Articles

New Harvard Article - 5 Conditions High performing Teacher Teams Share

Article recommended by Francisco Rios. "Co-Teaching in the ESL Classroom"

A quick article ("Tips and Strategies for Co-Teaching at the Secondary Level" - SpEd slant) to explain the roles that different positions play in creating a quality coteaching program. A followup chart to compliment the article.

A more comprehensive article, Coteaching: Principles, Practices, and Pragmatics. Highly recommended that participants read and discuss.

This power point has some interesting slides about what helps/hurts coteaching efforts.

What gets in the way?
5 Dysfunctions of a Team:

1. Inattention to RESULTS - The team relies on their guts or what they think is happening vs true data (not always test scores, but data none the less). This is a problem because the team doesn't know what the true issues or goals are. If the team groups kids based on last name for a reading lesson instead of MAP results, this is an inattention to results.
2. Avoidance of ACCOUNTABILITY - The team doesn't hold each other accountable or don't/can't rely on each other. If one teacher doesn't show up and the other just gets resentful, that is an avoidance of accountability.
3. Lack of COMMITMENT - If the team has no buy-in or uneven buy-in or teachers feel like their work/opinion doesn't matter this is a lack of commitment. If the ELL teacher is always taking his/her students into the hallway, she may feel a lack of commitment to the team.
4. Fear of CONFLICT - If team members are scared to engage in passionate dialogue OR disagree and/or challenge one another, there is a fear of conflict. If one teacher disagrees with the other teacher about how a student is achieving but won't speak up, this is a fear of conflict.
5. Absence of TRUST - If team members are not comfortable being vulnerable or honest with one another, this shows an absence of trust. If one team members asks why the lesson didn't work and the other just says it was fine even though s/he has plenty of suggestions, this shows an absence of trust.

TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
1. Are we really a team? (A team is a small number of people committed to the same goal. Team members readily set aside their individual or personl needs for the greater good of the group. This is different than a small group of people with the same boss OR working in the same grade level.)
2. Are we ready for heavy lifting? (Being on a team takes a lot of time and emotional energy. It is important to go into the process of teaming or co-teaching with your eyes wide open and with no illusions about what is required. Reading articles and building a professional relationship is important and hard work.)