Mentoring teacher candidates

The online workshops, Co-Teaching Foundations and Co-Teaching Pairs, are designed to support a successful co-teaching experience for teacher candidates (TCs) and their cooperating teachers (CTs).

These workshops provide essential knowledge about co-teaching and how it differs from the traditional student-teaching model.

The co-teaching online workshops are available to teachers, administrators, staff, and community members from our partner school districts. UMN-TC students, teacher candidates, and faculty are also encouraged to complete the online training. Each workshop takes approximately 2 hours to complete. Upon finishing all materials and activities, you will receive a CEU certificate.

Workshop 1 | Co-teaching foundations: This workshop should be completed first. This workshop was designed to be completed individually.

Workshop 2 | Co-teaching pairs: This workshop should be completed after both members of the co-teaching pair study the foundations of co-teaching. The Co-Teaching Pairs online workshop was designed to be completed as a co-teaching pair sharing one computer.

Teacher Education Handbook

Additional information

The workshop materials were developed, with permission from Drs. Bacharach and Washut Heck, as an alternative format for University of Minnesota - Twin Cities’ school partners seeking co-teaching professional development online. This website’s content is not to be replicated by other institutions or schools.

Workshop resources

Personality indicator

For this activity, first discuss whether both of you have already completed (and can remember the results from) any of the same personality assessments (e.g., Meyers-Briggs, StrengthFinders). If you find that you have completed similar self-assessments on personality indicators, share what you learned about yourself from that activity with your co-teaching partner. If you did not take any personality indicators in common, consider the following activity and resource:

The Keirsey Temperament Sorter®-II (KTS®-II) is a widely used personality instrument. It is a 70-question personality assessment that helps individuals discover their personality types. The KTS-II is based on Keirsey Temperament Theory™, published in the bestselling books, Please Understand Me and Please Understand Me II, by Dr. David Keirsey.

The Keirsey test is an online quiz that quickly calculated responses and puts the test-taker into one of four personality types: Guardian, Rational, Idealist, and Artisan.

For your convenience, a summary of these personality types (called temperaments) is included below:

As Concrete Cooperators, Guardians speak mostly of their duties and responsibilities, of what they can keep an eye on and take good care of, and they're careful to obey the laws, follow the rules, and respect the rights of others. As Abstract Cooperators, Idealists speak mostly of what they hope for and imagine might be possible for people, and they want to act in good conscience, always trying to reach their goals without compromising their personal code of ethics. As Concrete Utilitarians, Artisans speak mostly about what they see right in front of them, about what they can get their hands on, and they will do whatever works, whatever gives them a quick, effective payoff, even if they have to bend the rules. As Abstract Utilitarians, Rationals speak mostly of what new problems intrigue them and what new solutions they envision, and always pragmatic, they act as efficiently as possible to achieve their objectives, ignoring arbitrary rules and conventions if need be.

This information and activity is from Keirsey.com.

We recommend that each participant take the quiz online either during the online workshop time and report back your results to your co-teaching partner.

You do not need to pay to have the report sent to you. It is free to register and take the basic assessment.

Much more information is available at Keirsey.com.

Co-teaching references

Heck, T., Bacharach, N. (2010). Mentoring Teacher Candidates Through Co-Teaching: Collaboration That Makes A Difference. St. Cloud, MN: St. Cloud State University.

Bacharach, N., Heck, T, & Dahlberg, K. (2010). Changing the Face of Student Teaching Through Co-Teaching. Action in Teacher Education, vol. 31, No. 4.

Bacharach, N., Heck, T., & Dahlberg, K. (2010). Researching the use of co-teaching in the student teaching experience. In Colette Murphy & Kathryn Scantlebury (Eds). Moving Forward and Broadening Perspectives: Coteaching in International contexts. New York, New York: Springer Publishing.

Bacharach, N., Heck, T., & Dahlberg, K. (2008). Changing the face of student teaching through co-teaching. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, New York.

Bacharach, N, Heck, T., & Dahlberg, K. (2008). What Makes Co-Teaching Work? Identifying the Essential Elements. The College Teaching Methods and Styles and Journal, 4, 43-48.

Bacharach, N., Heck, T. & Dahlberg, K. (2007). collaboratively researching the impact of a co-teaching model of student teaching. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

Cook. L., & Friend, M. (1995). Co-teaching: Guidelines for Creating Effective Practices. Focus on Exceptional Children (26), 3.

Guyton, E., & McIntyre, D. (1990). Student Teaching and school experiences. In Houston, W. (Ed), Handbook of Research on Teacher Education, (pp. 514-534). New York: Macmillan Publishing.

Heck, T., Bacharach, N., Ofstedal, K., Dahlberg, K., Mann, B., & Wellik, J. (2007). Extreme Makeover: Student teaching edition. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators, San Diego, CA.

Heck, T., Bacharach, N., Ofstedal, K., Mann, B, & Wellik, J, Dahlberg, K. (2006). Rethinking student teaching. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators, Atlanta, GA.

Murawski, W., & Swanson, H. (2001). A meta-Analysis of co-teaching research: Where is the data? Remedial and Special Education, 22, 258-267.

Perl, M., Maughmer, B. & McQueen, C. (1999). Co-Teaching: A different approach for cooperating teachers and students teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators, Chicago.

Platt, J., Walker-Knight, D., Lee, T. & Hewitt, R. (2001). Shaping future teacher education practices through collaboration and co-teaching. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education.

Roth, W., Tobin, K. (2005). Teaching Together, Learning Together. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Vaughn, S., Schumm, J. & Arguelles, M. (1997). The ABCDEs of co-teaching. Teaching Exceptional Children, 30.

Villa, R. Thousand, J., & Nevin, A. (2008). A Guide to Co-Teaching: Practical Tips for Facilitating Student Learning (2nd. Ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Wentz, P., (2001). The Student Teaching Experience: Cases from the Classroom. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Contact us

Questions and comments about the UMN-TC Partner Network and co-teaching should be directed to:

Kathy Byrn Kathy Byrn

Clinical Partnerships Coordinator, Elementary & Early Childhood, Agriculture Education, and Music Education
612-991-1117
byrn0039@umn.edu

Kathy supports clinical partnerships and co-teaching placements for elementary education, early childhood education, agriculture education, and music education.

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Amy Jo Lundell Amy Jo Lundell

Coordinator of Secondary Education Field Experiences
612-624-7448
lunde037@umn.edu

Amy Jo finalizes and tracks clinical/co-teaching placements across the University. She answers questions about placements, surveys cooperative teachers, coordinates payment of stipends, and manages professional development for cooperating teachers.

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Kelly Meyer Kelly Meyer

School Partnerships and Clinical Learning Coordinator
meyerk@umn.edu

Kelly coordinates innovative partnership development projects across districts and school sites. She also leads the professional development planning and coordinates preparation for clinical supervisors working with schools.

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