From Parallel Play to True Collaboration: What Co-Teaching Can Learn from the Playground

One of my favorite updates to the UDL 3.0 Guidelines is Checkpoint 7.3, Nurture Joy and Play. When I first read it, I was instantly brought back to my preschool memories at the San Francisco School, which, now that I think about it, was my very first co-taught classroom.

I didn’t know it at the time, of course, but looking back, two teachers, Ms. Susie and her teaching partner, Mr. Fran, worked seamlessly to create a classroom that was rich in possibilities. I can still remember the playground, which felt oh so vast when I was only four, but in retrospect, was much smaller than it seemed. I remember two swings where I felt free, soaring into the air, often singing at the top of my lungs. There was this gorgeous tree that we would climb, launching us into imaginative adventures, and a sandbox surrounded by honeysuckle plants. Even now, the sight or smell of honeysuckle instantly transports me back to those joyful moments of learning through play. And wow, Ms. Susie was truly magical and an inspiration not only in my life, but also the reason I became a teacher.

Reflecting on those early childhood education days, I now realize I wasn’t just having fun, I was learning. I was building the foundations of what it means to be a learner: wondering, taking risks, making choices, and feeling safe enough to explore. Years later, during my Montessori training, I studied the stages of play and their importance in a child’s development. And it all clicked. How we play, how we learn, and how we connect to others are deeply intertwined. And for me, I am fortunate that it all began in a co-taught classroom designed with joy, agency, and belonging at its center.

As UDL educators, we strive for the same joyous spirit of exploration and engagement for our students while also ensuring that we offer strong Tier 1 instruction for all students. With the goal of inclusive and equitable education, we must stretch our teaching and learning practices to not only incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) but also create opportunities for co-teaching experiences. This allows us to truly see all learners together in the same space, where we honor learner variability, nurture learner agency, and strengthen and increase access and support for the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) for students with disabilities. It helps us proactively design for differences from the start, remove barriers, and create learning spaces and places where every student feels like they belong.

Understanding Co-Teaching

Co-teaching is a collaborative teaching approach in which two educators share responsibility for planning, instructing, and assessing a group of students within the same classroom. Rather than separating students who require specially designed instruction (SDI), co-teaching brings together general and special educators to support all learners in a shared environment. This model isn’t just about being in the room together; it’s about intentional design, shared ownership, and dynamic partnerships that center equity, access, and learner agency. With the right structures and mindset, co-teaching becomes a way to deliver inclusive, high-leverage Tier 1 instruction, while also embedding targeted supports for students who need them most. It's a flexible, evolving practice grounded in the belief that all students deserve to learn together.

And here’s where the joy comes full circle. As I spent more time with Checkpoint 7.3 and revisited the stages of play, I realized the connection wasn’t just theoretical, it was deeply personal and professional. My early experience in a joyful, co-taught classroom had already laid the foundation. What became clear is this: co-teaching, like play, unfolds developmentally. Just as children move through different types of play, each stage building their capacity to collaborate, take initiative, and solve problems, educators move through stages of co-teaching.

At first, collaboration might look like One Teach, One Observe, or One Teach, One Assist, models that are quieter, more observational, and foundational. Over time, with trust, shared planning, and intentional design, partnerships can evolve into full Team Teaching, where both teachers co-construct the teaching and learning in real-time. Each co-teaching model aligns with a stage of play, offering a developmental arc that’s not fixed but flexible. 

And just like play, the process is not linear. Children shift between stages depending on the context and needs, and the same is true in co-teaching. A team might alternate between Parallel Teaching and Alternative Teaching throughout a single week, based on the lesson's firm goals and the students in front of them. This progression is dynamic, proactive, and deeply tied to the goals of inclusive, equitable  education.

Co-teaching isn’t about perfection, it’s about progress, reflection, and building something better, together.

Understanding co-teaching through the lens of the stages of play offers more than a metaphor; it’s a mindset. It reminds us that collaboration, like teaching and learning, takes time, practice, vulnerability, and joy. It also underscores the importance of intentionally designing learning environments with UDL principles, where teacher collaboration isn’t just logistical, it’s transformational. Co-teaching isn’t about perfection, it’s about progress, reflection, and building something better, together.

Co-Teaching Models in Action

Ready for some fun? Check out how the stages of play can mirror the 6 co-teaching models, with a classroom example for each:

One Teach, One Observe → Unoccupied Play

Stage of Play: The child watches quietly, taking everything in.
Co-Teaching Model: One teacher leads while the other observes, noticing patterns, strengths, and barriers.
Example: In a first-grade ELA lesson on The Day You Begin, the observing teacher notices which students light up when they hear words that reflect their culture. That insight leads to small-group choices the next day, like writing a family story, drawing a family portrait, or sharing a video reflection.

One Teach, One Assist → Onlooker Play

Stage of Play: The child is watching and learning but not yet fully joining in.
Co-Teaching Model: One teacher leads, the other quietly supports with prompts, visuals, or encouragement.
Example: In a seventh-grade math class on proportions, the assisting teacher moves around offering sentence frames and real-life examples like recipes or sports stats to help students connect with the lesson.

Station Teaching → Side-by-Side Play

Stage of Play: In side-by-side or adjacent play, children begin engaging in similar activities next to each other with increased awareness of peers and tools.
Co-Teaching Model: In Station Teaching, the class is divided into groups that rotate between stations, each led by a teacher or designed for independent learning. This model offers structured variety and multiple entry points to content.
Example: In a fourth-grade science class learning about plant life cycles, one teacher leads a lab station, the other facilitates a nonfiction reading group, and students rotate through a self-directed diagramming station—giving students voice and choice in how they engage and demonstrate understanding.

Parallel Teaching → Parallel Play

Stage of Play: Children play side by side, doing similar things, but not directly interacting.
Co-Teaching Model: Both teachers lead the same content in smaller groups, offering more touchpoints and different ways to access the learning.
Example: In a third-grade social studies unit on communities, one teacher guides students as they build a community map, while the other leads a station where students role-play as community helpers.

Alternative Teaching → Associate Play

Stage of Play: Kids interact, share ideas, and materials, but each works toward their own goals.
Co-Teaching Model: One teacher leads the main group, while the other works with a small group for targeted instruction.
Example: In a ninth-grade English class on Of Mice and Men, the main group discusses the themes, while a small group uses graphic organizers and scaffolded questions to explore character development and vocabulary.

Team Teaching → Cooperative Play

Stage of Play: True collaboration, kids co-constructing, imagining, and problem-solving together.
Co-Teaching Model: Both teachers co-lead the lesson, model collaboration, and adapt instruction in real time.
Example: In a fifth-grade PBL unit on environmental stewardship, both teachers guide students through a research project, helping them design solutions and choose how to share their work, through a video PSA, an art piece, or a podcast interview.

Circling back to The San Francisco School, I can clearly see how it has shaped me into the person I am today. While the playground was memorable, it wasn’t the swings or the sandbox that were most important. It was my two teachers working side by side, creating joy, belonging, and guiding me to explore and direct my play and learning. 

Co-teaching, when grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and specially designed instruction (SDI), isn’t just an instructional practice; it’s a shared belief that every student deserves to be seen, supported, and to achieve. Co-taught classrooms celebrate learner variability, nurture agency, and joy as a driving force in the learning process. Students with disabilities can receive intentional SDI right alongside their peers in the general education setting, versus in a separate setting. This is about shifting mindsets, designing with firm goals and flexible means, and making sure every student knows they matter. That’s the power of UDL and co-teaching working together, joyful learning for all, grounded in equity, belonging, play, and agency.

The stages of play show us children need different types of play to grow, just like students need different ways to learn, express, and connect. As teachers, we need one another; we cannot do this alone or without planning time. When we co-design and co-teach with UDL as our framework and students at the center, we model compassion, curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. We hope to inspire our students, just as Ms. Susie and Mr. Fran did for me. 

So as you plan your next lesson, team meeting, or co-teaching cycle, pause and ask:

• Are we intentionally creating space for joy and student voice?
• Are we using our partnership to break down barriers and build bridges?
• Are we designing learning experiences that spark imagination, invite risk-taking, and celebrate wonder?

Because when we nurture joyful, inclusive, and equitable learning through UDL and co-teaching, we’re not just delivering instruction, we’re building the kind of schools we’d want to learn in, too.

Keep playing. Keep co-designing. Keep building bridges where general and special education teachers work together, creating joy, access, and belonging.