Two teachers from the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva school district were chosen to give a presentation at the national Council for Exceptional Children, the world’s largest convention on gifted and special education.

Mary Conway and Stacy Stork have been team teaching for the last five years. Conway teaches third grade; Stork is a special education teacher.

Team teaching gives an opportunity, according to Stork, for students of all needs to be taught in the same room.

&uot;With me co-teaching with her, we are able to put special-education students back in a normal educational setting,&uot; Stork said. &uot;We are better able to meet students’ needs. Special needs students also are able to have success and be with their peers in a general education setting.&uot;

Last year, Stork finished her master’s degree in learning disabilities at Minnesota State University at Mankato. After that, her advisor at the university submitted a proposal for she and Conway to speak at the Seattle convention.

The two gave their presentation last week. It was titled &uot;Implementing Co-Teaching: A Handbook For Teachers.&uot;

Stork said the presentation was based on her experiences with co-teaching as well as on the extensive research she has done on the subject.

Co-teaching is not prevalent in most schools because the amount of staff required to do it doesn’t fit within normal school budgets, Stork said. Few schools have the resources and freedom for two teachers to both teach one course at a time, and that is a large reason for it not being widely used.

She also said that teachers are not always ready and willing to do team teaching. Usually, in situations with special needs aides, the main teacher will lead the class and construct the curriculum.

Stork maintains that with team teaching, all children benefit.

&uot;A lot of at-risk students who might not qualify for special needs get more options in the way the learn,&uot; she said. &uot;Things are explained in a few different ways to benefit all the students. It also gives gifted students more of a chance to work individually with teachers.&uot;

She also surveyed students in the classrooms which have had team teaching and found that students enjoy the lessons more.

Stork co-teaches five days a week with Conway in both reading and math sections. Stork has also done team teaching in both kindergarten and fifth-grade classrooms.

&uot;It would be fun to go into all classrooms and team teach,&uot; Stork said. &uot;Unfortunately that can’t always be done. Hopefully people can start small and build on it. It is a wonderful delivery system.&uot;