Lauren Starnes
Blended Co-Teach Teacher
lauren.starnes@kellerisd.net

About the Co-Teaching classroom: Today’s classrooms have students with a diverse range of abilities and needs that bring unique challenges to teaching in a standards-based learning environment. Co-teaching brings together two or more certified/ licensed professionals who can use their expertise to design rigorous learning experiences tailored to meet the unique needs of all students. For example, general educators may have specific expertise in the areas of curriculum and instruction, classroom management, knowledge of typical students, and instructional pacing. Special educators may have additional expertise in the areas of differentiating instruction, monitoring progress, understanding learning processes, and teaching for mastery. Just as students have different learning preferences, teachers have different teaching styles. Co-teaching provides students with opportunities to learn in environments that model collaboration, demonstrate respect for different perspectives, and utilize a process for building on each other’s strengths to meet a common goal. In effective co-teaching classrooms, teachers model and support these skills to create collaborative learning environments that are results-driven and standards-based.