Reflective Practice in Coteaching

Throughout the coteaching experience, both coteachers will learn many things from each other. All constructive dialogue has value. Cogenerative dialogue between the clinical educators and teacher candidates during the student teaching experience can happen during several times throughout the day:

• Huddles: Conversations that happen between coteachers in the moment to assess the lesson and student needs and make changes.
• Coplanning: While you are planning, you will discuss student achievement, teaching strategies and how to be most effective
• Coreflection: It is important for the teaching team to set aside time to have formal conversations about their teaching strategies, student learning, and future plans. You can use the guidelines found on the coteaching conversations handout to support your discussion.

During the placement, the coteaching roles will shift. During the grounding weeks, the clinical educator will guide the teacher candidate. As the teacher candidate gains confidence and understanding, she/he will be more likely to take initiative, often taking the lead role in the coteaching team. Coteaching will still occur throughout the placement! The coteaching gradual release of responsibility chart can be used to determine how you will shift roles and responsibilities, while still sharing the overall load. A natural process in our development as professionals is reflection upon our instruction. The power of two comes into play during this coteaching experience. You will be able to coreflect and gain more awareness of your own professional goals and successes through this rich cogenerative dialogue! Click here to discover more reflective teacher references.