Response: Team/co-teaching

In the article "Speaking of Teaching" we see the actual experiences and successes of team teaching. I liked the way the article was set up. However, it seems like team teaching is a tough effort, and one small issue can completely tip the scales. With this, both teachers have to learn to collaborate and compromise completely on every aspect of teaching, which I can see being quite a challenge for many people (see: group projects). Having to agree on grading, assessment material, curriculum, approach, strategy and time management seems like the main priority, and the hardest part. However I do see many benefits for students based on what was related in the article. If things go smoothly, students get multiple perspectives on topics and lesson material, and hopefully students also get to see a model disagreement, and how to be respectfully understanding of someone who has different views and opinions. Team teaching allows for professional debate for teachers, and I can also see a benefit in teaching with someone who you may not agree with on everything.
The second article was a great follow up to this. Having a clear and concise layout of co-teaching methods made visualizing the first article easier. The first method, "one teach, one support" I did not like at all. The power dynamics are too unsteady and it seems like one job required much more planning and responsibility than the other, and doesn't give much opportunity for true collaboration between teachers. I have had teachers who used the parallel teaching method, of one teacher focusing on the whole class while the other drew small groups into another room for more focused teaching. This was something I enjoyed in elementary school when I was on the student side. I felt that this allows teachers the opportunity to focus more on one-on-one, or gathering a small amount of students who need help with the same thing, as a focus group. In the elementary classroom we also did station teaching, which allows more freedom for the students and the teachers, but keeps power dynamics equal. Team teaching is just the all-out, and I can see the benefits to this, but it also seems like the most difficult for the teachers and students.