Thesis on "Co-Teaching Strategy Best for Learning"

Thesis 13 pages (4433 words) Sources: 11

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The parallel co-teaching is beneficial because it avoids stigmatization of teachers and students which might have arisen if only one teacher takes up the whole classroom. Moreover, parallel co-teaching is beneficial to students because they are exposed to different teachers with different instructional approach and expertise. Despite the benefits that students and teachers can derive from parallel co-teaching approach, the system can elevate noise levels when different activities are taking place at the same time in the same classroom, which can become uncomfortable for students and teachers. Moreover, other co-teachers may not be adequately prepared to monitor or deliver instruction to other group. (Sage, 2013).

Teaming is another co-teaching model where two teachers are delivering instructions at the same time. The feature of this approach is that both teachers are fully engage in delivering core instruction. Moreover, both teachers are responsible for students' behavior and classroom management. The benefit of teaming approach is that it allows the two co-teachers to work collaboratively, which assists them to demonstrate their level of expertise. (Cook, 2004). When teaming is properly implemented, it reveals a clear evidence of the outcome of two teachers planning together and integrates their roles. However, team co- teaching is considered the hardest model to implement because both teachers must be knowledgeable and prepared equally for the teaching content. In reality, two teachers may not possess equal knowledge of teaching contents, which may make the implementation of the model to be challenging.

Shumway, et al.(2011) identify Alternative Teaching as another type of co-teaching format where one teacher instructs or teaches a large group of students and others instruct smaller group on different tasks or contents. The teaching approach makes teachers to work together to achieve the same objectives. In an alternative teaching, a large group is asked to complete a practice exercise related to teaching concepts, while the small group receives direct instructions from teachers. In another format, a large group may complete homework while the small group is being taught the vocabulary. Alternatively, the large groups may be asked to work on projects, while the teacher is carried out an assessment on small group. The benefit of alternative teaching approach is that it assists in managing students' behaviors making all students to focus on learning. Additionally, alternative teaching model is appropriate for remediating and enriching instructions of students aligned to a small group. Moreover, the model is appropriate in monitoring students' performances, correction and enhancing positive reinforcement. Despite the benefits that can be derived from the teaching approach, students with disabilities may be placed in the same group, which can lead to a stigmatization.

One Teach, One Observe is another co-teaching format where one teacher teaches and other teacher observes and collects data systematically. After the teaching, the teacher analyzes the information collected to check the outcome of teaching. This model is appropriate to monitor students' progress or compare the target students with other group. The teaching strategy assists in identifying students who do not participate in the class discussion or evaluate students' behaviors. The teaching approach assists teachers to focus on students' needs. The method also makes teachers to collect data for IEP (Individualized Education Program) planning. However, teachers are required to understand the method of data collection and analysis to derive benefits from the model.

One Teach, One Drift is another co-teaching model where one teacher engages in teaching while other circulates the classroom. The model is appropriate when one teacher possesses expertise for the lesson while other teacher's goal is to assist the students. Moreover, the model is appropriate when students need a close monitoring. For example, the model will assist teachers to understand whether all students are following the lessons or taking notes. However, the teaching model may distract the student attention.

Station teaching is another type of co-teaching strategy where teachers divide students and contents. A third or fourth station is also created to deliver opportunities for students to work independently, accessing technology and tutoring. Students rotate from one teacher to other teacher so that each teacher repeats instruction to students three times. The teaching model is appropriate when the content is complex and several topics may comprise instructions. For example, social studies teachers may rotate teaching that contains topics in geography, culture and economy of a country. In essence, the model is appropriate for secondary school teaching, and teachers in order to have opportunity to work with every student in the class. The teaching model also reduces teacher- students ratio. The teaching strategy allows teachers to reduce the social behavior issues during teaching time. The model also assists teacher to monitor students' behaviors. The challenge of the model is that teachers should possess adequate knowledge of pedagogical and content skills to implement the model effectively. Moreover, classroom environment may distract students' attention because of two teachers teaching at the same time may obstruct concentrations.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The chapter discusses the research methodology that the researcher employs to collect and analyze data. The study uses the mixed methods for data collection and analysis. The reason for using the mixed methods is that it combines the strengths of both the quantitative and qualitative research methods. Moreover, the strengths of the quantitative research approach is used to overcome the weakness identified in the qualitative research approach Other reason for choosing the mixed research is that it assists the researcher to enhance principle of triangulation and stronger evidence for the research conclusion. More importantly, the mixed methods are used to produce a complete knowledge to inform theory and practice. Despite the benefits that the researchers derived from the mixed methods, the research approach can be challenging to complete because it requires both qualitative and quantitative skills. Moreover, the research method is more time consuming and more expensive than using either qualitative or quantitative research approach. However, researcher used the mixed methods for the data collection and analysis because the benefits derived from the mixed methods overcome its shortcomings.

The researcher collects qualitative data to understand the co-taught functions from the detailed field notes in 3 different co-taught lessons at the high school level. The data are collected from the teaching practice that the researcher has participated. Moreover, data are collected from three different co-taught classrooms at the high school level. To understand the co-teaching strategy that work best for the social studies class in the researcher's high school, the data are collected to evaluate all the six co-teaching methods that include:

One teach, One observe

One teach, One assist

Parallel Teaching

Station Teaching

Alternative Teaching, and Team Teaching.

The researcher uses quantitative method to collect data from four co-teachers to understand the best co-teaching strategy for social studies class at the high school. The survey method is used to collect data from four co-teachers while the semi-structured interview is used to collect the qualitative data. The quantitative data analysis is carried out by placing the data in a tabular form to enhance effective comparisons of the data collected from the four co-teachers. The qualitative data analysis is carried out by reading through the notes and identifies important statements that can assist in answering the research questions. Moreover, the researcher identifies the concepts from the data collected and categorizes the contents in the order of preferences. The next chapter presents the results that determine the appropriate co-teaching method for the social studies in the high school.

Results of Quantitative Data

The results of the quantitative data reveal that two participants are teachers of general education while other two participants are the teachers of special education. Moreover, all teachers have at least 5 years of teaching experience where two of the years have more than 10 years of teaching experience. All the teachers have co-teaching experience of more than one year. The Teacher A has between 1 and 2 years of co-teaching experience, while Teacher B. And Teacher D. have more than 5 years of co-teaching experience. However, the Teacher C. has between 3 and 4 years of co-teaching experience. Based on the data collected, it is revealed that all the teachers have sufficient co-teaching years of experience to make them identify the best co-teaching strategy that will work better for high school students. Based on the outcome of the data collected, two of the participants agree that One Teach One Assist is the commonly used model within the co-teaching environment. Moreover, one teacher selected One Teach One Observe while the other co-teacher selected Team Teaching. However, all the participants agree that lack of time and scheduling issues are the barriers that many co-teacher face with the co-teaching environment.

Table 1

Results of Quantitative Data Collected

Survey

Teacher A

Teacher B

Teacher C

Teacher D

1

Are you a general educator?

Yes

No

Yes

No

2

Are you a special educator?

No

Yes

No

Yes

3

How many years have you been teaching?

10+

10+

5-10 years

5-10 years

4

How many years have you co taught?

1-2 years… READ MORE

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