Well, y'all know I've been praying about a position to come a long! School started for us last Tuesday!!! Thursday before the long weekend, I received a call, they need a long term teacher ASAP. Not a permanent, full time position, but how could I say no?!?! It was a position, working with children and that's all I've been asking for!
So it's been zero to 180 since then! I'm co-teaching 4th grade inclusion! I LOVE IT! As a primary teacher, I was SO NERVOUS about this switch. I just didn't know how I would handle the "Big Kids"!!! I have the best teaching partners and team!!! I work with two other teachers, so technically I have two classes I'm in. We are doing SO Many different things! I love how the students are independent yet excite about learning.
I wanted to share with you a few tips that we are trying this year for co-teaching!!!
STAY ORGANIZED
This week, I have had to create SO many forms for documentation! I have to be organized! Organization is one of the HARDEST parts of teaching, but with the right tools, it's so much easier.
So what did I do? I made a binder and included all of the things I need on a daily basis. Teachers these days have to document SO MUCH, and this is hard to keep up with! So I made a
Classroom Forms Binder! It makes things so much easier!! I've separated my lesson plans, class roles, important IEP Information and data collection. These are key elements to my day and I have to know exactly where they are! This way if I need to jot something down real quick, I just go to my binder, not some random sticky note that I *will* lose! I used to be the WORST at that!
You can check out this binder right HERE!!!
It's on sale until tomorrow!
DIVIDE UP PLANNING RESPONSIBILITIES
With co-teaching, don't forget, there is *two* of you! If one person is doing all the work, then
it's really not "Co-Teaching". My co-workers and I are trying hard to divide up the tasks. They were not sure if they would get an extra teacher, so they were used to doing everything solo! So we are now trying to work together, I just want to help them and take a load off! It's so overwhelming sometimes. So I am focusing on hands on learning activities and data collection. Data is the drive behind our instruction and it's important to know where each student is at all times. How can we effectively teach them without knowing the areas they need the most help in? We have the subjects divided up for areas that they need hands on materials. I created a form to help me keep my activities straight and understand when and how to use each activity. We are doing a introduction lesson of whole group, then small group activities the rest of the week.
Equal Partners
Both of my co-teachers are great at this! They don't treat me as an "assistant". The treat me as a teacher. I think this is the number one reason why our system is working! From the very first day, they've allowed me to be an active member in this process we call "education". They haven't treated me as if I was just a "temporary teacher", even though, I sort of am! They ask my opinion, advice and we work TOGETHER. We teacher TOGETHER. We help each OTHER when they other one needs it. This is KEY to Co-Teaching! You have to be a TEAM, or the students will see it, I promise you!!!
On to our lessons for the week!!!
This week we are focusing on Author's Purpose and Fact and Opinion!! Here are a few things we are using this week:
Fact and Opinion
Visual Aides
I'll let you know how all of these activities go,
but that is a touch of the things we will be doing!!! So far, I'm loving 4th grade and I can't wait to share this adventure with you!!! Thanks for stopping by friends!
