A Case Study of the Collaboration in Mathematics between a Fourth-Grade Teacher and a Talented and Gifted Coordinator

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to describe how a 4th-grade teacher and a TAG coordinator collaborated to improve services for advanced learners without the support of university faculty and with limited resources. Interviews, questionnaires, transcriptions of videotaped consultation sessions, and observations of classroom instruction showed that participants coplanned lessons, utilized collaborative teaching, and developed a close rapport. Service was provided directly through a pull-out model that offered little in the way of training the teacher for differentiating the curriculum. Moving to a more indirect model of service would require better communication of role and goal expectations between the two participants. However, given the shortage of resources in many schools and the highly competitive demands for time during the school day, implementation is "a long road" that is likely to be traversed over an extended time period.

Benefits and Barriers to Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Examining Perspectives of Gifted Education Teachers and General Education Teachers

“…Nevertheless, their report revealed that both gifted education teachers and general education teachers perceived they could more effectively teach students identified as gifted and enjoyed professional collaboration. Like other studies with consultation and co-teaching, time to co-plan was reported as a significant barrier (Kane & Henning, 2004; Scruggs et al, 2007).…”

“…Time for common planning should be built in the schedule, and this can be organized and supported at the administrative level. It has recommended that teachers co-plan for at least 30 min per week with set goals for sessions (Landrum, 2001; Kane & Henning, 2004). Furthermore, co-teaching would be more feasible if the district consistently implemented cluster grouping as in Masso (2004).…”

How Co-Teaching May Contribute to Inclusion in Mathematics Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…First, a short overview of the terms used in the articles is presented. All articles are about two or more teachers being responsible for every student's academic development in mathematics education; however, different terms are used for this collaboration: coteaching [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], cooperative teaching [46], collaborative teaching [47,48], and team teaching [49]. In the results, co-teaching is used, encompassing all the aforementioned terms.…”

“…Some studies specify students' conditions as special needs or learning disabilities [35,37,44], students with disabilities [41,43,45], students with special educational needs (SEN) [38], or students having difficulties understanding the materials presented or solving problems [47]. In Kane and Henning [48], the participants were students who were advanced learners. The current review uses students in need of special education in mathematics (SEM) (cf.…”

“…Students of varying abilities are addressed, including students with difficulties and disabilities as well as students who are advanced learners. Six studies [37,41,[45][46][47][48] specified in their research that the co-teaching of mathematics aims to include a particular group of students based on varying abilities and were thus sorted into this category.…”