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It Takes Two:. Examining How Cluster Grouping and Co-Teaching Raises the Bar for Teachers and Students. Sarah Bongarten AIG Differentiation Coach Orange County Schools, NC sarah.bongarten@orange.k12.nc.us. Goals of this Session.
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It Takes Two: Examining How Cluster Grouping and Co-Teaching Raises the Bar for Teachers and Students Sarah Bongarten AIG Differentiation Coach Orange County Schools, NC sarah.bongarten@orange.k12.nc.us
Goals of this Session • To have working definitions of cluster grouping and co-teaching. • To have an understanding of how cluster grouping and co-teaching benefits AIG students and their teachers
Barriers to Differentiated Curriculum and Instruction for AIG Students in the Regular Classroom • Very few AIG students • Too many levels of ability/achievement • Focus on supporting struggling students • Lack of teacher expertise and resources for working with AIG students • Equity and/or fairness issues
Cluster Grouping • A group of AIG students are placed in a classroom, ideally with a teacher who has had training in gifted education • Full time clustering • Subject specific clustering • Cluster grouping vs. tracking
Benefits of Cluster Grouping • Intellectual peer group • Responsive teachers • Flexible groups • Reduction of stigmatization
Co-Teaching • Co-teaching is… • Two teachers working together to plan and deliver appropriate curriculum and instruction for all students in the room • Co-teaching is not… • One teacher teaching while the other enforces discipline, makes copies, completes paperwork, etc.
Team Teaching • Two teachers deliver a lesson simultaneously, building off one another
Station Teaching • Each teacher leads a station, and students rotate to appropriately challenging activities
Benefits of Co-Teaching • Classroom Teacher Benefits • Support with planning and differentiated instructional strategies • Smaller student load and another professional in the room • AIG Specialist Benefits • Easier to enrich and extend curriculum and connect activities to what is being taught in the classroom • Nurture students who are not AIG identified • Student Benefits • Cohesive, rigorous curriculum and instruction • Responds to specific student needs • Reduction of stigmatization
It Takes Two: Cluster Grouping and Co-Teaching • Effective cluster grouping paves the way for effective co-teaching. • Reduces the number of classroom teachers with whom the AIG must coordinate • Allows AIG specialists to work directly with students on a consistent basis
Questions and Contact Info Sarah Bongarten sarah.bongarten@orange.k12.nc.us 919-245-4007 ext 12706 1914 New Hope Church Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514