Sheena: The Toughest Job You Will Ever Love . . .

We’re entering the third month of the 2010-2011 school year and I will continue to use the Peace Corps motto to describe the heart and soul of the service that I provide as a special educator. Team teaching remains the toughest job that I’ll ever love.

My two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa were truly a time of reflection, growth, and resilience. The experience was filled with ups and downs, tears and triumphs, but I survived with the support of countless mentors and friends.

Similarly, in my second year of teaching, I am much more confident in my duties as a student advocate in the classroom and throughout the IEP process. I am familiar with our diverse socioeconomic and cultural student population, and as a result of our school’s community outreach and engagement initiatives, I feel accepted by and connected to the families and parents of the students that we serve.

The challenges and struggles I face as a new special education teacher lie primarily in the establishment of roles and responsibilities with my content teachers. In speaking with friends and colleagues who have been special educators for decades, team teaching is also, for them, the toughest job they’ll ever love.

When I think about my past and the loving relationships that I have been blessed to have, I realize that understanding and mutual support are two key concepts that allowed those relationships to thrive. Likewise, team teachers must understand that planning and teaching for inclusive classrooms must be a partnership in which content teachers and special educators work together to create instruction specific to student needs, strengths, and interests.

Our goal is to create a variety of assignments and tasks where all students can access the standards, develop understanding, and build upon their individual strengths and weaknesses. This process is difficult with two educational “artists” on board, one trained in the subject area and the other trained in instructional strategies for student disabilities. This collaboration remains my biggest challenge, as I work with four different content teachers who have different teaching styles and different levels of readiness to share teaching roles and responsibilities with another educator. Each day, I enter four different teachers’ classrooms and must ask permission to contribute to the learning of their students.

In most cases, the general education teachers I’ve worked with either are 20 years older than me or have decades more experience under their belts—or both. I would tell new teachers not to be discouraged by this, although I do continue to have such moments myself. Involve your principals, department chairs, resource teachers (in my district, we have a wonderful resource teacher and mentor specifically for secondary special education teachers), Right Start Advisors, and even differentiated instruction specialists to facilitate this discussion of roles, responsibilities, and expectations in team teaching.

Last year I had the opportunity to attend a Debbie Silver conference for special educators. She provided me with four words of wisdom that sustained me throughout my first year, four words that I would offer to all new teachers, four words that must be said with conviction and pride, that actually sound better spoken in a slow and intentional fake British accent: “I AM A TEACHER!” Debbie Silvers empowered us to claim our professions and to make our voices heard. We are not paid to hand out papers, to walk students to the office, or to be an extra set of disciplinary eyes in the classroom. WE ARE TEACHERS! I hold these words in my heart everyday and I hope that you hold them in your hearts as well.

Although students with special educational needs are historically some of the lowest-performing student groups in our nation’s schools, there is still no mandated collaborative planning or training specifically for co-teachers. I hope that one day co-teaching training will be recognized as an intrinsic professional development tool that should be delivered not in isolation just for special educators, but to team teaching partners through collaborative, hands-on, content-specific workshops and through team teacher mentoring, modeling, observations, and feedback.

Co-teaching needs to be at the forefront of any discussion about differentiated instruction because a true collaboration of content and special education expertise ensures that standards will be taught in a way that children of all levels can learn and be successful.

Comments

[Sheena]

Thanks Maureen! Co-teaching reminds me very much of my Peace Corps service in that I could talk to return volunteers, read memoirs, and study the country, but I wouldn't really understand it until I experienced it! From sharing with colleagues in my cohort, I understand that elementary and secondary co-teaching are two rather different experiences. Speaking as a secondary co-teacher, I would start by gaining content or subject knowledge in the area that you will co-teach. From there you can build a background of strategies and activities to offer your content teacher a wide range of suggestions. If you do a general internet search for co teaching models, you'll find a plethora of books, videos, and documents explaining the benefits of each type. I think much of my first year was spent familiarizing myself with the state curriculum, pacing guides, and assessed standards. Debbie Silvers is also a great resource for beginning special education teachers. I loved her book, Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers: Finding the Rhythm for Differentiated Learning for core teaching strategies, but again, much of it will depend on what your content teacher is comfortable and open to trying. Hope this helps!

[Maureen]

I'm in school myself to become a co-teacher. While I'm learning a lot about IEPs and various learning challenges, I'm not learning (yet?) about co-teaching. Any good resources to self teach? I love this post!

[Sheena]

Thanks Nicole! I think we are moving in the right direction with a focus on Differentiated Instruction, but we really do need more explicit trainings on co-teaching instructional roles. It's nice to hear that others feel the same way.

[nicole barnes]

Sheena-
I wanted to post a comment on your blog pertaining to co-teaching and collaboration. With 7 years of teaching experience under my belt, I have learned that without effective communication amongst all who educate the child, there will not be a significant increase in student achievement. I agree totally with you when it comes to the need to learn how to co-teach. We all don't just go into a classroom and know how to perform that task. We have to be taught, as do the general education teachers, how to share the load, divide responsibilities, identify each teacher's area of strength to share with the students, and create an environment where the kids know that there's two equal teachers; not one teacher and one helper. An intense professional development training for general education and special education teachers who are co-teaching, or plan to co-teach is a must for these children. Like you said, one person is the expert on the standards and material, and the other is the expert on the methods of delivery for all learners. Thanks for such great insight! I enjoyed participating in your blog.