1. List what you learned about each of the characters in the case.

What do you think is motivating

the thoughts and actions of each of the characters? I learned that Teacher Helen cares about

her students. She has high expectations and prepares students to succeed in the state

assessments. Since shes a seasoned general education teacher, she believes that her style and

approach to teaching works and successful for her students. She never had a co-teaching

experience nor knew about the successful co-teaching model Crossroad High School has. Her 20

years of teaching English with no experience in co-teaching has led her to believe that her teaching

style will address the needs of all students. Teacher Mary has been in Crossroad High School for

5 years. She works cooperatively with her previous general education teacher. She never realized

that the previous teacher will resign, so Teacher Mary did not get a chance to build a relationship

with the new teacher, Teacher Helen. On top of that, Teacher Mary is soft spoken and sensitive.

She has already has a hint that their relationship might be ineffective but she did not say

something nor asked support from the administrators. I guess she did not say anything to Teacher

Helen because she wanted to test how their collaboration would work because she trusts her

expertise. Because both teachers have different personalities, level of expertise and

understanding in accommodating and modifying diverse students, that puts a rift in their

relationship which affected Jim and the other students in the process.

2. What are the issues and problems in the case? Discuss the common problems and issues faced

in co-teaching. What steps are required to establish successful co-teaching relationships? There

are several issues Im seeing in this scenario. First, since Teacher Helen is new to the school, the

Principal shouldve provided her an in-school training just to familiarize her with the style of the

school. In the beginning of the scenario, Crossroads HS is known to be a school that addresses

diverse learners through co-teaching. If Teacher Helen is given awareness about the style of the

school, then these couldve been avoided. Second, once she received the training, the Principal
 couldve given her a mentor or a person that she can collaborate with, in this case, it should have

been Mary. Being new to the school, Helen shouldve been more accepting to suggestions from

Mary. But, because she takes pride about her past accomplishments, she did not trust other

people to help her. Third, I did not see any weekly collaboration from both Mary and Helen. Mary

was basically checking Jims progress, took the liberty to modify/accommodate him without

telling Helen about his issues or problems. Fourth, they did not talk about each ones role during

the English block. Ultimately, Teacher Helen just told Teacher Mary what to do without asking for

her opinion. With that conversation, I felt degraded being a special education teacher. I feel like

Teacher Helen feels that she is the lead teacher in the co-teaching process. Lastly, Teacher Mary

couldve done something ahead of time, especially before calling the parent. I did not see any

conversations with Teacher Helen about Jims IEP accommodations and modifications. Teacher

Mary did not provide Teacher Helen a copy of Jims IEP.

3. When is it appropriate to make instructional accommodations? Modifications? Discuss

techniques for modifying instructional methods and materials. What instructional

accommodations and modifications in spelling did Mary make for Jim? Were they effective?

Why or why not? I like that Teacher Mary provided accommodations and modifications to Jim as

soon as she found out that Jim did not pass the first spelling test. She provided reduced number

of items and remediation. She also provided him with 1-2 items per day to practice before the big

day. But after finding out that Jims spelling level is equivalent to a first grader, Teacher Mary

believes that he needs more modifications and accommodations than what she is providing. In

other words, the instructional methods shes providing is not effective. It is appropriate to make

instructional accommodations and modifications as soon as they both know Jim is not successful

in the area he is weak on, like the first 3 weeks. If they followed the RtI model, where gathering

data is time-sensitive, they couldve gotten enough data to say that they need to use a different
 instructional method or material. These couldve been avoided if they collaborate on a weekly

basis and with support from the administrators to provide suggestions. Also, since Jim has

Auditory Processing deficit, phonological awareness will be difficult for him to grasp. Imagine, a

High school student with a 1.6 spelling level. They couldve tried a Tier 3 approach using

evidenced/research based material and that he should not be penalized for those errors since he

is getting a good grade in language. I agree with Teacher Mary when she said that Jim is not going

to learn the same way as the other students because of his deficits. Teacher Helen does not

understand that. Both teachers couldve provided Jim a spelling list that will minimize the learning

gap. Another way of modifying Jims spelling test, which I learned from using Aimsweb, Jim can

receive a modified way of grading his spelling test. Instead of getting checks for the number of

correct words, both teachers couldve scored Jims test by counting the number of letter sequence

(CLS). I also do not like how Teacher Helen posts all the spelling test, even Jims. That degrades

him.

1. Discuss the importance and benefits of communication and collaboration that promotes

interaction with students, parents, and school and community personnel. The ultimate benefit

of collaboration is positive student achievement. When teachers collaborate about the students

needs, they know what they need to build the students self-esteem. In Jims case, they couldve

talked about that posting Jims zero score for others to see is not a good way to improve his self-

esteem. Also communicating about his spelling level in the beginning of the year couldve avoided

the hiccups. When you collaborate, you use a team approach to problem solving while

maintaining individual accountability. It also promotes greater ability of students to view

situations from others' perspectives (development of empathy). In this case, if Teacher Helen

knew in the beginning what Jim needs, then she couldve assigned a buddy that Jim can work with.

The buddy on the other hand, learns to provide support, hence learn to empathize about Jims
needs. When all students empathize for others, Teacher Helen and Mary couldve established a

classroom that establishes an atmosphere of cooperation, not competition. Collaboration also

encourages participation from other professionals. In this case, Mary and Helen couldve alerted

the Principal or Instructional Coach to intervene with the process of collaboration. An

administrator can mediate with the severed relationship. The parents can also be alerted in the

beginning of the school year. Since the parents know what worked last year, Teachers Mary and

Helen couldve asked for suggestions from the parents about what worked with Jim last year.

Collaboration is a shared responsibility. We have to identify the problem, but solve them in a

collective effort.