ZACH ROHRBACH ’12 WAS SETTING UP an experiment with science teacher Brian White at Indian-apolis’s Lawrence North High School last fall when one end of a gas burner suddenly flared up.
Rohrbach’s first instinct was to blow out the flame—not the best idea. But together the men found a better way to extinguish the fire. They reset the experiment and continued on.
“It’s not a real experiment if you don’t singe a little arm hair,” White joked.
Rohrbach smiled nervously.
But the teachers’ solution to that potential problem is not a bad metaphor for co-teaching—the new model for student teaching launched last fall by the College’s Department of Education Studies.
Co-teaching is itself a creative response to a problem.
“With increased demands on teacher accountability and student performance these days, teachers were increasingly reluctant to host a student teacher,” says Teacher Education Program Coordinator Marc Welch ’99. If a student teacher didn’t teach the material effectively “flying solo” and students did poorly on standardized tests, the host teacher would take the blame.
“Higher education’s remedy for this concern is a co-teaching model,” says Welch.
In co-teaching, the host teacher and the Wabash student plan, instruct, and assess together.
“This new model essentially places two educators in the classroom, so high schools are once again welcoming student teachers,” Welch says.
Lawrence North Principal Brett Crousore ’95 thinks the new approach offers the best of both worlds.
“Zach is paired with a master teacher; Brian is one of the best, who cares about his students 24/7,” Crousore says. “And Zach’s phenomenal. It’s a gift to us: I have two phenomenal teachers in the classroom working with our kids, and one of them is free!”
As he’s progressed, Rohrbach has enjoyed solo teaching the class. But his enthusiasm for co-teaching says much for the new program. Offered a paid teaching position at another school while he was at Lawrence North, Rohrbach stuck with his co-teachers, White and fellow science teacher Aaron Logan.
“I was really enjoying my work and didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to learn what I could from Aaron and Brian,” Rohrbach says. “I also had really connected with my students and did not want to cut that short. (It was hard enough leaving at the end of the semester.) In retrospect, I am sure I made the right decision.”
His co-teaching completed, Rohrbach is now teaching chemistry and physics at Noblesville High School. He still calls his former co-teachers for advice and “to bounce off ideas.”
“Aaron, Brian, and I had the sort of collaborative working relationship that I think many teachers hope for, and that has persisted, even though I no longer teach in the same district with them.
“I’ve been having so much fun this year that I don’t think I see myself doing anything else for a career. As Brian says, teaching is one of the best jobs you can have because you basically get paid to play all day. If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.”