Collaborative Teaching in the Classroom

by Sherin Pathickal, Pharmacy Practice Resident at Suburban Hospital 

Collaborative teaching is becoming a more prevalent technique in the classroom. It is defined as instructors who have “the joint responsibility to design, deliver, monitor, and evaluate instruction for a diverse group of learners in classes where both are present and engaged simultaneously.”¹ It began as a method to facilitate classroom activities with children with special education needs, but I see collaborative teaching in my own courses. Collaborative teaching in large groups allows smaller targeted group discussions and students spend less time waiting for teachers to help them. Smaller group activities also allows students the opportunity to express their own ideas. Additionally, students are exposed to various methods of thinking, problem solving, or perspectives on topics allowing them opportunities to develop their own thoughts and see collaborative relationships.²

Collaborative teaching allows one teacher to review the material with the students, while the second teacher focuses on helping students who are having trouble grasping the content within the same classroom, allowing instructors to identify students with learning difficulties immediately. Similarly, one teacher may teach while the other simply observes the class. One issue that may arise is that the collaborative aspect may be lost if both teachers continually stay in their respective positions for each class and may ultimately foster an unequal relationship of power. Teachers may also opt for ‘station teaching’. This allows them to divide the topic so that each teaches an area that is most comfortable to them. ‘Stations’ must be timed appropriately to allow an equal amount of time in each area, and also allows students to gain more perspective on different ways of approaching a topic. Parallel teaching allows students to be divided into 2 or more groups, allowing each teacher to approach the same material but in their own way. This allows smaller group discussions while fostering individualized interactions. However, if the instructors are not equally strong in the content or are not covering the same material, problems may arise. Perhaps the more conventional form of collaborative teaching is the ‘tag team’ approach where each teacher will equally cover the material allowing them to establish an equal relationship among themselves, while allowing them to blend their respective thoughts and perspectives on a specific topic. Extensive lesson planning is required to ensure that the topic is adequately covered. Problems with collaborative teaching methods may arise when teachers do not agree on what to teach, how to split the topics, or how to approach the material, leading to conflict. It is important that teachers be proactive and ensure that they have these discussions sooner rather than later.^1,2,3

Our initial live class allowed me to see collaborative teaching in practice. Each pair of residents approached their respective topic in a collaborative manner with virtually every group dividing the material into two equal subtopics while integrating them into one cohesive presentation. These last few months of completing a residency with my coresident has shown me the differences and similarities between us and I am excited to see how we approach the material together. I know that we will both have our own ideas on how to develop the presentation, but it will be fundamental to find a way to allow both of us to highlight our strengths, both creatively as well as professionally, while keeping the class engaged. We will most likely utilize the ‘tag team’ approach where we will divide the work equally and work together to present the material.

Collaborative teaching goes beyond the classroom and extends into the workplace as well. As an incoming resident, each pharmacist broke up the clinical training with each teaching an area that they were more experienced in (i.e. antibiotic consults vs anticoagulation vs parenteral nutrition). Each pharmacist observed the other while they taught us and chimed in when necessary, but for the most part, the most experienced pharmacist in their respective field took over the training for that component.

Teachers should strive to incorporate collaborative teaching in their curriculum. It not only fosters professional relationships, but also allows students to be exposed to a multitude of thoughts and ideas. There are multiple ways to incorporate collaborative teaching. Working closely with other colleagues allows fresh thoughts to be developed, and can allow each instructor a perspective into how the other teaches, while allowing them to refine their own teaching methods. Collaborative teaching takes commitment and proactivity. Meeting before the semester begins and explaining his or her teaching style, what material to present, and how it should be covered, will allow for easy communication and minimal surprises. Instructors should develop a learning plan together to determine how the class will run and how to account for any issues that may arise. Once each instructor agrees on a method of collaborative learning described above, they can test it on their first class with the understanding that they can change their method depending upon the class receptiveness (i.e. changing from station learning to teaching/observing). It is important that each instructor communicate with the other to ensure that they are on the same page and so that they can refine their teaching accordingly.³

Collaborative learning may not be completely integrated into each classroom yet, but it is easy to find small examples that begin to hint at its development. Collaborative learning has many struggles and challenges that come along with it, but also helps to facilitate new methods of learning and allows students to see professional relationships at work.

References:

1.     Building Teacher Partnerships to Support Student Learning [Internet]. New York (NY): United Federation of Teachers; 2010 [cited 2017 Mar 12]. Available from: http://www.ufttc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Centering_on_CTT_2010.pdf.

2.     Morin A. Collaborative Team Teaching: What You Need to Know [Internet]. USA: Understood; 2007 [cited 2017 Mar 12]. Available from: https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/treatments-approaches/educational-strategies/collaborative-team-teaching-what-you-need-to-know.

3.     Keefe EB, Moore V. The challenges of co-teaching in inclusive classrooms at the high school level: what the teachers told us. American Secondary Education [Internet] 2004 [cited 2017 Mar 7];32(3):77-88. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41064524?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.