According to Ripley, S. (1998), traditionally, special education teachers worked with students in a self-contained environment as well as the general education teachers worked in a room alone. However, overtime, learning disabled students more and more are being included in regular education classes. Therefore, the need for collaboration between the regular education teacher and the special education teacher continues to grow. Today, many schools are setting up cooperative teaching programs that team a special education teacher with a team of regular education teachers in order to reach all students and have them all benefit from the same lesson plans. The special added exception is that the learning-disabled students have the extra benefit of having someone who specializes in …show more content…
(1998) states that it is important that both teachers use their training, skills, and perspectives in an equal way to create a balanced program that is effective. I believe the detailed core subject knowledge of the regular education teacher along with the requirements that the school district sets are very important factors that the regular education teacher can help assist the special education teacher with developing a plan for working with the students that need extra help. I believe that because most individuals may not be that adept in math, the core knowledge that the regular education math teacher has will be very beneficial when it comes to helping to augment lessons for individuals that need extra help without losing content meaning. It is so important for the two teachers to co-teach and work together as equals because if a good working relationship is not developed, then the special education teacher will simply be in the regular classroom working as a teacher assistant, which would not make for a productive teaching relationship. The immediate effect of an unproductive co-teaching relationship will be greatly noticed in the way the students fail to make