Co-Teaching Models

This portfolio piece is a concept-based project for a fictitious school district, School District X. This course takes learners through the 6 different co-teaching models.

Tools: Articulate Storyline, Adobe Illustrator, Canva

My Role: Research, Script, Storyboard

Client: School District X

Audience: Special Education Teachers within the district

Client Problem: School District X has noted a trend in co-teaching teams across various schools in the district. During observations teachers are typically working with the same student groups. Additionally, there has been a rise in special education teacher turnover. During exit interviews, many teachers explained that they found it difficult to collaborate and plan with co-teachers. They emphasized that while the teacher teams were willing to collaborate and plan lessons that met students' specialized needs, they did not often know where to begin and this led to lessons that were somewhat fragmented. This was then reflected in feedback during evaluations of teacher practice.

Solutions:

In efforts to support teacher teams, the district has identified teacher collaboration as one of their areas of focus for the upcoming school year. This microtraining will provide co-teaching teams with a tangible tool/approach that they can use to guide their coplanning sessions. After the course, teachers across the district can put this practice in place while continuing to work on relationship-building and collaboration.

This microcourse is intended to be part of a larger course to help teacher teams understand what the 6 co-teaching models are and when they should be used. In this course they will go through an interactive menu which contains visuals and a description of each of the models. This is followed by a drag and drop assessment to further solidify understanding of the models.

Process

Research:

A needs assessment was conducted through interviews with SMEs throughout the district: Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Principals and Special Education Teachers. They all identified co-planning for co-teaching settings as a challenge. Other than providing time for teachers to plan and templates if they wish to use, they are not sure what else they can do to support their planning. Additionally, I analyzed lesson plans, student work and sat in on co-planning sessions. It is clear that teachers across the district lack a support or tool that streamlines their co-planning sessions. An emphasis on the co-teaching models in planning and instruction will serve to support teacher planning sessions by providing a guide and common language across the district.

Mapping & Storyboarding:

Once the research is finalized and we have narrowed down what the eLearning experience should focus on, I start to map out a visual of the different components of the course. Keeping in mind that I want to make this course engaging and meaningful, I prioritize providing as much information as possible while still reducing cognitive load. This helps me to identify what features and interactivity (triggers, layers, states, variables and conditionals) I need to incorporate to achieve the desired results. I then begin scripting the content/ narration that each component will require followed by the selection of characters, color themes, font and font sizes.

Development:

The final course was made on Articulate Storyline and includes visual assets from Canva. Additional custom graphics were created using Canva and modified on Adobe Illustrator.

Results:

Participants of the eLearning experience reported that they felt confident explaining the different models of co-teaching. They especially liked that they had “Tammy, the trainer” to support along the way. The difficulty level of the drag and drop was just right and the guide provided for support was clear and efficient.