Co-Teaching in Science and Social Studies Classes (Co-Instructing, Co-Assessing and Co-Planning)

Description:

What does co-teaching look like in a science or social studies classroom? How can two teachers share responsibility for teaching a diverse group of students whose reading, writing, research and study skills vary from well below to above grade level? How do science and social studies co-teachers creatively determine student progress throughout a unit of instruction so they can provide review and re-teaching activities to students who have not mastered the content before they take a cumulative test? You’ve heard that co-planning is the key to successful co-teaching, but how can you effectively use co-planning time to work out the logistics of what will be taught and how? This webshop presents information about the most common approaches used by co-teachers to share responsibility for instruction in a co-taught class, effective techniques for formative and summative assessment – with particular emphasis on creative formative assessment, and recommendations for developing an effective and efficient co-planning process. Videos are shared that were created by real science and social studies co-teachers of Virginia, discussing and demonstrating co-instructing, co-assessing, and co-planning. Some videos address integrating technology resources. Below each video, guiding questions are provided to focus your viewing of the videos; a transcription of each video is included as well. It is suggested that these videos be viewed and discussed by co-teaching teams while reflecting on their own co-instructing/co-assessing/co-planning practices. Videos may also be shared during professional development activities and among colleagues in professional learning communities, using the guiding questions to further discussion. New video added September 2023.

Target Audience: Middle & High School Science and Social Studies Co-Teachers and Administrators