The topics can be narrower: for example, our literature teacher Matthew McConnell held a co-teaching class with our math teacher Roman Tsvetnikov on Flatland, a dystopian novella by Edwin Abbott Abbott which describes a world of two-dimensional characters - figures, lines, and dots - who at some point discover the existence of three dimensions.
Originally, we came up with the idea of co-teaching and implemented it back in December 2019, during our in-person sessions. Le Sallay Academy does not have any grades, and children are separated into groups based on their level of proficiency in each subject, so during co-teaching classes, they find themselves in the company of new people. Such classes are very interesting and easy to hold when everyone gets together, and neither kids nor teachers have to be a hostage to the time zones which is what happens sometimes when planning an online education schedule (our students and staff reside everywhere from Novosibirsk to California, which are a long way apart!).
The next time we held our co-teaching week during another in-person session in March 2020. Alas, we never got a chance to get together again since then: we had to cancel our June and September in-person sessions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, while in December, we had two separate in-person sessions, with one held in the U.S. for those living in America, and the other in Russia for people living in the Eastern hemisphere.
That is why we finally found the resolve to hold several online co-teaching classes, first in June, and for another time in November, during the new academic year.
Each student had two to four co-teaching classes, and afterwards, they were expected to prepare a project, like writing an essay, constructing a model, drawing a poster, etc. It is a good way to introduce some variety to online education (which becomes essential when in-person sessions get canceled), and besides, it gives kids an opportunity to collaborate in groups they are not accustomed to, get to know other students, and discuss some topics beyond the scope of regular school education and even their curriculum at the Academy with their teachers.
Holding such classes — not to mention whole weeks of such classes — is certainly not a simple task in terms of administrative complexity. However, our successful record proves anything is possible. And the inspiring thing is this practice is extremely beneficial not just for kids, but for teachers too. We will of course hold co-teaching weeks at the Academy again.
What’s more, we are hoping our experience will prove useful for other schools, both those who have always been involved in online education, and those who are forced to implement distance learning now.