Blog Post

Collaboration in a Two-Teacher Model

I am extremely lucky. 

I have the best “work wife” out there. We have very similar teaching philosophies, approaches to parents, passion for learning and reflecting, love of language…even our daughters are the same age! And while I might be nine inches taller than her, I lovingly refer to her as my “Latina Twin”. 

Bebi and I getting ready to climb the tower at NGSS Bootcamp a few years ago!

I am the English teacher in a two-teacher model of our Two-Way Immersion program. My teaching partner, Bebi, and I do not share a classroom. We have our content allocated so that she teaches only certain subjects in Spanish and I teach others in English, so we don’t plan our actual lessons together. However, there is actually a lot that we do share: 

  1. Our students. All of them. 
  2. Our families. All of them. 
  3. Our yearlong plan – who is teaching which standards 
  4. Bridge week academic language and content ideas 
  5. Classroom routines, systems, and discipline procedures 
  6. Assessment data – both formal and informal 
  7. Reflection on lessons, behavior, the day in general, etc. 

…so now that I think about it, maybe luck has very little to do with it. Perhaps it is the fact that we are both so willing to work together for the success of our students and our program that it feels like we’re lucky. In reality, we work hard to have our classrooms both efficient and effective immersion environments. I’d like to highlight a few of those shared responsibilities for you here. 

Our students 

Our students are the reason we do everything we do. Every day at lunch we sit together and talk about “our kids”.  

How is so-and-so doing today? I think we should call a meeting with so-and-so’s parents. So-and-so totally rocked guided reading today; I think I’m going to move him up a group!  

We constantly compare the performance of our kids in English and in Spanish. We celebrate successes and problem-solve the challenges. It’s important to us that we know the strengths and insights of each child so that we can help each one be successful in our program. We cannot do that without each other noticing those bits and pieces throughout the day and in different environments. 

 

Our yearlong plan 

Before the school year begins, we meet to go over dates and break down our units of study. While we have been doing this a while now (we’re in our fifth year), we always find places where we need to make changes to our plan. We align the ends of our units with each other so that our bridge weeks (where we do extension activities using the academic language from the unit in the other language) occur at appropriate intervals. Our yearlong plan sets the tone to being on the same trajectory.  

This is a snapshot of our Kindergarten Year at a Glance. We are working on reviewing our standards within each unit in order to reduce our redundancy. The unit titles are rather generic; however, they reflect the standards in each content area that we cover in our grade level. You can see our Bridge weeks occur at then end of a unit in both English and Spanish. (The handwritten notes are the high frequency words I will teach each week.)

Bridge week vocabulary and content ideas 

When planning for our bridge week, Bebi and I discuss the pertinent academic language that will be bridged and the plan for the bridge week extension activity. This is really the only time we co-plan, so that we do not repeat content – and to help each other come up with strong extension activities in which to apply the learning. It is important that I know, for example, specifically what the first graders have learned about sound waves so that I can apply that academic language and knowledge in Spanish to help them design and build a musical instrument in English. 

We both have a spot in our classroom for the Bridge, which has the same picture of a bridge/Puente above it. It is empty right now as we will get to our first Bridge next week!

Classroom routines, systems, and discipline procedures 

This is an area we continue to refine annually. Before the school year begins (and during the first few weeks as we get to know our new students), we set up certain procedures and systems so that we will teach and reinforce them in the SAME way. There are a lot of transitions in a two-teacher model, and it can be confusing for our kids to have two teachers with two different systems.

We have the same procedure for getting drinks after recess (“Uno, dos, tres, listo!” and “One, two, three, that’s enough for me!”). Bathroom procedures (when it’s okay to go, what symbol to use when it’s an emergency) match in both of our classroom.

We have Star of the Week/Estrella de la Semana in each class. The routine matches whether the student presents in English or Spanish (it alternates, one week in Kinder in English, First grade in Spanish then opposite the next). There is a designated “show off spot” in each classroom for our Star/Estrella.

 

Our Guided Reading books are stored in the same way in each classroom. English books in the bottom picture, Spanish in the top. The matching system helps reduce confusion and transition time.

Our noise level charts, an essential expectation, match with color, picture, and meaning. Our students need consistency with such behavior expectations so there is no confusion of how to act in each class.

 

 

We teach Dictado in the same way, one week in Spanish, one in English. We even have the same procedure of carrying and using “wiggle seats” for our active learners. Being aligned with these daily routines helps our students to focus on language and content learning, without also having to juggle the question of “How is it done in this class?”  

We use the same paper for Dictation/Dictado (green for first grade, pink for kindergarten). We alternate weeks for using dictado, so our students have it every week. Of course, the routine we use each week is aligned as well so our students know what to expect whether it is taught in English or in Spanish.

 

Those are just some of the ways we collaborate for the success of our students and our program. Feel free to comment or email if you would like more specifics on any other areas where I didn’t go into detail. 

Being a successful team takes effort, but with the right attitude, willingness to compromise here and there, and a few laughs along the way, you’re sure to have a great year! 

Come back in mid-October to read about suggestions on how to support monolingual families in a Two-Way Immersion program. See you then!