Co-Teaching in the Academy-Class Program: From Theory to Practical Experience

Abstract

This study focuses on implementing co-teaching models in the practical experience of teacher training processes. It examines the experience models in terms of theory versus practice from the perspectives of students of education and training teachers (school and pre-school) who participated in the special “Academy-Class” program in the 2017 academic year at Ohalo College. 125 subjects participated in the study. The overriding goal of the research was to identify the dominant patterns in this unique practical experience in teachers training. The research questions sought to clarify the extent to which the six main co-teaching models described in the research literature are manifested in practical and educational terms in the Academy-Class program; offer a comparison between common teaching practices and the co-teaching models; and assess how common Synergetic Collaboration is as a co-teaching method relative to other low-level methods.Our findings show that the co-teaching models were more dominant than the traditional teaching models among all the sample groups. The greatest difference was found in the reports of the training teachers (0.79) at the school, while the smallest difference was found among students training to become teachers (0.13). We have seen that experiencing a clinical model of co-teaching involves shared work between a training teacher and of a student of education. There is a need to change training processes, as well as expanding the theoretical approaches that describe the wide range of shared co-teaching.

Trainee-teacher: A Second or a Secondary Teacher in the Classroom? Emotional Aspects of Teaching Practicum in the “Academia Class” Program

“…It was clear from the generality of the analysis that the human encounter, face-to-face, had a maximal weight in determining the quality of feelings, emotions, motivation and optimal training. When the trainee-teacher feels that their emotions are contained, and that they are equal participants, this increases their motivation to try to undergo different experiences and influences their perceptions of the practicum [40].…”

“…Co-teaching is perceived as an alternative substantially different teaching method with particular value-added, which gives pupils' an alternative lesson experience [12]. Co-teaching constitutes a "learning community of two experts" for the relatively isolated teacher, helping them to grow and providing emotional support [13].…”

“…Different studies have noted that teaching is an emotional profession, because it involves face-to-face interaction with pupils, colleagues, pupils' parents and the community [25]. Profound relationships are often created between traineeteachers and their trainer-teachers [26]. (As part of their role definition, the trainer-teacher is required to act as a guide and counselor, supervising and encouraging the trainee-teacher in addition to providing a source of personal and emotional support [27].…”

The Future of Field Experiences in Distance Education:

“…Soslau, Gallo-Fox, and Scantlebury (2019) define co-teaching in teacher preparation programs as "a model for learning to teach where teacher candidates and clinical educators work alongside one another and share responsibility for student learning" (p. 265). In this context, co-teaching is more than simply teaching with another teacher-it is the continual, recursive process of co-planning, co-instructing, co-assessing, and co-reflecting that positions both participants as valuable contributors to the classroom environment (Allen, Perl, Goodson, & Sprouse, 2014;Nissim & Naifeld, 2018;Soslau et al, 2019).…”

“…The CT would offer follow-up questions to supplement the lesson, as well. More often than not, the CT and ST would engage in the one teach, one assist model of co-teaching, each alternating the lead role as it best suited the lesson and student needs (Allen et al, 2014;Nissim & Naifeld, 2018).…”