Collaboration with G.Ed.teachers and co-teaching issues

I am dealing with scheduling issues in my school and I the only inclusion teacher in an elementary school. I have to go and co-teach with different grade level teachers. I feel sometimes due to lack of planning, I am not able to do justice with my students. Gen. ed. and SPED teachers should collaborate and plan modified activities and data driven interventions for Children with disabilities. I struggling because I do not a common planning time with all my general education teachers. Some are not effective because I don't know what Gen. Ed. teacher has a plan for today. please help if someone dealing with the same kind of situation and have some ideas to collaborate with other teachers. Your cooperation is appreciated to resolve this critical issue in my school.

It seems like many teachers are facing these issues. I know we are at my school. My situation is a little different as I am a music teacher and considered to be ancillary staff. I basically provide teachers with their preparation time so it seems impossible to meet with them to collaborate. I've been focusing on this issue in a course I am taking and some suggestions to collaborate would be to e-mail teachers, use Google Docs to share plans or assessments, or work with your administration to see if it is possible to set aside some time for general educators and special education educators to meet during professional development days. There really does seem to only be a few ways to address this issue which is a huge concern.

We are experiencing similar difficulties. It is difficult to experience successful inclusion services when the roles are not clearly defined as to what each educator is to do. There are times when one of the educators is more of an assistant than a teacher. Often times one of the teachers takes on the lead role and does all of the work while the other stays in the background. Making inclusion successful is our goal.

We have the same issue at my school. However, our issue is not a lack of time. Our teachers just don't work together. One idea I thought of was asking your prinicpal if you can meet with each of the grade level once a month for the purpose of planning. Maybe even getting together after school to plan. Collaboration is always a difficult thing especially when all parties involved are not willing. Keep working at it, it will get better.

Bryan, That is exactly what I did, and so far there is no positive response. She fixed the problem temporarily, but there is no permanent solution.However, she promised me for the better working conditions for the next school year. Let's cross fingers and I will keep pushing for the best of my students.