The Crayon Year- Colleen and Me

    There have been only three years in my career that I have worked with a co-teacher.  Those were three of the most difficult years for me.  I was extremely nervous to share my classroom- and students with someone else.  I was afraid that if I had to "share" my students with another teacher, that I wouldn't be able to establish the same bond with them that I had in the past.  I was also pretty set in my ways in terms of my classroom management routine and my teaching approach.  I liked to be in total control in my classroom.  How was I ever going to relinquish power to another teacher?
     Fortunately for me, my first co-teacher, Colleen, was willing and able to allow me to do "my thing" while at the same time managing to fully incorporate herself into our classroom community.  Colleen taught me so much that first year, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work so closely with another educator.  She opened my eyes up to some of the many needs of our children with learning disabilities that I may have overlooked without her.  I learned to be an advocate for these children and to fight for their rights within a school setting.  She taught me how to differentiate instruction in a meaningful way for all of the students, and it was just great to have a co-teacher to share the many responsibilities and many laughs we had throughout each day.  That year, I learned that I could step back and allow the students to experience curriculum through someone else's eyes.  I wasn't losing control of my classroom, I was gaining insight and a new perspective, and so were our students.  It was a wonderful experience for me and I truly evolved as a teacher during those years.
     Over the past ten years, Colleen and I have become good friends, and we both have a mutual respect for each other both personally and professionally.  I am grateful that she had the patience to put up with me and to allow me the time and space to acclimate to this new and challenging experience.  I'm sure it wasn't easy for her to come into my classroom as a co-teacher and feel like it was just as much hers as it was mine.  Looking back on it now, Colleen was a saint, and she even let me decorate our classroom door by myself.  It was a gift to work with her.  xoxox