Reflection on Co-Teaching Concepts: The "Broken Arm" Case Study

1. List what you learned about each of the characters in the case. What do you think is
motivating the thoughts and actions of each of the characters?
 Mary King: veteran teacher (15 years' experience), familiar with co-teaching
program, avid supporter of co-teaching model to help students, soft-spoken and
sensitive, welcoming to all types of learners, calm and collaborative, willing to
make accommodation/modifications for struggling students, tries multiple
strategies to help students (Jim), willing to confront colleagues to find ways to
help students
 Motivation: Mary is motivated to best meet the needs of all students-
including struggling ones like Jim-by working together with her
colleagues to use multiple methods and strategies.
 Helen Williams: veteran teacher (20 years' experience), new to co-teaching
program and model (never co-taught before), efficient with high standards, more
independent teaching style, has a set idea of how things should be and tries to
stick to it, focused on district and state exams
 Motivation: Helen is motivated to be a highly-effective teacher by
holding high expectations for her students and preparing them for exams
as best she can.
 Jim O’Hara: student athlete, identified with language learning delays and
auditory processing deficits, hard worker, determined to do well in school,
motivated to go to college, good reader but struggles with spelling, starts skipping
class due to academic frustration
 Motivation: Jim is motivated to go to college and genuinely tries his best
to do well in school, but starts skipping classes due to frustration and
embarrassment.

2.
a. What are the issues and problems in the case?
 Mary and Helen have not jointly agreed on a positive and collaborative co-
teaching relationship
 Mary and Helen have fundamentally different teaching styles based on their
personalities and philosophies
 Mary and Helen disagree on the importance of spelling
 Jim struggles immensely with spelling and begins to lose confidence
 Mary struggles to help Jim with spelling, even after trying multiple strategies
 Jim begins skipping class due to the embarrassment he feels from his posted
spelling grades
 b. Discuss the common problems and issues faced in co-teaching.
 Teachers struggle to adapt their individual teaching styles and methods to create a
joint teaching effort with a colleague
 Teachers do not explicitly discuss and agree on shared roles and responsibilities
 Teachers struggle to plan and communicate frequently and effectively

c. What steps are required to establish successful co-teaching relationships?

 Use pre-planning time to determine individual strengths and weaknesses, delegate
roles and responsibilities-in other words, get on the same page before school starts
or shortly after
 Be intentional about planning and communication-do it as often as possible
 Discuss teaching philosophies, especially as it relates to meeting the needs of all
learners (struggling, ENL, students with IEPs, gifted/high ability, etc.)
 Get to know your teaching partner on a bit of a personal level as well as a
professional one

3.
a. When is it appropriate to make instructional accommodations?
Accommodations adjusts how the student learns the material. Students are still expected
to learn and master the same curriculum as their peers. Accommodations may come
during both instruction and assessment, like changing the way something is presented
during class or on a test, or a student may be provided with some extra time to complete
an assignment or test.
b. When is it appropriate to make instructional modifications?
Modifications are adjustments to what is being taught and students are expected to learn.
Students with modifications receive a different curriculum than their peers. These
students are typically at least 2 years below grade level, and need modified instruction on
remedial skills in order to access grade-level content. Assessments are also focused on
checking mastery of the modified curriculum.
c. Discuss techniques for modifying instructional methods and materials.
 Identifying remedial skills needed to meet IEP goals and grade-level standards;
structure instruction around scaffolding those skills
 Provide a variety of methods and modalities for student to interact with and
respond (writing, speaking, listening, drawing, etc.)
 Design instruction and assessments to meet various learning needs (visual,
auditory, tactile)
 Identify what skill(s) you want students to demonstrate mastery of on
assessments, present assessment questions and tasks in ways to eliminate barriers
 d. What instructional accommodations and modifications in spelling did Mary
make for Jim? Were they effective? Why or why not?
 Split number of words on the list into smaller sections
 Made flashcards and taught Jim how to use them
 Spread total word list through the week
 Taught Jim word-study strategies and patterns for unfamiliar words
 Practiced writing words repeatedly for memorization
Unfortunately, none of these strategies were effective, as Jim’s progress on the weekly
spelling tests did not improve. Because the list changed every week, Jim never had the
opportunity to truly master the words or try again before the next list with new words.

4. Discuss the importance and benefits of communication and collaboration that

promote interaction with students, parents, and school and community personnel.
Continuity between home and school is critical to student success. Teachers, parents,
students, and community partners all need to be on the same page and understand one
another to help students grow. A vital component needed to getting different people to
partner together is intentional collaboration and communication. This way, the student
can have their needs met not only at school, but also at home and when accessing and
interacting with community resources. By communicating frequently and effectively,
teachers and parents are able to have a positive relationship and work together as a team
to help the student. The student also feels valued and cared for because they feel that they
have a number of people who are doing their best to support them.