Peer coaching in a co-teaching mentoring model

Modeling a co-teaching relationship in a teacher education master's level STEM program and engaging in co-mentoring/peer coaching, two faculty members (general and special education) co-taught two semester courses to a cohort of teacher candidates in a one-year, field-intensive teacher preparation program. Pre-, post-, and delayed-post surveys tracked the development of candidates' understandings of co-teaching and the developmental relationships central to co-teaching. Candidates were required to co-teach two lessons with their cooperating teachers using a co-teaching model (one teach, one assist was not an option) and reflect on the experience. Finally, candidates completed weekly online reflections based on observations of co-teaching in the university classroom and co-teaching experiences in their seventh- through twelfth-grade classrooms. Using co-mentoring/peer coaching and collaboration lenses for analysis, perceptions of co-teaching reveal challenges and progress made in navigating and establishing developmental relationships within dyads in the areas of co-planning, co-assessing, classroom management, contrasting teaching styles, and expectations.