Establish shared goals with educators, reflect on successes and continually improve coaching and teaching practice.

ISTE Standards for Coaches

Shared goals and reflecting are the heart of what I do as a co-teacher. My co-teacher and I plan lessons together and trainings for other teachers in the district together. We have been engaging in these trainings since 2017, and have evolved our training and workbook as we reflect on the training effectiveness and on the changing needs of the teachers with whom we work.

In 2020, we made a revised co-teaching guide and workbook for teachers implementing co-teach

Our presentation is only half of the training we created. The remainder of the training sessions are spent with teacher teams working together to shape their partnership and build tools they will use in their classroom. This approach has resulted in more informal trainings than we initially created, and has increased engagement.

Our co-teach partnership has involved multiple other opportunities for shared goals and continual improvement. We map out the school year and adapt the pacing and lessons as needed. We also grow as educators and in our classroom management style, which changes as the year and our own experiences progress. None of this would work out well or work efficiently if we didn’t have the shared goal of effectively meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of all of the students in our classroom.