The Special Educator's Guide to Collaboration

Improving Relationships With Co-Teachers, Teams, and Families
Second Edition
Sharon F. Cramer - Buffalo State College, NY
The Special Educator's Guide to Collaboration
April 2006 | 360 pages | Corwin
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eBook
ISBN: 9781506318387
Available from January 0001
Paperback
ISBN: 9781412914918
Available from January 0001

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!

Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

Acknowledgments

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

References

Index

Index

Additional materials

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!

Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

Acknowledgments

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

References

Index

Index

Additional materials

SAGE Publishing Logo

The Special Educator's Guide to Collaboration

Improving Relationships With Co-Teachers, Teams, and Families


April 2006 | 360 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 27/02/2023 9781412914918 $44.95
Lifetime 01/02/2026 9781506318387 $41.00

"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!


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

Recent Product Reviews:

I wanted an affordable book for my students.
Dr Verna Cornish, Education Dept, Southwest Minnesota State University
"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

Recommendations