Co-teaching Reflection

Overall, my experience with co-teaching has been a positive one. I noticed improvements in student learning, social skills, and self-esteem. The students experienced more academic success due to low teacher-student ratio and additional teaching strategies such as, the Power of Ten visuals, technology, and manipulatives. The students worked in pairs and observed positive adult interactions and teamwork. Jennifer (the other co-teacher)and I also noticed an increase in self-esteem with our learning disabilities and intensive support students. They seemed happier and took more risks by answering questions and attempting to complete more difficult assignments. This was the first time this year that these students were not pulled out for mathematics and were integrated in the general classroom. Co-teaching was very successful for our students with diverse learning needs and for our students who needed assistance, but did not qualify for resource or educational assistant support.
Jennifer and I enjoyed teaching together and learned a lot from each other. Jennifer was introduced to the Power of Ten program and I became more familiar with the grade 7 math curriculum and learning outcomes. We supported each other through frustrations and successes. I was also not as isolated as I had been pulling out students for additional support. Jennifer mentioned that this was the first time she was able to work with students with disabilities. We both became accountable for all of the students and experienced teamwork for the first time this year.
If I had to improve one area of my co-teaching experience it would be to discuss, more specifically, the role of the teacher that did not teach the actual lesson. A lot of observing and assessing did occur during this instructional time for the both of us. We are currently discussing other co-teaching approaches that may be more effective, such as complementary or team teaching.