Opening the classroom doors to co-teach!

Indumathi S

Teaching is imagined to be a closed-door task and one often wonders whether teachers can work collaboratively. Is it possible to imagine team teaching to be exciting, similar to a doubles tennis match? Playing doubles tennis requires a high amount of coordination, practice, planning, mutual trust and understanding between the players. Co-teaching and working collaboratively would require a similar effort to engage and create a spark among 25-30 children in a classroom.

Co-teaching is a model of pre-service teacher development adopted in an innovative Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning taught at I Am A Teacher (IAAT) Gurgaon, where I was a faculty member. This article outlines the model and discusses the process, effectiveness of the method and the challenges in operationalising such a model. It narrates an interesting relationship that the co-teachers share.

The Student-Teachers (ST) of the diploma program practice at the Heritage Xperiential Learning School during the program for about 10 months. The mentor teachers or the Collaborating Teachers (CT) are teachers of the school with usually more than five years of teaching experience. The CT and ST are paired as co-teachers based on the subject and grade preferences and work collaboratively through the academic year. The pairing and identifying of the CT and ST is very crucial. The STs practice teaching in a particular grade with the CT. This is an innovative practice teaching model in the Indian context,as often the STs in most pre-service programs teach a few lessons single-handedly and teacher educators observe their lessons. Needless to say, there have been many challenges in implementing this model.

The process of co-teaching followed is as follows:
Step 1 – The CT teaches the lessons and the ST observes the class. This is the time the ST gets introduced to the students and gets familiar with the classroom processes. The ST observes the students and shares her observations of students’ learning. This process may happen for a week or two.
Step 2 – The CT teaches the lessons and the ST starts assisting the students individually. This would happen simultaneously. With detailed classroom observations, the ST would have some understanding of the students and thus will help the students as needed.
Step 3 – In a month or two the STs are familiar with the classroom processes and students and hence feel prepared to teach lessons. At this point, the ST and CT may divide the class into two groups and teach the same content or take turns to teach parts of the lesson. In a few months, the ST-CT may take up team teaching where both the teachers contribute simultaneously.

With the description of the outline, I will discuss the principles and challenges underlying this model and share an example of a friendship that blossomed between co-teachers.

Co-teaching is based on the principle of cooperation and collaboration. The CT and the ST together plan the lessons and also plan for co-teaching. The teachers assume responsibility for the entire unit and the STs are empowered to take leadership over time. The process facilitates the ST to assume complete ownership of the lessons slowly in the presence of CT as a co-teacher who is also actively engaged. This is helpful as the CT mentors the ST, observes and gives feedback and is available through the entire process. The expertise of the CT is constantly accessible to the students as well as the ST.

One of the co-teaching pairs (ST) shared her experiences of collaborating,
My CT is a young and enthusiastic teacher. Initially, during the observations, I noted that she challenges the students, asks really interesting questions and most of the students are engaged in her class. She would plan the lessons in a very interesting way. She set the standards really high for me. I would be anxious because of this reason. I would wonder – can I co-teach with her, can I teach like her, would I match up to her expectations? And so on. The students loved her and I was doubtful if I would be accepted by the students. Though my subject background is science, the first lesson I planned with her was Democracy and Governance. I dropped social science while in school. The reason to be even more nervous. My CT shared materials that I could read up on and I started following Op-Ed articles and reading up on social issues more carefully. She was always available over the phone or on WhatsApp to discuss or clarify anything related to the plan. While working together we started connecting on other things, found common interests and slowly I started feeling more comfortable in the classroom and anxiety slowly vanished from my mind. I started assisting her and pitching in more in the class and I knew that I always had someone to consult, seek suggestions and improve my teaching.

The CT who mentored this teacher shared,
I am thankful that I got an assistant teacher and a co-teacher in my class. My class benefited a lot and I learned a lot from this experience. My ST was inspiring me in many ways as she was open to learning and willing to try, and I could trust and rely on her. She would do a lot of research while planning and be thoroughly prepared.

The ST was later hired in the same school as a teacher and she shared that her co-teacher is a buddy and there is camaraderie as they spend a lot of time collaborating, planning the lessons, discussing students learning, sharing the materials and resources and always in and out of the class together. The above is an example of a pair that worked together well. However, there have been many instances of STs not feeling comfortable and not wanting to collaborate with a particular CT.

There are many challenges in implementing co-teaching. Often the CTs are senior teachers and there is a hierarchy between the teachers. Initially, the CTs may feel judged and observed and not open to a new individual inside the classroom. ‘Opening the closed door’ and developing a working relationship with a novice teacher takes time. There are possibilities of ideological differences and how the CT and ST view children and learning. The ST may also take some time as students may treat them as trainees and relate more to their teacher. The students may not be willing to accept another teacher in their classroom. The planning may happen collaboratively, however, the CTs may decide to take charge in the classroom without informing the ST. Sometimes the STs may not come prepared for the class. The lack of communication and trust among co-teachers might lead to the failure of this model. Identification of co-teacher pairs who can work together and complement each other is crucial. This process of co-teaching and mentorship model is heavily resourced and time-consuming and not all pre-service programs may have access to resources, practice schools, or experienced CTs willing to mentor continuously.

Though there are recurring challenges, the model is highly beneficial; novice teachers learn a lot and are scaffolded rigorously and continuously. Many CTs value the presence of another trainee teacher as they bring new perspectives and sometimes innovative ideas to teach and are more willing to experiment and learn. Many CTs have indicated that they learn a lot in the process of mentoring and co-teaching. In a way, co-teaching helps the CTs professionally develop and assume leadership roles. The students benefit from the presence of two teachers especially if they have the opportunity to work in small groups and participate in classroom discussions. Planning for differentiated learning and evaluations may be possible. Students who need more scaffolding may be identified easily through classroom observations and the ST can start with the process of supporting students who need handholding. It might be beneficial to identify and attempt such collaborative models both in the space of pre-service and in-service teacher development and to help teachers open their doors.

The author holds a Ph.D degree in Education from TISS, Mumbai. She was a member of the faculty at I Am A Teacher (IAAT), Gurgaon. Currently, she is an independent consultant and researcher based in Bengaluru. She can be reached at mailindusow@gmail.com.