Collaborative Teaching in Elementary Schools: Making the Co-Teaching Marriage Work!

"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.

Author: Wendy Murawski
Publisher: Corwin Publishers
Published: 12/01/2009
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.80lbs
Size: 10.90h x 8.40w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781412968096

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2010 pg. 201

About the Author
Dr. Wendy Murawski is an Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator at California State University, Northridge in the Department of Special Education. She is an experienced co-teacher (for K-12 and university, general and special education) and an accomplished presenter. She is often requested to work with state departments, districts & schools, keynote at conferences, and provide numerous training seminars. Wendy holds a Masters.degree in Special Education, an Ed.S. in Educational Administration, and a Ph.D. in Special Education with an emphasis in Research, Collaboration and Co-teaching.. She has won prestigious awards, to include the Dissertation Award from the Division of Learning Disabilities, a Publication Award from the Division of Research for the Council for Exceptional Children, and she was the 2004 California Teacher Educator of the Year. Wendy′s research in the area of co-teaching has been widely disseminated through her numerous publications. Wendy is the author of Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom: Working Together to Help ALL Your Students Find Success, an extensive resource handbook on co-teaching, as well as the co-creator of the CTSS (Co-teach Solutions System) software. Wendy is a dynamic speaker who utilizes humor, personal experience and research-based methods in her seminars while keeping them in the context of practical, ready-to-use strategies for general and special educators to implement in their inclusive classrooms. Currently, Wendy lives in southern California with her husband, son, cat, and a really mean fish.