When you hear about collaboration in school, typically you might think of general education teachers collaborating in the development of their lesson plans. However, it is equally important for special education teachers to collaborate with general education teachers when it comes to planning for the year and helping students succeed in school.
The online Master of Science in Education (MSE) in Special Education – Instructional Specialist K-12 program from Arkansas State University (A-State) can teach you strategies and spark ideas about how to collaborate with other teachers, students and even parents. Through guiding intentional and effective collaboration between all educators, family and community members involved in a child’s education, you can work to ensure that child’s success across both learning and home environments.
Teacher Collaboration Examples: Team Teaching and Co-teaching Strategies
As a special education teacher, you are responsible for every student on your caseload. This includes the responsibility to implement accommodations for students as well as the responsibility to ensure the achievement of the students’ goals, all according to the comprehensive plan you help create with the student’s individualized education program (IEP) team.
This goal is made easier through special education collaboration, such as team teaching and co-teaching in inclusive classroom environments. Even though you keep up with the paperwork for the student, you and your general education collaborator are both responsible for the student in the classroom.
Working as a team, developing a plan for the student and keeping communication open are ways to collaborate and help the student succeed. A master’s degree in special education could give you different ideas and strategies that you can implement with a general education teacher to help these students succeed in class.
You may co-teach in every learning environment, or, as an instructional specialist, you may act as an inclusion teacher. This can involve going into a general education teacher’s classroom at different times to assist with students who receive special education services. Regardless, working together in the classroom is the perfect time to collaborate as a team and help the whole class be more successful.
For example, you might teach a small group of students while the general education teacher concentrates on the rest of the class. This technique might depend on the general education teacher’s comfort level with your collaboration. If you communicate and work together well, this approach can result in two teachers bringing the whole class together instead of isolating students with learning differences. Plus, you can help the general education teacher discover innovative instructional techniques that can improve educational outcomes for all learners in the classroom.
Enhancing Student-teacher Collaboration
Each school year, new students will arrive at your school, and new students will join your caseload. Some schools let special education teachers keep the same students each year until the students transition out of school. The special education teacher develops a close relationship with students and their parents, becoming an essential guide and resource throughout a student’s educational path.
However, some schools might assign a different caseload each year. It is important to get to know not only your students’ needs but also their personalities. Students in higher grades will also generally be part of their education decisions in IEP meetings and have a say in discussions about accommodations and future planning. This special education collaboration with older students is critical because it gives them a chance to take ownership and responsibility for their education as well as their goals and actions.
Collaborating with and understanding your students is also important when it comes to behavior. If you are working with a student exhibiting particularly challenging behaviors, you will need to learn their triggers and employ evidence-based interventions and strategies to manage behavior and prevent further disruptions. This often takes time and requires talking with the student to collaboratively develop a plan so the student can learn to manage their own behavior constructively and succeed in inclusive classroom environments.
Parent-teacher Collaboration
Even if everything seems to be going well at school, a student’s parents can sometimes pose a unique challenge in special education. Special education teachers often serve as an intermediary between parents and other teachers when issues arise. This makes sense, as special education teachers build relationships with parents and work with them from the first stages of IEP development through the rest of a child’s education.
However, conflicts can still be challenging. Parents can be intimidating, but the emotions they exhibit usually come from their desire to care for and protect their children. As a special education teacher, it is important to assure parents from the beginning that you are there to help their students succeed. This requires effective collaboration and constant communication.
The parents must agree to the IEP for their students and attend annual IEP team meetings, but this shouldn’t be the only time in the year you talk with parents about their student’s progress in school. Collaborating with parents is also a great way to get insight into what could help students in the classroom, and you can share strategies for success that they can use beyond the classroom.
Special education collaboration may not make a visible difference overnight, and many general education teachers enjoy the autonomy of making their own classroom decisions. However, if all parties, including the students and parents, are on board to share ideas and strategies, then the student could be on the road to a successful education.
Learn more about A-State’s online MSE in Special Education – Instructional Specialist K-12 program.