Ross-Woodward Elementary School
New Haven, CT

Maria Hofilena & Terry Warfield, 3rd Grade Co-Teachers, New Haven, CT
Laura Bahls & Raynetta Ford, 1st Grade Co-Teachers
(Maria and Laura are in their classrooms half days and work on behalf of Cornerstone with colleagues, co-teachers and Cornerstone during the remainder of the day.)

From the beginning of September, the co-teaching model has been a learning experience for all of us. We have learned so much from one another and have grown as educators while creating a professional learning environment for our students. The recipe provided contains some ingredients to include when "baking" (or building) a strong relationship with co-teachers. Some ways that have helped us to build strong relationships with our co-teachers have been through collaboration, being open-minded, and by having fun. Here are some examples of how we have accomplished building a strong relationship from the start.

As literacy coaches, we began collaborating with our co-teachers by setting common goals for the year within our classrooms. These goals included creating a classroom behavior management plan, providing a friendly and inviting classroom for our students, and developing a literacy program to meet the needs of our students. By working as a collaborative team, we set a positive tone for the school year for ourselves and students alike. Through daily planning we have had the opportunity to discuss what has been working well and what we need to improve on in our teaching and interactions with the students. This has proven to be very beneficial to differentiating the learning for students in our classrooms. It has also helped the co-teachers to work together on creating goals for teaching and student learning. Setting common goals from the beginning of the school year has contributed to the positive relationship with our co-teachers.

Being open-minded is another way to build strong and positive relationships between co-teachers. Open-mindedness has given us the opportunity to take risks in our teaching by trying new things and incorporating ideas from our co-teacher's bag of tricks. For example, being open to the ideas of our co-teachers has allowed us to be open to change and improvement. Therefore, our daily classroom activities have been enhanced and have become a "work in progress" in order to provide instruction and classroom activities that reflect the needs of our students and improvement of our teaching. We have built in time with our co-teachers to discuss what's working well in our teaching and students' learning and what we can improve on in our work. These conversations have been and continue to be built upon trust and honesty between the teachers. By being open-minded, working with co-teachers allows for change and improvement in our day-to-day teaching and instruction of our students.

The final way that we have built strong co-teaching relationships is through having a good time and really enjoying our role as teachers. We have found that laughter is the best medicine for getting through tough days and difficult scenarios together. It is so nice to have a friend, colleague, and confidant on your side each day. We can bounce ideas off of one another, share achievements as well as failures and work through things together. By getting to know our co-teachers- their teaching styles and ways of doing things, we have been able to grow and learn with one another. Having fun with our work allows us to enjoy what we do and who we work with. We have had fun in our classrooms by smiling, laughing and being there for our teachers! Have fun in your work on a daily basis and positive relationships will continue to grow and become strong with co-teachers.

Building a strong relationship with a co-teacher involves many ingredients as shown in our recipe for a successful co-teaching relationship! We have found that from our experience, successful co-teaching involves collaboration, being open-minded and having fun! All of these positive attributes of building a strong relationship must be considered throughout the year to make the co-teaching a positive and effective experience for the students and teachers. By considering our recipe for successful teaching, ways to collaborate, being open-minded and having fun, co-teachers will have the opportunity to improve in their own teaching and instruction and build successful relationships with their co-teachers.