In “A Double Dose of Math,” Marta Johnson describes how her relationship
with a special education teacher evolved over time, from a pullout model to
a coteaching situation. The two teachers worked together to provide in-
struction that was philosophically consistent with the school mathematics
curriculum and to provide appropriate experiences and practice for the stu-
dents. The episode focuses on their work to help one of Marta’s fourth
graders who was struggling to understand fractions.
In “Planning Guided Math Groups,” John McDougall recounts the joint
efforts of two fifth-grade classroom teachers and a Title I teacher to use
literacy strategies to improve students’ mathematics comprehension with
multistep word problems. The episode describes their planning and debrief-
ing meetings in detail, particularly how they familiarized the Title I teacher
with the mathematics content and how the Title I teacher brought her
expertise in literacy to the mathematics classroom.
All these teachers engage in practices that contribute to their students’
mathematics learning. They have worked hard to develop mutual respect
and trust and a sense of shared responsibility. Their writing makes it appar-
ent that fostering collaboration requires a great deal of time and effort. The
teachers find the relationships worthwhile, appreciating what they learn
from each other in terms of mathematical content, teaching strategies, and
shared insights into the students’ thinking. Although the roles and contexts
are different, in all of the essays, you will see that the focus of the collabo-
ration is on providing consistent support to help their students with special
needs make sense of mathematics.
Questions to Think About
What roles do the classroom teachers and special education teachers play dur-
ing these episodes?
What structures promote sustained communication in these episodes?
What knowledge does each teacher contribute?
What evidence is there that students benefited from collaboration?
What challenges do the teachers face as they work together?
Working Collaboratively