Five Ways To Get Started With Coteach

Coteach was built by listening to teachers. Every feature, design decision, and output suggestion rests on feedback from real in-the-thick-of-it IM teachers. In fact, if you’re reading this then there’s a good chance you participated in an interview with us!

In each of these sessions, teachers told us how they customized and extended the curriculum content for the needs of their students, and what they wished Coteach could do. Inspired by this feedback, here are some ways to get started with Coteach.

1. Additional Practice

Practice, when paired with a strong inquiry-based curriculum like IM, reinforces procedural fluency and conceptual understanding. Sometimes our students just need a few more swings at the bat. For these cases, try:

“Create a set of 10 practice problems that review the lesson content.”

“Create 5 questions like Activity 2. Make them increasingly challenging.” 

2. Add Scaffolds

Sometimes students might need support accessing the lesson content. In these cases, Coteach can help create these ‘just-in-time’ supports. As the expert in the room, you should always think about when these supports can (and should!) be removed.

"Some students made the following misconception on yesterday's cool down... How could I address this in the lesson?" 

"What are the foundational skills for this lesson? How could I review them in the Warmup?" 

"Can you add a scaffold to the student workbook that supports the division skills needed?" 

3. Adjust Pacing

It’s a fact. Sometimes we just don’t have time to cover all of the material in the curriculum. Coteach can help you identify the most critical activities and suggest ways to adjust pacing while still hitting the key learning targets.

"How could I shorten this lesson to fit in a 40 minute period?" 

"Combine lessons 2 and 3 while ensuring that students still work towards the learning targets in both lessons."

4. Assessment Preparation

Want your students to review and practice ahead of an assessment? Coteach can help!

"Create a review document that students can use as they prepare for the upcoming end-of-unit assessment. This should contain the key concepts, key vocabulary and a set of practice questions."

5. Unpack a Lesson

Not sure how the activities relate to the learning goal? Curious why IM sequenced the activities how they did? With it’s expertise in IM, Coteach can act as an expert coach, helping you build your knowledge of the content.

"Help me understand the purpose of each activity and how they connect to the cool down."

"What misconceptions might students encounter during the activities?"

"What questions could I ask to deepen student thinking and promote discourse?" 

Remember — you're the expert in your classroom, and while Coteach is a powerful tool, it's designed to amplify your expertise, not replace it. If a response isn't quite meeting your needs, don't hesitate to refine your prompt or ask follow-up questions. The most valuable interactions often emerge through this collaborative back-and-forth, just as they would with a trusted colleague.

We're continuously improving Coteach based on how teachers like you use it. Have you discovered an effective way to use Coteach that's not mentioned here? If so, please let us know!

Ready to get started? Head to Coteach now!