Solving it Together! The Importance of Co-Teaching

As any teacher will tell you, they assume numerous roles to successfully lead their students through an entire school day, inspiring and motivating along the way.

To build the student/teacher connection and successfully meet each student’s needs, The Willows Lower School implements co-teaching, with two, or sometimes even three teachers in a classroom. The benefits are endless! Teachers offer more individual attention to students, but also have a colleague to collaborate with daily. Team Teaching helps build stronger relationships between students and teachers, but also among the teaching teams.

There’s no better way to emphasize the benefits of co-teaching than from the perspectives of the teachers themselves. Teachers from our 3^rd Grade shared their thoughts on the benefits of co-teaching for their students, and themselves.

Lauren Tenzer, 3B

“The co-teaching model at The Willows benefits both our students and our teaching team in the classroom. The diverse backgrounds of our team allow us to meet and exceed our students’ social, emotional, and academic needs daily in a creative and purposeful way. Our various experiences, perspectives, and strengths benefit our curriculum when creating engaging and thought-provoking lessons and problem-solving. Our differing backgrounds provide us with the opportunity to foster deep and meaningful relationships with our students. “

Taylor Stacey, 3B

“The co-teaching model is so integral to The Willows experience. For teachers, it is quite literally a marriage – a relationship where we bounce ideas off each other, offer perspective, lean on, and support one another. This enriches the experiences of our students in every way. They observe productive collaboration and partnership all day every day! The result is a carefully considered, holistic curriculum and classroom.

The relationships formed between teachers and students are definitely one of the most special and intangible aspects of The Willows. Having multiple teachers with different strengths and different sensibilities only makes it better!”

Brevin Archer, 3B

“Professionally, my organizational skills have improved from working with Taylor and Lauren. I am more confident in my teaching when I can rely on them for guidance, support, and feedback.”

The Willows is committed to developing each child academically, socially, and emotionally through effective and engaging education, with our co-teaching teams setting the foundation for this growth.