Working in a co-teaching relationship is more than just having a colleague. It’s like being thrown into a marriage with 20+ kids and knowing it has to work, at least for a year. Ideally, these teaching marriages will go extremely smoothly, and everyone, from the students to the parents to the teachers themselves, will have a fulfilling and supportive year. However, sometimes, for one reason or another, these teaching styles are inconsistent or personalities conflict.
Whether you’re joining a new teaching team or need to revitalize your existing one, we talk to experts about how to get off to a great start, increase collaboration, reduce conflict, and ultimately create healthier classrooms for everyone within those four walls.
Define your school or team’s co-teaching approach
Co-teaching can be a rather confusing label for instructional time because the types of co-teaching styles or categories vary widely. If you don’t know what your school’s style is or what your team’s approach is, it’s easy to create more conflict. Sometimes the details of co-teaching may vary depending on the activity (e.g., one teacher leads the morning meeting and another teacher provides support). Overall, though, every school should have a clear co-teaching model for teachers to follow.
- One person teaches, one person observes: One teacher teaches or guides students directly, while the other observes and takes notes.
- One person teaches, one person assists: One teacher teaches or guides students directly, while the second teacher assists students or teachers as needed.
- Parallel teaching: Each teacher teaches the same information to two different groups at the same time.
- Teaching station or center: Each teacher is in their own center or workstation and teaches specific information as students rotate between centers.
- Substitute teaching: One teacher instructs the majority of students, while another teacher leads smaller groups as needed.
- Co-teaching or small group teaching: Two teachers teach and collaborate simultaneously throughout the day.
new year begins
Whether you’re new to the team or have been teaching together for years, getting off to a good start is key to a successful year. This might look like discussing your “personal owner’s manual” or work style preferences, including how you like to receive feedback, how you give feedback, your pet peeves, and anything else that close colleagues might need to know. From there, dig into your goals and growth points and reach a mutual agreement.
Remember, you have the same goals.
Karen Aronian, Ed.D., a former New York City public school teacher and founder of Aronian Educational Design, says co-teaching can feel like a marriage or co-parenting relationship. “You have to be intentional about what’s best for the individual in front of me, the classroom in front of me, the school in front of me or the system in front of me,” she said. With this in mind, then (the more challenging part) you have to eliminate the ego or personality in the room. Focus on the main goal: having a solid classroom to support students.
Develop and revisit mutual agreements.
Similar to having protocols, rules, or expectations in the classroom, don’t shy away from this structure in your teaching team. Aronian suggests putting it together, writing it down or putting it in a document, and then reviewing it weekly or monthly. Consider improving and realigning efforts to continue achieving these shared goals.
You can also revisit the user manual or use a check-in template, in which each teacher rates their own contribution, how much they think their cooperating teachers have contributed, how each person’s time was used, overall satisfaction, and more.
Avoid pleasing others.
Paris Smith, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Mending Minds Mental Health Collective, specializes in people-pleasing, something she sees often in her teaching clients. Smith says you have to be honest with yourself about how much extra support you need or what your real expectations are. “Maybe one thing isn’t a big deal, but all these things combined can cause resentment,” she added. Before you say yes to a lot of things or agree just to keep things manageable, take a moment to reevaluate what you really need or want. Practice this with yourself throughout the year.
If necessary, bring in a third party.
Just like a marriage, sometimes it needs a little mediation. If you’re hitting a wall with a partner teacher and simply can’t agree—and frustration is taking over—offer support early and often. Ash Beckham, author of “How to Schedule Mediation,” says to schedule mediation when everyone is still curious and open to solutions. intensifyTED Talks speaker and leadership coach, because “it’s only then that the conversation can lead to more creative solutions.” If someone is too frustrated, angry, or anxious, reschedule—the meeting will likely be unproductive. When both teachers can demonstrate empathy, a third party can help by asking questions such as:: What do you need to move beyond this? Can you imagine a happy collaboration? What would that look like?
Practice having difficult conversations
It can be tricky to have challenging conversations with anyone, let alone someone you still have to work with every day. Beckham recommends setting ground rules to both start the new year and start conversations. The main rule? “Assume the best intentions,” Beckham said. “You have to assume the other person is coming from a place where you both care about the kids and the classroom.” When starting a conversation with anyone, assuming positive intentions creates better motivation and allows you to be curious.
To start a difficult conversation, set a time to meet instead of raising the issue with your partner.
That way, everyone involved will be in a good frame of mind that promotes curiosity rather than being rushed, grumpy, or hungry. Use “I” statements, e.g. “I feel like something isn’t right between us… I feel like I want to address and figure out how best to address this challenge. … What do you think about talking about this? Would you like to set up a time?”
From there, continue with those “I” statements.
Discuss how you feel. “I felt damaged when this happened. … I hope we can reach a consensus. …I work better in a structured environment. …How can we meet in the middle? ”
Take the time to check in regularly.
Taking this time is an investment in your co-teaching relationship. Not only will it benefit your daily work life, but it will also help your students and the classroom as a whole. “When you have two teachers who are different in their approach or habits and you bring that into the classroom,” Beckham said, “it creates an amazing classroom. We have to look at it as an opportunity where a teaching team might disagree on something that could lead to a huge win in the classroom. It’s all about mindset.”
