PRACTICAL CO-TEACHING STRATEGIES: Increasing Students' Success in Today's Inclusive Classroom

Presented by Toby Karten
Award-Winning Teacher, Presenter and Author of Co-Teaching Do’s, Dont’s and Do Betters (ASCD)

Specifically Designed for General Education Teachers, Special Education Staff and Other Specialists who Co-Teach or are Preparing to Co-Teach as a Part of Their Inclusion Practices

Practical, easy-to-implement co-teaching and inclusion strategies with concrete examples of what to do and what to do better, together!
Highly effective communication and collaboration techniques to more effectively work together in the co-taught learning environment
Proven strategies for co-teachers to help students with special needs to be more successful
Dozens of K-12 ideas and resources to more effectively frame roles and responsibilities with scheduling, planning, instruction, documentation, and organization in the co-taught classroom

Practical Ideas and Strategies

Students with diverse needs must be challenged to excel within the general curriculum and be prepared for success in their post-school lives. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to partner professionals in the classroom through co-teaching. Co-teaching has the potential to help educators create classrooms that recognize and respectfully address a tremendous range of student diversity by drawing on the expertise of both general and special educators. You will learn practical ways to strengthen your co-teaching team as well as proven ways to incorporate differentiated instruction, universal design for learning and multi-tiered systems of support into your co-taught classrooms while helping students with special needs meet or exceed high academic expectations.

In this UNIQUE, strategy-packed seminar, experienced co-teacher, co-teaching trainer and author, Toby Karten, will share practical ways for defining your roles, planning for and providing instruction that works, and tips for maximizing the value of each team member. By the end of the day, you will walk away with dozens of highly practical, effective strategies and an extensive co-teaching digital resource handbook to help you achieve your goal of reaching and teaching every student more effectively in your co-taught classroom.

Ten Key Benefits of Attending

Get Better Results for Your Efforts in Co-Taught Classes
Learn which collaborative spokes and models work best for different purposes … Match your instructional targets and students’ learning goals to specific co-teaching models and evidence-based practices
Build, Develop and Expand Strength-Based Co-Teaching Instructional Models that Modify Instruction
Implement powerful strategies to better structure your co-taught classroom and accelerate learning for your students
Use Differentiated Instruction and Universal Design for Learning More Effectively in Your Co-Taught Classroom
Discover innovative ways to provide and vary the representation, engagement, actions, and expressions to match the “what, when and how” for each learner before, during and after co-taught lessons
Ensure that Both Teachers are Fully Utilized
Discover the best co-teaching models to make all team members feel valued and useful with shared roles and responsibilities … Learn timesaving tips for maximizing classroom efficiency
Multiply Student Success With Divide And Conquer Approaches
Learn how to utilize a divide and conquer plan, which offers more tailored responses to individual students, small group and whole classes with observation, documentation, and responsive co-taught instruction for K-12 planned units of study across the curriculum
Expand Your Co-Teaching Toolbox For Post-COVID Learning Gaps
Collect applicable co-teaching digital resources for more effective planning, instruction, monitoring, assessment, documentation, and ongoing communication to co-identify and co-narrow post-COVID gaps
Learn Proven Ways to Minimize Issues to Collaborate as Professionals
Discover constructive, professional ways to walk the co-teaching talk with common language and goals to reach constructive agreements that benefit students
Know the Benefits and Challenges of Different Co-Teaching Models
Whether the co-teaching model is lead-assist, one teach, one observe, parallel, alternative, station, or team teaching … Discover ways co-teachers can best support each other and their students
Co-Facilitate with Practical and Appropriate Inclusion Strategies
Inclusion offers opportunities for peers to learn side by side to increase academics, maximize communication skills and derive social and emotional benefits … Here’s how
Receive a Comprehensive Co-Teaching Digital Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive a comprehensive co-teaching digital handbook to help implement and retain new strategies for immediate use

Outstanding Strategies You Can Use Immediately

Practical strategies to help you more efficiently organize and restructure your co-taught instruction to better serve your students
Proven ways to develop and maintain effective co-teaching relationships
How to establish parity with roles and responsibilities in your co-teaching team
Strategies to collaboratively respond to the levels of students with and without exceptionalities with differentiated instruction, universal design for learning, multi-tiered systems of support, low and high-tech tools, and of course – TLC!
How to maximize and expand the collaborative roles of the students, families, general education and special education teachers, instructional assistants, related staff, and administrators
How to better evaluate the benefits and challenges of different co-teaching models
Ways to capitalize on diversified co-teaching experiences
How to develop shared genuine ownership for instruction
Ways to turn your collaborative checklists into responsive co-teaching actions
How co-teaching errors can be opportunities for growth
How to better support each other in front of students, colleagues, and families
How to use instructional data to guide your co-teaching models
Ways to promote trust, respect, humor, inquiry, and self-efficacy in your co-teaching relationships

A Message From Your Seminar Leader

Dear Colleague:

In my experience as a co-teacher and in my work with hundreds of co-teaching teams across the country I am inspired when the full potential of co-teaching is being achieved and the needs of all learners are being met. I have also been disheartened when, despite the well-intentioned efforts of caring professionals, misunderstanding, mistrust, and unequal levels of responsibility have sabotaged these efforts. Sadly, this has resulted in missed learning opportunities for the students who need it the most.

It’s been my experience that less than desirable co-teaching practices occur when school staff is thrust into working together without the preparation, knowledge and supports offered at the onset. Professional development for co-teachers needs to be a prerequisite, not an add-on. When co-teaching is correctly implemented, pairs often finish each other’s sentences, end up dressing alike and seamlessly plan, instruct, and assess together within classrooms that offer collective expertise to adults and students. As with inclusion, co-teaching doesn’t have an exact formula. General and special educators are at various levels of their careers and co-teaching experiences. In addition, co-teachers are human beings with different personalities. Like students, in each scenario, co-teachers need to accept one another’s present levels, prior knowledge and future potentials. Together co-teachers discuss organization, interactions with each other and the students, planning, parity, and how to collaboratively increase learner outcomes.

Today, the days of closing MY classroom door, and doing MY own thing is replaced with mindsets that value how to be part of a co-teaching pair that effectively educates, “OUR LEARNERS.” You are cordially invited to join this dynamic seminar as we devote five packed hours with practical co-teaching practices for today’s inclusive co-taught K-12 classrooms. I look forward to OUR learning!

Sincerely,
Toby J. Karten

P.S. I can’t wait to share evidence-based practical advice on what to do better together to help your co-teaching team reach its full potential, while smiling, of course! You’ll leave with numerous ideas you can use right away.

Who Should Attend

Specifically Designed for General Education Teachers, Special Education Staff and Other Specialists who Co-Teach or are preparing to Co-Teach as a part of their Inclusion practices

Special Benefits of Attending

Extensive Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive digital resource handbook giving you access to countless strategies. The handbook includes:

Practical co-teaching interventions for learners with and without exceptionalities
Ways to differentiate co-teaching models to lower ratio, multiply collaboration and elevate learning
How to develop shared ownership with outlined roles and responsibilities of who does what, how and when
Hands-on, minds-on, interventions for co-planning, co-instruction, co-monitoring, and co-reflections, with a bibliography of resources across content areas and for specific exceptionalities

For in-person seminars, registrants will also receive a printed copy of the resource handbook as long as their registration is received in the BER office at least 15 calendar days before the event.

Share Ideas with Other Educators
This seminar provides a wonderful opportunity for participants to share ideas with other educators interested in increasing the behavior and learning of their students.

Consultation Available
Toby Karten will be available to answer your specific questions and the unique needs of your own program.

Semester Credit Option
UMASS Logo Up to four graduate level professional development credits are available with an additional fee and completion of follow-up practicum activities. Details for direct enrollment with University of Massachusetts Global, a nonprofit affiliate, will be available at this program.

Meet Inservice Requirements
At the end of the program, each attendee will receive a certificate of participation that may be used to verify hours of participation in meeting continuing education requirements.

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