Co-Teaching Guide
A Team of 2
Experience the studio with them
Build a shared vocabulary
Before the Session Starts (meet 10mins before)
Talk about outcomes
Divide roles, but alter each session
Plan Signals
Materials Corner
Stations
Technical
Design
During each Session
Set Context
A: Prompt
B: Example
Support groups
10%
90%
A: Design
A: Technical
B: Design
B: Technical
After Each Session
Debrief
What worked well in balance?
Where did students need more support?
How to shift roles for next time?
Were there safety issues or bottlenecks?
Which students/groups needed more scaffolding?
Co-teaching broken down by each design phase
Co-teaching broken down by each design phase
Co-teaching broken down by each design phase
Research & Discovery Phase Circulate separately:
One checks on how students are capturing research, the other asks probing “why” and “what if” questions. Re-group students mid-way: one teacher facilitates a share-out, the other maps student findings on the board (themes, gaps, opportunities).
Co-teaching broken down by each design phase
During brainstorming, one teacher energizes the session with warm-ups and prompts while the other documents or pushes ideas further, then they switch roles midway, with one challenging groups to think more divergently (“Give me three more ideas in 5 minutes”) and the other helping them converge (“Circle the idea you’re most excited about—why that one?”).
Students learn not just from projects, but from watching how adults work together. Model professional collaboration:
Let students see you brainstorm ideas with each other, debate options, and compromise.
Avoid “side conversations” in front of students that make you look unaligned.
Co-teaching broken down by each design phase
If one teacher is helping a group detail their model, the other checks on a different group’s workflow.
Documentation: Celebrate the process, not just finished outcomes — one teacher can remind groups to document, while the other takes photos/videos.
Advanced Prototyping: Treat mistakes and failed demos as part of the process.
Shows students that failure = opportunity, not disaster.
Co-teaching broken down by each design phase
Both provide critique, but with complementary focuses (e.g., one pushes on clarity of concept, the other on depth of iteration).
During review sessions, feedback is welcomed from outside, you can invite teachers and heads to join and give directions and ideas to your students.
Students must:
- Respect someone else’s opinion and cultural differences.
- Promote collaboration through constructive feedback.
- Politely point out when people are out of bounds. Defer to the person who feels disrespected. It is up to all of us to make sure this is a congenial environment. Welcome everyone's voice.
- Encourage students to develop, discover and gain new skills!
- Create a fun environment through ice breakers, light conversation (ex: Call coaches by their name and not Sir).
- Respect the studio schedule( giving breaks & allowing students to be interactive.)
On-site learning practices
You are an
• Expert: sharing knowledge, past experience, tools, and methodology.
• Coach: devising individualized approaches to guide, challenge, and support each of your students.
• Motivational Speaker: sparking and re-sparking enthusiasm in the group when things get tough.
• Problem Solver: figuring out how to work around unexpected constraints and goals without missing a beat.
• Cattle Prodder: occasionally nudging students to get back on track or dig deeper into their work.
• Mediator: facilitating conflict resolution between individuals.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS
Management
- Start classes with a fun game (scribble or guessing games)
- Ask them about any news, have them talk to each other
- “About Me” activity - create strong icebreaker activity (insight for both students and coaches)
- Telephone/exquisite corpse - big group collaborates on single activity (indirect collab)
- Create small groups, and have the coaches pass by each room for feedback
- Interact and ask questions during lecture presentations
- By the end of class, allocate five minutes for scanning, saving or photographing their works & have them post their progress on the platform(Make sure scanning app is downloaded and tested *before* studio)
- At the end of the day, make sure everything is back to place.
- Giving an opportunity for “office hours” helped a lot, with students signing up for help.
Room Organization
- Safety Rule Posters
- Video tool demos for common issues with laser, 3dp, etc….
- Allocate a spot to display cool precedents/ physical toolbox mechanism
- Label Materials ,tools, and storage
- Set a schedule for the studios and the needed materials for each
- Make sure all tools and machines are ready for use
- Naming each room by a fun name.
- Store lots of recycled materials/odds and ends for students to use in initial prototyping ( Specially for students who are new to Fabrication).