Running Head: STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL

EDUCATION TEACHERS

Collaboration In Inclusive Education Settings: Strategies For General Education Teachers and
Special Education Teachers
Mariah Ramos
The University of Arizona

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

Abstract
Every child deserves the best education they can get. As teachers it is very important that
you all work together to ensure you are providing that for your students. Co-teaching and
inclusion is a model in which students with and students without disabilities are in the same
classroom with two teachers providing instruction and support. However there is much
collaboration that must occur to successfully implement this model of teaching. This paper will
provide various strategies for general education, special education, and other educational staff to
use when implementing a co-teaching and inclusion model of education in their classroom.
Every student despite race, economical background, disability or not deserves the best education
we can provide and this paper will help individuals to use strategies that will be useful in
ensuring that every student receives the best education the deserve.

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

Collaboration In Inclusive Education Settings: Strategies For General Education Teachers and
Special Education Teachers
There has been much research done on the effects of inclusive education settings for both
individuals with disabilities and individuals without disabilities. Inclusive education settings
have proved to have positive effects on everyone involved but there is a great deal of
collaboration between the general education teacher and special education teacher before any
teaching occurs. If there is not effective collaboration between the teachers it will not foster a
positive learning community for all individuals involved. Without collaboration in an inclusive
educational setting students with disabilities are not set up to learn in a proper environment.
Students without disabilities are not provided with the proper tools to support learning for the
individuals with disabilities in the class. General education teachers and special education
teachers need to create positive and meaningful strategies to create the best inclusive
environment for all students. This paper will discuss the various strategies that best support
inclusion settings within a school. It will discuss the importance of the roles of the special
education teachers, preteaching, and inclusion in areas outside of the classroom. Inclusive
education settings provide many positive academic settings to occur, students who are a part of
the inclusive education system, disability or not, are provided with many positive academic and
social advancements within their education. However to ensure that all students receive positive
advancements in the inclusion setting general education teachers and special education teachers
need to create positive and supportive strategies that will support growth for all students
involved.

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

Literature Review:
Collaborative teaming is defined as a group of equal individuals who voluntarily work
together in a spirit of willingness and mutual reward to problem solve and accomplish one or
more common an mutually agreed upon goals by contributing their own knowledge and skills
and participating in shared decision making, while focusing on the efficiency of the whole team.
(Friend & Cook, 2013, p. 12). It is very important to know what collaborative teaming is before
you continue on in this paper. Collaborative teaming is very important in collaboration within
inclusion settings.
According to the article by (Thorton, McKissick, Spooner, Ya-yu, & Anderson, 2015)
they have found that the success of collaborative preteaching in the general education classroom
specific to science significantly helped individuals with disabilities. Preteaching according to the
article is defined by [an] instructional strategy that involves direct interaction between the
special education teacher and the general education teacher, providing students with [an]
advanced introduction or overview of key terms, facts, or concepts before students received
instruction on these same concepts in the general education classroom (Thorton et al., 2015).
Strategies
There are various strategies that general education teachers and special education
teachers can pull from when planning for an inclusion classroom. The first discussion that needs
to occur before students even enter the classroom for the year would be to determine the type of
classroom you will all be engaged in. According Friend et al. (2013) we see that there are six
different co-teaching approaches you may want to engage in. The first approach is One teaching,
one observing meaning that on teacher will be at the front of the classroom while the other
teacher is walking around observing students and gaining a better understanding of who may

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

need help in the classroom. The second approach is Station Teaching meaning that both teachers
will divide the instruction in half for the day. Both teachers will be responsible for planning and
providing theyre half of the instruction to the students. Students in this setting will move from
one station to another. The third approach to is Parallel Teaching meaning that the classroom is
split in half but this approach does not have the students switching to different groups. The fourth
approach is Alternative Teaching meaning the teachers may select a small group of students to be
working on a different instruction from the larger group. One teacher will be assisting in the
smaller group while the other teacher will be instructing the larger group. The fifth approach is
Teaming meaning both teachers are responsible for the lesson. They both share the instruction to
all of the students. Teaming requires the greatest level of mutual trust and commitment. The sixth
and final approach is One Teaching, One Assisting meaning that one teacher will be at the front
of the classroom teaching while the other teacher is walking around providing any academic
assistance or redirection to students who are in need. It is very important for you and your coteacher to be able to sit down and discuss what co-teaching approach would be best for your
students and design your lesson around that (Friend & Cook, 2013, p. 169).
Roles of Special Education Teachers
There are many different roles that the special education teacher must take on in a coteaching model. One think that is very important is that both teachers need to take on the same
roles and in a co-teaching model both teachers need to be on the same page about the roles in
which they will both be taking on but both teachers also need to be able to take on one anothers
roles as well. Meaning that the general education teacher needs to take on the different roles that
the special education teacher takes on and vise versa. In the article by Hamdan, A. R., Anuar, M.
K., & Khan, A. (2016) looking at Figure one we see that both teachers in the co-teaching model

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

will have the same challenges, roles, and readiness and all of that is achieved through experience.
One thing that is very important in looking at the figure is that teachers need to be able to take on
all of the same challenges, roles, and readiness. As the special education teachers it is very
important to look at your role as a teacher in teaching students with disabilities and inform your
co-teacher of ways in which they can better their instruction for the students with disabilities in
the classroom. In also looking at the article by Hamdan et al, (2016) we see that from the study
they conducted that both teachers readiness was a more successful factor in the implementation
of co-teaching rather than the teachers roles. It is very important to look at this data and
understand that there are various roles that need to be established in the co-teaching model but
having both teachers be ready to provide instruction to all of their students within the classroom
was more successful in the implementation of the co-teaching model. If both teachers are ready
to provide instruction to all of their students meaning they have adaptations, learning groups
established, and communication needs ready for instruction then the implementation of having
individuals with and without disabilities was more successful than establishing the roles of each
teacher in the classroom. In looking at the roles of each teacher it is important to know that there
are different roles and each teacher needs to be able to take on the various roles but it is more
important to ensure that all educational instruction is ready to go to ensure a successful coteaching model (Hamdan et al, (2016).
Preteaching
Preteaching is a strategy that many special education teachers use when providing
instruction for their students. A teacher may provide preteaching in may different ways for
students. They may provide a mini lesson, vocabulary that will be in the lesson, and even
describe a little bit about the lesson before it occurs. Preteaching is a very important strategy to

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

use for teaching individuals with disabilities. The reason being is that as the teacher you are
providing your students with the background knowledge they may not have to understand the
upcoming lesson. This viewing of the material before it is presented in the class really ensures
better understanding of the material for students with disabilities in the classroom. Preteaching is
a very good strategy for both general education teachers and special education teachers to
implement in the co-teaching model of a classroom. According to the article by Thorton,
McKissick, Spooner, Ya-yu, & Anderson, (2015) we see that students with disabilities were
pretaught science terminology specific to a biology lesson and they all reported that they felt
more confident in participating in the general education classroom because they had better
knowledge of the content ahead of time. In looking at the findings by Thorton et al. (2015) we
see that preteaching content to students is a very useful strategy coming from the view point of a
teacher because it ensures that students really have the background knowledge to move on in
instruction but it also provides students with disabilities the confidence to participate within the
classroom. Preteaching is a wonderful strategy for both general education teachers and special
education teachers to use in the classroom but more specifically in a co-teaching model
classroom.
Inclusion Outside the Classroom
It is very important as educators to know that in the inclusive educational setting students
will all participate in education outside of the classroom. Education comes in many different
forms and locations. Students have classes such as art, music, physical education, and much
more. It is important to know that when you have an co-taught classroom all students will
participate in other activities outside of the classroom so as educators it is very important to
ensure that there is not just collaboration between general education teachers and special

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

education teachers but there needs to be collaboration between all members in the school
including arte teachers, music teachers, physical education teachers, and many more individuals.
It is very important to ensure that all students are being included in all forms of education inside
and outside of the classroom. In looking at the article by Klein and Hollingshead (2015) we see
that a study was conducted on the collaborative efforts between special education teachers and
physical education (PE) teachers. Many of the PE teachers felt as if they did not have the
knowledge to provided PE instruction to individuals with disabilities in the inclusion setting. We
see that in the conclusion of the article it states that all teachers general, special, and specific
education instructors all need to collaborate on the best practices in delivering educational
instruction to students with and without disabilities. As teachers working in the inclusion setting
and in a co-teaching model it is very important to be aware that you collaboration efforts and
strategies for teaching need to be shared with other staff because we want to ensure that every
student receives the same education. In collaborating with other education staff you need to be
able to share your experience and knowledge about students to ensure a successful co-teaching
model all across the school day no matter what setting it may be in.
Conclusion
In looking at the co-teaching model of education for students with and without
disabilities we see many positive progress for all students. It is very important however for all
members involved to know that it takes a great deal of collaboration to successfully implement
an inclusion model in the education setting. It is very important for teachers to know various
strategies to implementing a co-teaching and inclusion model within the classroom. It is very
important for teachers to know various strategies of co-teaching, role of the special education
teacher, preteaching, and inclusion outside of the classroom. As educators it is your job to be able

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

to provide the best education you can for all of your students. In providing the best education you
can for your students it is very important to work with both the general education teacher, special
education teacher, and other educational staff to ensure all students are receiving the same
education as everyone else and that it is the best education that every student can receive. As
teachers it is your job to collaborate find useful strategies and provide the best education you can
for every student.

STRATEGIES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

TEACHERS

10

References
Donnelly, A. (2015). The Many Faces of Collaboration. School Library Monthly, 31(6), 33-34.
Friend, M., Cook, L. (2013). Foundation and Perspectives. Interactions: Collaborative Skills for
School Professionals (1-12). United States of America: Pearson.
Hamdan, A. R., Anuar, M. K., & Khan, A. (2016). Implementation of co-teaching approach in an
inclusive classroom: Overview of the challenges, readiness, and role of special education
teacher. Asia Pacific Education Review, doi: 10.1007/s12564-016-9419-8.
Klein, E., & Hollingshead, A. (2015). Collaboration Between Special and Physical Education:
The Benefits of a Healthy Lifestyle for All Students. Teaching Exceptional Children,
47(3), 163-171, doi:10.1177/0040059914558945.
Lodato Wilson, G. (2015). REVISITING Classroom Routines. Educational Leadership, 73(4),
50-55.
Stokes, T. L. (2015). Effective co-teaching in secondary classrooms: Strategies that best support
special education students with deficits in reading comprehension. Dissertation Abstracts
International Section A, 76.
Thorton, A., McKissick, B. R., Spooner, F., Ya-yu, L., & Anderson, A. L. (2015). Effects of
Collaborative Preteaching on Science of Performance of High School Students With
Specific Learning Disabilities. Education & Treatment Of Children, 38(3), 277-304.