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Collaborative Planning

It’s More Than One-on-One

Michael Flynn

As a teacher in an inclusive second-grade classroom, I have often supervised para-
professionals in their work with my students who have disabilities. My goal is to
establish a collaborative relationship in which we can learn from each other and
provide a wider range of instructional supports for our students. Fortunately, most
of the support staff who have been in my room have followed their students since
kindergarten or first grade and know the children really well. I rely on their
knowledge of the students as I plan and coordinate lessons, and they rely on me
to help them understand both content and pedagogy.
This is particularly true when it comes to math instruction. Our mathematics
program encourages instruction that helps students make sense of mathematics. It
looks very different from the way we were taught, and most of our paraprofes-
sionals do not have an education background or experience with supporting stu-
dents to build number sense and become confident mathematics learners. I have
found that often their first tendency is to simply tell students what to do rather
than help them make connections and develop their own understanding.
For this collaboration to work, it is up to me as the teacher to establish the
working relationship. I have learned that the best way to ensure success is to devote
specific times during the week for joint planning, as I did with Pam, a paraprofes-
sional assigned to work with Robert and Steven, two of my students with severe spe-
cial needs. Fortunately, Pam had worked with these two boys in first grade and had
developed some understanding of their learning styles. The following vignette is an
example of how our collaboration progressed over the course of the year.

Planning Together

In the early spring, I taught a unit on patterns and functions. As part of our plan-
ning process, Pam and I sat down to go over some of the math activities together.
I find these conversations constructive, because not only do they help help us