Teachers and students have mixed feelings about Los Altos High School’s increase in co-teaching classes, the number having nearly doubled since last year. Co-teaching involves teachers splitting instruction to further engagement and relieve individual pressures: While one teacher leads a lesson, the other may be answering clarifying questions without disrupting the lecture. The model has been found to benefit both students and teachers at numerous schools.
“It’s a model that’s growing in the whole state,” Principal Tracey Runeare said. “It’s a great way for teachers to work together, and it helps give students access to high-quality instruction in a small setting.”
“Co-teaching offers more individualized attention and the potential for higher test scores as well as reduced stress and anxiety levels,” Special Education Department Coordinator Amy O’Hayer said.
Student opinions on the increase of co-teaching have been mixed: despite the model’s strengths, some have found it lackluster in a classroom setting.
“It’s a lot harder having two teachers for me,” junior Jackson Robles said. “Maybe one walks around, and then the other will be teaching. They give me too much attention.”
“It’s like you have to keep switching your brain for each teacher,” sophomore Lukiana Cherkashina said. “It feels like two different classes, with each teacher switching off.”
Despite the method’s critics, others find co-teaching to be successful in the classroom. For World Literature teachers Caitlin Hannon and O’Hayer, who have been working together for six years, co-teaching alleviates the pressure found in leading a class individually.
“We tell our students that they get ‘2 for 1’ a lot,” Hannon said. “If you’re in a lesson and you have a question about something, you can raise your hand and one of us doesn’t have to stop instruction for the rest of the class to help that student.”
Despite their years of working together, O’Hayer and Hannon have different styles of teaching, a fact that they believe helps their students learn better.
“Sometimes there are moments in a lesson where I’ll be explaining something and I can look out in a room and be like ‘Hm, they’re not getting it,’” Hannon said. “Then, Ms. O’Hayer will be like, ‘Here’s another way of explaining it.’”
For others, it’s only the start of a switch to co-teaching. Before this school year, U.S. History teacher Christa Wemmer had never co-taught a class. Now, she shares two periods of U.S. History with Special Education teacher Stefaan Lodge — a change she’s still adjusting to.
“It’s a lot more time-consuming than if I were doing a class alone because we have to plan and do everything with another person,” Wemmer said. “We have to always be on the same page.”
Although they’ve been co-teaching together for nearly two months, Wemmer and Lodge admit there are still some challenges involving cooperation.
“Maybe eventually we’ll get there, but in the first year, we have to both know the slides, the assignments, the assessments, and the strategies,” Wemmer said. “We’re spending a ton of time prepping on those things and talking about the students.”
Although Lodge co-taught Environmental Science last year, he previously worked in the history department. As a result, his familiarity with U.S. History allows him to contribute more effectively as a co-teacher.
“I have an understanding of the content, and I think it makes our lives a little bit easier,” Lodge said. “Last year was harder on me because Environmental Science is not my area of specialty, but this year has definitely been easier for me to interject myself into parts of the classroom structure.”
“It’s great to work with a teacher who knows so much about history,” Wemmer said. “He’s able to jump in and add a lot of content to lectures and class.”
Time will tell how successful implementing more co-teaching will be. Depending on the change’s success, LAHS will work to adjust co-teaching in the future.
“We’re just starting this expansion,” Runeare said. “We want to be flexible, and we need to be responsive to whatever the needs that teachers have, and also what resources their students need in the classroom so that they can be effective.”
