Co-Teaching in the Middle School Science Classroom: Problems, Practices, and Successes
Location
Session 1: Room 259
Start Date
24-2-2023 10:00 AM
End Date
24-2-2023 10:50 AM
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Chris Pritchett is currently the Assistant Dean for the College of Education at Georgia Southwestern State University. After a long career in K-12 public education and higher education in Alabama, he worked in Columbus, Georgia as an 8th Grade Science Teacher for the Muscogee County School District.
Presentation Type
Concurrent Session
Abstract
The presentation will describe a collaborative and equal partnership between co-teachers who shared a common goal of promoting student success by purposefully meeting the needs of all students in an 8th grade science classroom. The presenters will share the problems they faced, classroom practices utilized, and what they learned.
Conference Strands
Co-Teaching
Description
Co-teaching is not a new concept. However, the issues curtailing the effectiveness of co-teaching are still universal. Teachers lack the expertise to implement co-teaching models and need further training in order to be prepared to serve in co-teaching roles (Brendle et al., 2017). Additional concerns include the lack of support from school administrators and little time to plan lessons with teaching partners (EdWeek Research Center, 2022). Adequate resources have also been identified as a barrier (Ringl, 2021). Ringl (2021) concluded secondary science co-teaching pairs are not adequately implementing co-teaching but are willing to improve their co-teaching practices due to their belief co-teaching is beneficial for students. The rational for the presentation is to share personal experiences to help others improve their co-teaching skills and encourage others to become a co-teacher. Participants will be active contributors in different parts of the presentation including being allowed to ask the presenters questions at the end of the presentation. References Brendle, J., Lock, R., & Piazza, K. (2017). A study of co-teaching identifying effective implementation strategies. International Journal of Special Education, 32(3), 538-550. EdWeek Research Center. (2022). Teaching Students With Learning Differences: Results of a National survey. https://epe.brightspotcdn.com/82/c0/dd6eec394ad48173e26bc6464d7c/learning-differences-survey-report-final-7.28.22.pdf Ringl, S.J. (2021). Co-teaching practices of general and special educators in secondary science classrooms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Kentucky]. Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edsc_etds/92 Keywords: co-teaching, science, teaching practices, and special education
Creative Commons License
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Co-Teaching in the Middle School Science Classroom: Problems, Practices, and Successes
Session 1: Room 259
The presentation will describe a collaborative and equal partnership between co-teachers who shared a common goal of promoting student success by purposefully meeting the needs of all students in an 8th grade science classroom. The presenters will share the problems they faced, classroom practices utilized, and what they learned.
Comments
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
Mrs. Lindsey Woods is currently a Special Education Functional Curriculum Teacher at Hardaway High School in Columbus, GA. Previously, she was a high school and middle school science teacher before obtaining her special education certification. Mrs. Woods served as science co-teacher at the middle school level before moving into her current position.