The C in CTT

At Voice Charter School, my 3^rd grade class is the only class that is taught using the Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) model. When Mr. Headley, the principal at our school, notified me the weekend before the first day of school that I would be co-teaching with another first year teacher, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was originally going to be the special education intervention teacher for the entire 3^rd grade, splitting my time in both classrooms using push in/pull out strategies. With this new appointment I was to be the designated special education teacher in a single classroom—spending all my time with my 30 students. A third of these students have special needs and a high number have had to repeat a grade.

 

CTT classrooms are often created to strengthen the educational experience of students and provide a lower student to teacher ratio. This is particular true when there is a high quantity of students with special needs. In my classroom, certain students have IEPs that require them to be in a CTT classroom to receive certain services. This can be due to academic needs or behavioral needs. With two teachers, in the classroom the students definitely have more instruction and more help. Nonetheless, collaboration is really key and it can be challenging at times.

My co-teacher is a really great guy and has a hard-working but fun person to be around. We have somewhat different philosophies on teaching but have so far been able to communicate pretty effectively and compromise when needed. As with any relationship, however, we still have a lot to learn from one-another and a long way to go before we reach a point where we are maximizing our effectiveness. This was something our school principal mentioned in a recent meeting and something we have made a conscious effort to improve. 

  

I think one of the most important things the two of us have to figure out right now is how to manage the other adults who frequent our classroom throughout the day. On any given day we usually have an additional 3 adults come in. One of our students, Sarobi, has a para-professional who is with the student the whole day. We also have an assistant who is with us for much of the day. In addition, every so often we have another assistant who comes in to provide additional support. Because it is so early in the year, and we are focusing so much of our time on the students that we haven’t had much time to think about the adults who are there to support our students. I think that with some brainstorming and planning we will be able to collaborate and better use the team we have around us to help our students reach their goals.