Co-Teaching Thoughts

While reading Melissa Levitt's article on the benefits and challenges of team teaching, my curiosity urged me to create a list of advantages and disadvantages mentioned in the article. Though I had already expected the list of advantages to outweigh the disadvantages, I had not expected the list of disadvantages to be so lengthy. The numerous advantages seem to imply that co-teaching is superior to individual teaching. However, it also sounds like it must be done with someone that shares similar educational methodologies and practices. Being able to reach a level of understanding and agreement between two highly educated individuals can be difficult. Respect and flexibility must surpass opinion to reach a mutual ground -- much easier said than done for those who have been practicing for many years. I imagine the planning time would take much longer, as it once again must be mutual. However, the hard work will be worth it, as they say.

Co-teaching would be a great tool for new teachers just entering the field. The experienced teacher would continue (hopefully) to share his or her experiences and those things that may not have worked well in the past. The new teacher could (hopefully) bring many new, inspiring ideas to the table to reinvigorate instruction. It would also allow a new teacher to take on more responsibility than is given during practicum, while still maintaining a support system. I believe I would also benefit from undergoing the planning with an experienced teacher to see if perhaps he or she has a more efficient or organized way of doing it.

I was in a multiple-teacher classroom during 2nd-5th grade. As a student, I really enjoyed the variety that this situation allowed. Though the article mentioned that varying teaching styles can make it difficult for students to adapt, I didn't have any trouble. The varying teachers broke up the day. In each situation, the teachers would only teach his or her own expertise. We were divided into two groups in which half of us would learn English while the other did math, for example -- then, switch. In my fourth and fifth grade years, we had a very large multi-age classroom with three teachers. We would be divided throughout the day, coming together every so often as a whole group of fifty students. I enjoyed this format at the time because I was given the opportunity to participate in the more advanced math class without any issue. The teachers all worked very cooperatively. Though, I'm sure it wasn't perfect when they began, they worked as a well oiled machine when I was in their classroom, which lead to very efficient instruction for the students.

Given the opportunity to co-teach, I'd love to do so. I find that the best lesson ideas come from an intellectual discussion in which teachers are bouncing ideas off of each other. Imagine how great a curriculum could be if every lesson was like that. The extra time, work, sweat, tears, and certainly coffee would surely be worth it as long as respect and flexibility is mutual.