In this article two teachers from different states discuss how they are co-teaching virtually. After meeting at a summer professional development fellowship program, Justin Taylor and Zach Seagle decided they could decrease their workload and support each other by implementing similar core concepts and practices in their government and politics courses in Tennessee and Connecticut. Both teachers felt they benefited from planning together and debriefing to learn from mistakes and as a result, their instructional practices improved. The article describes how they have worked together over several years, continually increasing the level of collaboration and eventually bringing together a small cohort of four teachers. The article also reviews the education technology the two teachers use to make virtual co-teaching and student collaboration possible. Lastly, the authors review the benefits and challenges of virtual co-teaching.
Educators, school and district leaders, PD providers, and organizations working with schools may be inspired to consider ways to harness new education technologies and investigate this approach to co-teaching, especially in districts with limited staff or other challenges that make in-person co-teaching difficult.
Source Organization: EdSurge