldbesimplistic,asanalternativewaytoexamine In short, the pairs demonstrated compatibility by trusting the participants’ feelings is that the powerful relationships and respecting each other and presenting a unified front to the formed from co-teaching changed their lives. That being said, students. ourresearchsuggeststhatthereisatangiblegrievingprocessthat Both groups of participants were also concerned that some pairs endured at the end of the year. teacher candidates might become dependent upon the cooper- ating teachers, making them less ready to face taking over their Conclusions and Implications own classrooms when that time came. Four of the five cooperating teachers reported that they gave teacher candidates Thisstudyfoundthatteachercandidatesconsideredco-teaching time to be alone with their students in order to foster arrangements effective in providing them with relevant and independence. Kate (CT) explained why she was reluctant to engaging teacher preparation experiences. Teacher candidates leave her classroom for extended periods of time: and cooperating teachers indicated that co-teaching provided them with multiple opportunities to support each other’s Well the ISAT (Illinois Standard Achievement Test) professional growth. (laughs). Oh yeah, I’m scared to death to leave the A specific example of professional growth occurred when room (laughs). . . . You know, I think it’s mainly my the cooperating teachers, teacher candidates, and we, as rear end on the state tests and ultimately it is my rear university supervisors, were able to discuss together lessons led endanyway.Statetestornostatetest.AndIhavetobe by the teacher candidates. We felt that longer, collaborative readyifanincidentdoeshappenoraparentcall,which reviewsessionswereespecially useful whencooperating teachers has happened and if I’d have been out of the room provided details related to the classroom context that we as whentheparentcalled,Iwouldhavehada‘hesaid/she supervisors did not know. For example, cooperating teachers said’typething.ButIwasabletosaytothatparentthat suggested ways to approach particular students that may help IwasintheroomwhenithappenedandthatDeeDee future lessons be more successful. Being privy to such (TC) did this and the kid did this and there was no information helped us develop a deeper understanding of question. classroombehaviorsanddynamics,which,inturn,allowedusto Interestingly,Kate(CT)alsoindicatedthatshebelievedthat provide more relevant feedback to the candidate in subsequent Dee Dee (TC) ‘‘never found her own style’’ of teaching, observations. In addition, candidates who heard similar legitimizing the notion that in some cases co-teaching may commentsfromboththeircooperatingteachersandsupervisors inhibit the development of a teacher candidate. about ways of improving their teaching may have understood Fortunately,alloftheteachercandidatesindicatedthatthey that making such improvements was more urgent than if they grew in both co-teaching sessions and when they taught solo, only heard such suggestions from one source. four of the five candidates indicated that they were most It would be difficult for professional, mentoring relation- comfortable co-teaching. All of the five said that they preferred ships to form among university supervisors, cooperating co-teaching to teaching alone primarily because it was best for teachers, and teacher candidates if not for the year-long clinical meeting the needs of the students. experiences that our PDS provided. Spending extended time in Onefinalfindingofthisstudyrelatedtoasenseof lossthat public schools interacting with teachers, attending team- was felt by some of the participants at the conclusion of school meetings, consulting with principals, and observing multiple year.Simplyput,twoofthepairshadanespeciallydifficulttime teaching events provided us with insights into the work-lives of saying‘‘good-bye’’toeachother.Towitnesstwoof thefivepairs our students and their cooperating teachers that would have break down into tears during the final student/teacher been unavailable had we remained on the college campus. The conference was heart wrenching. Tara (CT) related a conversa- National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education tion that she and Sherry (CT) had with their principal: (currently known as the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation) summarized what we hoped to accom- Likenow,becauseit’sapproachingtheendoftheyear, plish within our PDS program: I’m like I don’t know what I’m going to do without Sherryinmyroomnextyear.AndRyan[her principal] Only when preparation programs become deeply came in and told us we had to do something in May, engaged with schools will their clinical preparation andSherrysaid,‘‘But...Tara...won’t...be...here become truly robust and will they be able to support