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The Special Educator's Guide to Collaboration

Improving Relationships With Co-Teachers, Teams, and Families

Second Edition
By: Sharon F. Cramer

Second Edition of: Collaboration: A Success Strategy for Special Educators

At last, a practical game plan for productive and personally rewarding collaborative relationships!

Both general education and special education teachers will discover an invaluable set of relationship-building tools that will empower them and provide the motivation, understanding, and skills they need to transform unsatisfactory co-teaching relationships into productive, truly collaborative relationships. Special features include:

Case stories and data drawn from 1,000 collaboration projects supervised by the author
Up-to-date research, including an overview of current literature on collaboration
"Idea try-outs": step-by-step reflection activities for promoting independent, innovative thinking
"Project try-outs": structured research and interview activities for testing readers' collaboration skills

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781412914918
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2006
Page Count: 360
Publication date: April 05, 2006

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Description

"The valuable information and numerous strategies and resources make this a must have book for all teachers striving for effective collaborative relationships."
-Spencer J. Salend, Professor
SUNY, The College at New Paltz

At last, a practical game plan for productive and personally rewarding collaborative relationships!

General and special education teachers working side by side on a daily basis must move beyond basic communication to improve collaborative relationships inside and outside the classroom. Author Sharon F. Cramer delves into the art of the collaborative process through a series of practical exercises coupled with relevant research, and outlines a plan to make collaboration a life-long part of teaching. Preservice teachers, inservice teachers, and staff developers alike can use the activities in the book as is or adapt them to fit their own unique circumstances.

Whether used for personal improvement or by a group for professional development purposes, these invaluable set of relationship-building tools will empower teachers and give them the motivation, understanding, and skills to transform unsatisfactory co-teaching relationships into productive, truly collaborative relationships. Special features include:

Case stories and data from among 1,000 collaboration projects supervised by the author
Up-to-date research, including an overview of current literature on collaboration
"Idea try-outs"-step-by-step reflection activities for promoting independent, innovative thinking
"Project try-outs"-structured research and interview activities that provide readers with focused ways to test their collaboration skills

When teachers become curious, motivated learners, not only will they discover the many benefits of collaborative relationships with their peers, but they will also enrich the learning environment for their students!

Key features

Numerous step-by-step "Idea to Try Out" and "Projects to Try Out" activities that encourage action, reflection, and revision.
Numerous case-studies.
Fosters continuous professional development/long-term self-improvement.

Author(s)

Sharon F. Cramer

Sharon F. Cramer is a distinguished service professor at Buffalo State College, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1985. Her leadership roles include serving as executive director of the SABRE Project (implementation of the Oracle Student Information System) (1999-2004), chairing the Exceptional Education Department (1995-1999), and leadership roles in state and national professional organizations (e.g., president of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, NY Federation of Chapters of the Council for Exceptional Children, publication chair of the Division on Developmental Disabilities).

She earned her PhD at New York University in 1984 in human relations and social policy, her master of arts in teaching (MAT) from Harvard University in 1972, and her bachelors of arts degree from Tufts University in 1971. She participated in the Management and Leadership Education (MLE) program at Harvard University in 2001.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1. Why Can’t We Just Be Friends?

Becoming Proactive: Improving the School Climate Through Collaboration

Overview of the Collaboration Project

Principals of Collaboration

Distinguishing Between Collaboration, Consultation, and Teaming

Conclusion

2. Background: Making the Case for Collaboration

Legislative Mileposts

Collaboration: Relevant Trends and Events

Conclusion

3. Ingredients for Successful Collaboration: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Characteristics

Intrapersonal Foundation for Collaboration

Interpersonal Foundation for Collaboration

Problem Solving: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Skills

Bringing It All Together

4. Evaluating Your Situation Honestly: Appraising Your School as a Context for Collaboration

Assessing Resources Available to Collaborators

Factors Promoting Collaboration

Applications to Use in Your School Setting

Communitywide Collaboration Experiments

5. Developing an Effective Collaboration Strategy: Half Empty or Half Full?

Collaboration Component Checklists

Compatibility Checklist

Success Checklist

Conclusion

6. Designing a Plan for Change Starting With You

Guidelines for the Collaboration Project

Designing a Self-Referential Plan for Collaboration

Overview of Pragmatic Goals

Development of Pragmatic Goals and Objectives

Incorporating Expertise: Marshaling Resources

7. What Now? What Works and What Doesn’t When Collaborating

Effective Communication Strategies: Something for Everyone

Accomplishing Pragmatic Goals and Associated Evaluation Methods

Making Use of Your Collaboration Resource Network

Conclusion

8. Evaluating the Success of Your Plan: How Can You Tell?

Objective Measures of Change

Subjective Measures of Change

Conclusion

9. Self-Encouragement: Keeping Yourself Going

Self-Talk: The Cornerstone for Self-Encouragement or Self-Discouragement

Looking for the Positives: Positive Reinforcement for Yourself

Sample Projects Incorporating Reinforcement

Teaching Yourself to Look: Observing Yourself

Conclusion

10. Summing Up the Outcomes: What Have You Accomplished?

Assessing Success: How Did Your Plan Work Out?

Communication Habits

Problem-Solving Habits

Cooperative Work Efforts

Conclusion

11. Generalizing Your Plan to Others: Improved Collaboration With Parents and Family Members of Your Students

Key 1: Understanding Family Diversity

Key 2: Developing Practical Communication Habits

Key 3: Build on What You’ve Already Learned

Conclusion

12. Generalizing Your Plan to Others: Improved Collaboration With Members of Your Interdisciplinary Team

The Life Cycle of Your Interdisciplinary Team

Additional Use of Teams

Conclusion

References

Index

Reviews

"The valuable information and numerous strategies and resources make this a must have book for all teachers striving for effective collaborative relationships with others."

Spencer J. Salend, Professor of Special Education
School of Education, State University of New York

Other Titles in: Special Education Instruction | Teaching Methods & Learning Styles

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Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.