Co-Teaching Part 1: Pilot

In 2013 I had a stroke. I woke up early one July morning with a pounding headache, took a Tylenol, then fell asleep for a few more hours. When my older son woke me, I garbled “good morning” to him, except it wasn’t those words. It was just sounds. He gave me water, and I tried again. Same result. I frantically called my husband, tried to say something in the phone receiver, and immediately he thought that I had a stroke. He called 911, an ambulance came, family came over to watch my kids, and I was on my way to the ER.

The doctors called it a cryptogenic stroke, because they couldn’t figure out why it happened to me – a 44 year old, healthy woman. It took three years before I could go back to teaching, but in the three years, I discovered something about myself and my district: the best teaching that I’ve done is with a partner.

That first school year was all about recovery - learning how to speak, think, connect words and ideas, in the hope of going back to school again. When I talked with a teacher friend, who was a special educator, she suggested that we talk with our Pupil Service administrator about a co-teaching model. He had been thinking about this for our district and what better time to try it than now. He sent us to a conference where we learned all of the different ways to co-teach and the research behind it. When we came back, he said, “Let’s give it a try for next year.” And so began co-teaching in the Columbus School District – we were piloting the program in 8th grade ELA.

Co-teaching is pairing a special educator with an academic teacher, where the two teachers plan out units and lessons that will be fully inclusive, and we’d share in the administration of the curriculum. I was only working 50% of the day that first year back from my stroke, and sharing the lessons and the workload helped me, personally, but it did wonders in our classroom. Kids no longer looked at the special educator in the room as the “other teacher,” or the “assistant” for “those kids;” they looked at both of us equally as teachers in the room. Katie and I (my spec ed friend/colleague) played off one another. She’d take part of the lesson and teach it, and then I would. Or I’d start and if something needed further explanation, then she’d jump in and reword or give a different example or whatever was necessary to help. She was the strategy support to the curriculum that we needed to get through. The best part - we had a blast! We laughed, the kids laughed, and we all shared in the joy of learning. Students were getting the best of both of us, and it really, really opened up my eyes to the needs of our students in the special education program.

PLUS, I was still growing and learning and trying to get back to myself and my teaching. I was messing up words occasionally, or I was fatigued, and my comprehension and thoughts would meander. I was essentially a special education student, too. I struggled much like my students. And I told them that. They knew who I was prior to their 8th grade year. They knew that I had a stroke the year before, so they were compassionate to my struggles. It was literally a win/win situation.

The second year after my stroke, I came back at 75%, and Katie and I continued co-teaching ELA. We bonded for life, and the students who we taught – ALL students were better for it. Our personalities, our laughter, our friendship shone through our instruction. It was the start of something wonderful personally, as well as professionally, for our district, and for our students, in particular.