Interview with Katie Wright and Mandy Seeberger

Co-Teachers in Classrooms Getting Coffee (Season 2 Episode 9) Imagine being able to play back your class and reflect on your successes and areas for improvement— well, Katie and Mandy are doing just that, and it’s revolutionizing the way they teach. In their third year of co-teaching together, Katie Wright and Mandy Seeberger from Giles High School wouldn’t want to teach Algebra 1 any other way. This dynamic team is in their first year of participating in the Excellence in Co-Teaching Initiative as representatives of Region 7 in Virginia. In this episode, Katie and Mandy share their insights on the vital role administrative support plays in co-teaching. They discuss the supports they received as new co-teachers, the challenge of co-planning for specially designed instruction (SDI) effectively, the incidental benefit to students without IEPs or 504 plans, and ways to encourage students to reflect on their learning, among other topics. By the end of this episode, we challenge you to think about one way you can improve collaboration and reflection in your own school—whether you're in the classroom or behind the scenes.Here are the links to some of the items Katie and Mandy referenced in this conversation:Mobile desksRoom dividersIn our next episode (coming in late February), we will revisit Anne Beninghof’s book,Specially Designed Instruction:  Increasing Success for Students with Disabilities with a particular focus on planning for SDI by identifying specific IEP goals to target and considering student access to the curriculum by encouraging executive functioning skills. Follow this podcast so you won’t miss future discussions with distinguished co-teachers twice each month during the school year.Please visit ourwebsite for links to additional resources related to co-teaching.Subscribe to Co-Teachers in Classrooms Getting Coffee for bimonthly interviews with co-teachers brought to you by the Training and Technical Assistance Center at Virginia Tech. For a copy of today’s transcript, go to ________ .