Testimonial

A Co-Teaching Resource Model

A Testimonial

Testimonial

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Solutions for Success

The Groups

The Structure

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A shift in practice After a few years of being a remedial teacher, I did not like the body language that I was regularly reading off my students. It was embarrassing for my Cycle Three students to be pulled out of class to work on something different than their classmates. They wanted to be with their peers. I knew that they desperately wanted to fit in, and our school resource model was not supporting their needs. The solution was to move to a collaborative co-teaching model. Small group work outside of the main classroom would become the exception, not the rule. This came with adjustments to teaching practice and required a collaborative partnership.

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Steps to Independence

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Reading Conferences

Writing Conferences

Other Conferences

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Mini Lessons

IEP Conferences

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Tracking Progress

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Advantages

Considerations

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The Class Groupings To provide you with the context surrounding the school and our teaching reality, here are the details that concern the Cycle Three groupings.

• Cycle 3 classes received 5 x50 minutes of remedial support per week.

• The groups were Cycle Three (Grade Five and Six) split classes with 18 students in each group.
• This school ranked 9 on the poverty index. I believe the highest rank is 10.
• Both classes contained 4 adapted IEPs and 1 student following a modified level of instruction.

The Structure The teacher or the resource teacher would prepare the sticky note board* prior to the lesson so that students knew what their choices were. We ran double conference tables. In a 50-minute period, the students had 4 options. Their choices were tracked on individual forms. We encouraged a balance of choices. Reading 1-Read 2-Listen iPad Newsela ,Ra-z-kids, DOGO news Monthly chapter book (linked to home reading) Magazine subscriptions Etc. 3-Writing Copy book Laptops when available 4-Time with teacher Conferences *The Sticky Note Board Breaks from this structure The students need breaks from this structure and teachers need stretches of time to complete lengthy assignments. This keeps it fresh! A one-week break from the independent reading and writing structure was provided to shift resource support to:

• -Math problem solving

• -Lengthy writing assignments
• -Etc.

Solutions for Success

• Start with one teaching partner.
• Inform your administrator of your intentions. Ask to use pedagogical days as planning time. Ensure that they understand your intentions and that they support you.
• Set out a long-term plan with your co-teacher in August. Reserve a second planning day (pedagogical day) in November and another one in March. Even though you mapped out your year in August, schedule some time to revisit and readjust your planning or it will fall apart.
• Solutions to staying in touch for weekly planning:

-Schedule a common prep

• -Ask the homeroom teacher to take a picture of their plan book daily. They can send it to you by text.
• -Ask your co-teacher to post traces of mini lessons on chart paper posted around the room. This will allow you to link your conferences to classroom learning.-Post student goals in the classroom.

• Be flexible!

Independent Reading and Writing Activities with in-class conferences. We initially followed the structure in the Daily 5 book and then shifted towards Jennifer Serravallo resources. I suggest starting with the Daily 5 structure as it is clearly outlines teacher and student expectations. Once you have experimented with the routines and have observed the desired behaviour, at that point, you can add your own personal teaching style. Steps to independence:

• Discuss expected behaviour during independent work.
• Build independence and stamina with independent reading (without conferences)
• Start reading conferences. After a few days, incorporate flexible seating and expectations.

• Discuss expected behaviour during independent writing.
• Add writing activities during independent time. Add writing conferences.
• Use the same structure to incorporate Talk, Math and Second Language conferences.

Managing material:

• Every student was given a magazine holder. Students bring their magazine holder with them to their workspace. It includes their writing copy book, their novel, magazines, extra reading material a pencil, eraser and sharpener.

Getting Started: See the sticky note board in The Structure section for how to schedule conferences. Using the sticky note board, the teacher collected all the pocket folders needed for the scheduled daily conferences from the teacher magazine holder (see image above). Every student had a pocket folder with their name on it. We numbered the top corner of the pocket folder. These numbers were linked to the class list placed in the front of the magazine holder. This helped the teachers quickly find and return the pocket folders to their place. Individual Reading Conferences

• The first few conferences were goal setting conferences.
• If using flexible seating, the teacher moved to student as they had all their supplies in their magazine holder.
• Students read a book of their choice (by genre).
• Teacher or student stated the goal/strategy from the previous session by using the reading tracking form. This was placed on the right-hand side of the pocket folder. (The left-hand side of the pocket folder was reserved for the writing conference form)

• Student continued reading in a low voice. They had a conversation about what was read.
• Teacher listened, provided praise and made observations on the use of the strategy.
• Teacher noted down observations in the individual tracking form. The teacher showed and/or told the student what they have noted down.
• Teacher modeled (if needed)
• Student verbally repeated their goal and strategy.

• Following three successful sessions of implementing a strategy, the goal/strategy was adjusted.
• Both teachers would conference with three students during a 50-minute period.

Small Goup Reading Conferences

• Grouped by goal.
• A common passage was printed out and provided to students (Readworks, NewsELA, etc.)
• Teacher prepared a small-group lesson based on the goal and strategy that needed practice.

• Double conference tables were set up in the classroom
• Conference format:

• -Students/teacher would state the goal.
• -Students would read the common passage silently and the teacher would listen in on the quiet reading one student at a time. This was to ensure that the passage selected was an appropriate level, to observe decoding strategies and listen for fluency.
• -Once the passage was read, a discussion would follow. The discussion would be focused on the goal and the strategies used.

• -A discussion about the text to ensure comprehension was always included.
• -Teacher noted down progress and discussed it briefly with students.
• -A student changed goals after three successful sessions.

Individual Writing Conferences

• Follow the same structure as the individual reading conferences.
• The student would not read the whole piece of writing to the teacher. They would read a selected portion of their writing. This portion would include experimenting with their writing goal (6 traits/Jennifer Serravallo’s Hierarchy of Goals).
• The students needed to prepare the piece of writing in advance. They need to know when they would be seen in a conference to be able to do this (See reading sticky note board in The Structure section. We used a similar board for writing conferences)

Small Group Writing Conferences

• Based on similar goals, meet with a few students at once.

• Supply an example of the goal that you want to see in writing through a story, article, etc. (mentor text) This can be as short as one sentence.
• Show the students explicitly where the author has demonstrated the skill in writing.
• Have the students demonstrate/imitate the author’s style in their copy book or on a whiteboard.
• Students can read examples to each other and provide feedback.
• Note down the practice that was done and the progress that was made on the tracking sheet on the left side of the individual pocket folder (see image above).
• Share the entry with the students.

ELA Talk

• Students were asked to learn about a common topic.

• -Offer choice of podcast, article, video, etc to learn about this topic.

• They could use their independent reading time to learn about the talk topic. This was also assigned as homework.
• We divided the class into four small groups and each teacher facilitated two academic conversations weekly.
• We had a designated period for this within our 5-day cycle. See sticky note board, day 5 (above).

Math

• We worked double conference tables within the classroom.
• We made small groups with mixed abilities.

French

• We connected our ELA and Second Language strategies for transfer.
• Double conference tables provided support for cross curricular strategies in reading, writing and talk.

Mini lessons: Reading:

• Mini lessons were done by the teacher mainly through read alouds and modeling.
• The resource teacher would not be present for the mini-lessons but would use traces of the lesson left on chart paper posted around the classroom. This would help the resource teacher link mini-lessons to conferences to reinforce learning. Weekly prep periods were also used to inform the resource teacher of topics covered.

Writing:

• Mini lessons were done by the teacher using a mentor text.
• The resource teacher would not be present for the mini-lessons but would use traces left on chart paper posted around the classroom to anchor mini-lessons to conferences. Weekly prep periods were also used to inform the resource teacher of topics covered.

• Writing assignment topics were tracked on a chart paper in the class by the date that they were assigned. If the students did not finish a writing prompt, they could return to it at a later writing session by using the list on the chart paper. This allowed them multiple opportunities to write on the same topic.
• Talk/Math/French Pre-teaching was done by the classroom teacher without the resource teacher being present. The resource teacher's preparation consisted of a scheduled meeting with the teacher on a common prep time or by previewing the relevant material during a resource prep.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Conferences

• An IEP conference between the teacher and the student may be done once a month or once a term.
• The IEP conferences were conducted within the scheduled reading or writing conference time. They were scheduled on the sticky note board as an individual conference within the reading or writing conferences.
• IEP conferences help align IEP goals with in-class goals. They keep the IEP alive.
• Writing notes directly on the IEP prepares the IEP for updates.

Tracking conferences

• Two class lists were placed in front of the magazine holder. One was to track reading conferences and the other was to track writing conferences.
• Once we saw a student in a conference, we would date it on the class list. This is what we used to plan our next conferences.
• Conferences were planned using sticky notes on a poster board. This was posted in the classroom.
• This system informed the students who would be seen and when.

Considerations

• Long-term planning time. Ensure it is scheduled in.
• Weekly planning time. Capitalize on common prep periods or find simple solutions to stay in touch.
• Sticking to the daily schedule. At times teachers go over in their lessons. This may disrupt the resource schedule. Discuss it, or incorporate conferences within the daily lessons that are occurring.
• Writing conferences are longer and messier than reading conferences. It is difficult to see all the students in one week. (See solutions in writing conference section)

Advantages of working in small groups:

• Students that need extra support can be placed in multiple groups throughout the week.
• Once a week, teachers can meet with stronger readers/writers in a small group. This carves out extra conference time for struggling readers.
• Students learn from students.
• Students are provided with choice.
• Target teaching/personalized instruction
• Relationship building
• Incorporating inclusive practices
• Increased opportunities to apply strategies
• Increased opportunities to respond (answer questions, participate in discussions, etc)