Learning about Co-teaching: A Collaborative Student Teaching Experience for Preservice Teachers

Abstract

To adequately prepare preservice teachers to implement inclusive classrooms, teacher preparation programs must encourage professional interaction, collaboration, and knowledge about inclusion. Although some of these skills can be presented in coursework, prospective teachers must be provided with opportunities to practice these skills in classroom settings. This case study explored the experiences of two pairs of preservice teachers who co-taught as they were placed with teams of collaborating cooperating teachers for a semester-long student teaching experience. Analysis of data sources including student journals, interviews, and observation notes resulted in themes including the comfort of peer support, the impact of personality on the co-teaching experience, the structure of co-teaching interactions, and the impact on children. Implications for designing collaborative experiences in teacher education programs are discussed.

Beyond Special and General Education as Identity Markers: The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of The Effects of Intersecting Sociocultural Identities

“…Furthermore, in all eight of these studies, both general and special education preservice teachers were included in the sample. Two of the studies (Griffin et al, 2006;Kamens, 2007) appeared in both the McCall et al (2014) and reviews. Four studies appeared in Pugach and colleagues' (2014) handbook chapter (Andrews, 2002;Arndt & Liles;2010;Sobel et al, 2007;Young 2011a).…”

“…Pugach and colleagues (2014) excluded survey and attitudinal studies from their analysis. Sixteen of the thirty studies included in the chapter included some form of assessments of preservice teachers (Andrews, 2002;Arndt & Liles, 2010;Brown, Welch, Hill, & Cipko, 2008;Frey, Andres, McKeeman, & Lane, 2012;Geer & Hammill, 2007;Golder, Norwich & Bayliss, 2005;Goodnough, Osmand, Dibbon, Glassman, & Stevens, 2009;Griffin, Jones, & Kilgore, 2006;Kamens, 2007;Kamens & Casale-Giannola, 2004;Kurtts, Hibbard, & Levin, 2005;Jeffs & Banister, 2006;Maheady, Jabot, Rey, & Michelli-Pendl, 2007;McHatton & Daniel, 2008;Sobel, Iceman-Sands, & Basile, 2007;Young, 2011a). One of the findings of the review revealed that when the term "diverse" appeared within the studies about collaboration, it was typically to reference the diversity of participants' academic or departmental backgrounds or to reference the diverse learning needs of P-12 learners.…”

“…The cooperating teachers were all female and White. Kamens (2007) did not include information about the faculty involved in the study in the article. The school in which the case study took place was described as a suburban elementary school with 15% of the students classified with disabilities.…”

“…The researchers of these studies used a variety of researcher-developed assessments and applied quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods approaches to the analysis of the data. The assessments ranged from one or more of the following: pre-and post-test surveys (Brown et al, 2008;Jeffs & Banister, 2006;Kurtts et al, 2005;Maheady et al, 2007;McHatton & Daniel, 2008;Murray & Curran, 2008;Sobel et al, 2007;Stang & Lyons, 2008;Welch & Brownell, 2002;), qualitative analyses of preservice candidates responses (Arndt & Liles, 2010;Gallagher, Vail, & Monda-Amaya, 2008;Geer & Hamill, 2007;Griffin et al, 2006;Kamens & Casale-Giannola, 2004;Stang & Lyons, 2008;Young, 2011a), curricular probes to assess content knowledge (Hallam, Buell, and Ridgeley, 2003;Van Laarhoven et al, 2007), field-based observation reports (Frey et al, 2012;Golder et al, 2005;Goodnough et al, 2009;Kamens, 2007), case based assessment (Andrews, 2002), and qualitative vignettes (Bradley & Monda-Amaya, 2005).…”

“…Through the application of a case study approach, Kamens (2007) explored the experiences of two pairs of preservice teachers. Each pair consisted of one preservice teacher from general education and one from a dual-certification program.…”