Co Teaching for diverse needs

In My previous blog, I discussed the benefits of Co-Teaching for students with diverse needs.
At some of our satellite classes at Sommerville we have a combination of parallel teaching, station teaching and one teach, one assist. 

As part of my inquiry on Collaboration, I had the privilege of visiting my colleagues Natasha and Sharon at Stonefields to observe their teaching and how they collaborate with each other as well as with their support staff and specialists. 

Sharon and Tash worked so well together and I loved the way they collaborated with their TAs and specialists. It was fantastic to see how they used the different spaces in your room and how smooth their program was run. At no point did I see them tell their TAs what to do, but they all knew exactly what their responsibilities were and got on with it. That shows great teamwork. There were two different lessons being taught,  as well as a speech-language therapist working with a student.  At one point three staff were working in the same space and everyone was so engaged at their level. There is such a diverse range of students in that class, many with significant behaviour challenges and the team supported each other and ran a smooth programme. They have a really good understanding of their students and used a range of specialist strategies when necessary.

Both teachers and support staff were able to differential their students learning and keep them all engaged in the hub.

As adults we sometimes get so excited when students get things correct that we don’t realise our voices are elevated, I am guilty of that as well. As feedback, I asked that they consider how that might affect some students. (paraverbal)

Across other satellites, there are many opportunities for teachers to co-teach and work collaboratively.

The data we collected earlier in the year shows that most teachers work collaboratively with their support staff, and as a school, we will look at barriers to staff not working together.