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A Double Dose of Math

Collaborating to Support Student Learning

Marta Garcia Johnson

Each year, my fourth-grade class* includes a few students who need additional
assistance from a special educator to access mathematical ideas and build confi-
dence for sharing their ideas. Often collaboration between special education
teachers and classroom teachers can be challenging because special education
teachers usually focus on literacy instruction and are not afforded the opportu-
nity to learn the school mathematics program. However, for six years, I have
been fortunate to collaborate with Diane, a special education teacher who is
both knowledgeable about mathematics and enthusiastic in supporting the math
learning of our students. Diane benefited from attending our district’s profes-
sional development workshops that incorporated the content and pedagogy that
were aligned with our school mathematics program. She valued the program’s
emphasis on problem solving, reasoning, and student thinking and was able to
implement many of the strategies she learned. Over time, we have developed a
productive working partnership that supports the math learning of my students
with special needs.
Diane came into my classroom once a week to work with my special
needs students. She also provided additional assistance for these students in
a pullout group that met for thirty minutes each week. We had many con-
versations about how to connect the work that was happening in the class-
room with the support teaching she was doing both in the classroom and dur-
ing the pullout time. We worked hard to provide our struggling students with
extra practice that was consistent with the problem-solving approaches that
we use in our school mathematics program. We regularly scheduled joint
planning and debriefing meetings to discuss students’ progress and plan for
instruction.

*Chapter 8 is another essay about this class.