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Bestseller!

Collaborative Teaching in Elementary Schools

Making the Co-Teaching Marriage Work!

By: Wendy W. Murawski

Using marriage as a metaphor, this lighthearted, highly practical, and teacher-friendly resource helps general education teachers and special service providers successfully set up, conduct, and maintain co-teaching partnerships.

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Product Details

Grade Level: K-5
ISBN: 9781412968096
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2009
Page Count: 296
Publication date: December 07, 2009

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Description

"A comprehensive resource for co-teaching teams and their administrators! It is full of ready-to-use, teacher-friendly forms, checklists, and charts. The co-teaching lesson plan forms are phenomenal! The number of practical ideas included is astounding."
—Michele S. Dalton, School Psychologist
Poudre School District, Ft. Collins, CO

"While the analogy of a marriage is cute, it also works as a metaphor for co-teaching at all levels. The process of getting to know each other, deciding to co-teach, making it work, and possibly having to end the co-teaching relationship all become easier to understand using the metaphors of dating, engagement, and counseling."
—Claire E. Hughes, Associate Professor of Special Education
College of Coastal Georgia

Say "I do!" to greater learning success for students at all levels!

Using the metaphor of marriage, this lighthearted, highly practical, and teacher-friendly resource from the author of Collaborative Teaching in Secondary Schools provides readers with the tools to successfully set up, conduct, and successfully maintain co-teaching partnerships in any learning environment.

Based on the author's extensive experience, this book blends solid educational research and literature with lighthearted humor to help readers nurture co-teaching partnerships through the stages of co-planning, co-instructing, and co-assessing. Divided into four relationship stages, each section offers:

Case studies and scenarios of co-teachers in action
Field-tested instructional and behavioral strategies with authentic examples
Self-assessments to determine teachers' readiness to proceed to the next step in the co-teaching relationship
Information on the role of the administrator and how to communicate with parents
Numerous reproducibles, helpful Web sites, and a list of teacher resources

Collaborative Teaching in Elementary Schools is an easy-to-access, one-stop guide for schools getting started with co-teaching or looking to refine their existing programs.

Key features

This highly practical and teacher-friendly resource offers a variety of special materials that include:

Field-tested strategies with appropriate examples
Case studies/scenarios of co-teachers in action
Tables indicating how co-teachers can work together
Pictures of teachers actively co-teaching to help demonstrate key points, plus pictures of products and strategies suggested for differentiation
Reproducibles—extensive handouts and forms—as well as examples of letters and samples of differentiated work
A list of helpful Web sites and resources
A reference list for locating inexpensive teacher resources in stores and on the Internet (like Teach Timer, Wikki Stix, and more)
A glossary of essential terms
An annotated bibliography with references of current literature on co-teaching for extended study of primary sources

Author(s)

Wendy W. Murawski

Wendy W. Murawski, Ph.D., MBA, MEd, EdS, is the Executive Director and Eisner Endowed Chair for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she is also a Full Professor in the Department of Special Education and the Director of SIMPACT Immersive Learning. Dr. Murawski is the national Past President of the Teacher Education Division (TED) of CEC and an internationally known speaker and author, presenting in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Her research focuses on co-teaching and inclusive practices nationally and internationally. She has published extensively around inclusive education, co-teaching, collaboration, and Universal Design for Learning, to include 18 books and numerous chapters, blogs, and peer-reviewed articles. She is the CEO of 2Teach^Ò Global (www.2TeachLLC.com), an educational consulting company dedicated to promoting inclusive education around the world. In her personal life, Wendy enjoys traveling with her husband, learning languages, reading, drinking merlot, seeing movies, going to Book Club, visiting her college-bound son Kiernan, and pretending she is going to work out.

Table of Contents

About the Author

Introduction: Why This Book?

Part I. The Dating Scene

1. Understanding What It Means to Be in a Relationship

Defining the Terms

Changing the Mids of the Commitment-Phobic

2. Dating, Living Together, and Marriage

Recognizing the Continuum of Options

Going in With Eyes Wide Open

Do's and Don'ts of Co-Teaching

3. General Educators Are From Jupiter, Special Educators Are From Saturn

Recognizing Different Frames of Reference

The Second Time Around: Getting Over Bad Experiences

Self-Assessment 1: Are We Ready to Date?

4. Matchmaker, Matchmaker: The Role of the Administrator

To Marry Them or Not to Marry Them: Determining Whether to Use Co-Teaching

Part II. The Engagement

5. Getting to Know Your Partner

Drinking Out of the Carton (and Other Pet Peeves)

Ensuring Parity

Who'll Do the Laundry? Setting Roles and Responsibilities

6. Registering for the Wedding

Identifying Our Needs

Communicating With Stakeholders

7. Discussing the Future

Establishing Schoolwide Improvement Goals

Establishing Individual Team Improvement Goals

Self-Assessment 2: Are We Ready to Get Engaged?

8. Matchmaker, Matchmaker: The Role of the Administrator

Avoiding Arranged Marriages: The Search for Soul Mates

Part III. The Wedding

9. For Better or Worse: Establishing Norms for Behavior and Academics

Physical Issues

Classroom Management Issues

Instructional and Assessment Issues

10. For Richer or Poorer: Sharing Space and Materials

Sharing Space

Sharing Materials

11. Planning Quality Time Together: Why, When, and How to Plan

Why Should We Co-Plan?

When Shuold We Co-Plan?

How Should We Co-Plan?

Self-Assessment 3: Are We Ready to Marry?

12. Matchmaker, Matchmaker: The Role of the Administrator

Avoiding Polygamy: Too Many Is SImply Too Many (When Scheduling)

Part IV. The Marriage

13. Working Together to Wrangle the Li'l Rascals

Five Practical Approaches for Co-Instruction

Approach 1: One Teach, One Support

Approach 2: Parallel Teaching

Approach 3: Station Teaching

Approach 4: Alternative Teaching

Approach 5: Team Teaching

14. Teaching the Seven Dwarves

Understanding Differentiation

Practical Strategies for Differentiation

15. Are We Successful Yet?

Co-Assessing Us and Them

16. Playing Nicely With the Other Parents

Co-Teaching's Role With Other School-Improvement Initiatives

Reading First

Cooperative Learning

Twenty-First-Century Technology

Universal Design for Learning

Response to Intervention

Self-Assessment 4: Will We Be Able to Celebrate Our Anniversary?

17. Matchmaker, Matchmaker: The Role of the Administrator

Is It Time for a Divorce?

Building an Effective Program: Making More Matches

Appendix: Keeping the Honeymoon Going

References

Index

Reviews

"Based on both up-to-date research and a wealth of practical experience, Murawski's easy-to-use text is a tremendous contribution to the field, as more and more elementary school teachers are entering into a collaborative partnership that demands careful and playful approaches. This text is for anyone who is thinking about being in, or who is already in, the challenging yet potentially rewarding co-teaching relationship. Murawski's keen insights about the day-to-day realities of teachers working together in classrooms are invaluable."

Mimi Rosenberg, Graduate Faculty
Bank Street College of Education

"A comprehensive resource for co-teaching teams and their administrators! It is full of ready-to-use, teacher-friendly forms, checklists, and charts. The co-teaching lesson plan forms are phenomenal! The EZ Reference pages provide detailed information in an organized and meaningful way. The number of practical ideas included is astounding."

Michele S. Dalton, School Psychologist
Poudre School District, Ft. Collins, CO

"I particularly love the analogy of a marriage and relationship that is woven throughout the book. While it is cute, it also works as a metaphor for co-teaching at all levels. The possibly unfamiliar process of getting to know each other, deciding to co-teach, making it work, and possibly having to end the co-teaching relationship all become easier to understand using the metaphors of dating, engagement, and counseling."

Claire E. Hughes, Associate Professor of Special Education
College of Coastal Georgia

Other Titles in: Inclusive Education | Teaching Methods & Learning Styles

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Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.