In my post on developing a strong co-teaching relationship, I wrote about doing a co-teacher “pre-interview” as an activity to get to know your new “roommate”. Understanding your co-teacher and openly identifying each other’s strengths and weaknesses is imperative in building a strong partnership. My current co-teacher and I sat down when we first met and completed an interview together over dinner and drinks. Below is an example of a set of questions that you can use with your partner when you first meet – you can even complete an interview after knowing each other for years…it’s still fun!

Directions: Sit down with your co-teacher, preferably in a relaxing environment (perhaps with an adult beverage?). Answer the questions in writing yourself (as honestly as you can), as your partner answers the questions. Then, share them aloud- no particular order is necessary. It’s guaranteed to be a fun and informative conversation! Don’t be scared to let the conversation go in different directions based on answers to questions.

GENERAL: 

1. How long have you taught for? What roles have you had?
2. What made you want to become a teacher?
3. What are your strengths as a teacher?
4. Areas of growth?

HABITS AND PREFERENCES

1.  Are you a morning person or a night owl?
2. Do you prefer to stay at work until your tasks are done, or do you like to work at home?
3. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10: How organized are you?
4. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10: How comfortable are you with sharing your space with others?
5. What is your system for maintaining student work and records?

PERSONALITY

1. When you’re really stressed out, what is your “go-to”?
2. Would you call yourself a Type A or a Type B person? Explain.
3. Describe your typical evening.
4. Describe your typical weekend.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT

1. Do you have a preferred whole-group behavior management system?
2. Imagine that a child (without special needs) is misbehaving during a whole-group lesson. She calls out repeatedly, despite attempts at correction. What consequence would you give her? Why?

SPECIAL EDUCATION

1. How comfortable are you with working with children with special needs? What experiences have you had that inform your comfort level?
2. Imagine that you have a child with autism who self-talks and is on a plan to reduce the behavior. Another student in the classroom makes a not-so-nice joke about the student. How do you address it?
3. Imagine that you have a child on a behavior intervention plan. The short summary: the child receives social skills instruction daily, and is on a reinforcement system to decrease the behavior of walking out of the classroom. The child earns 5 minutes of time on his tablet for every 30 minutes he stays in the room. A regular education student who sometimes struggles with following directions asks if he can be on the same plan. What do you say?