Collaboration in EducationBy:

Elizabeth Bove , Joy Holbrook, Darby Koteff, Jessica Moreman, & Valerie Powell

“In research, in medicine, in manufacturing, and even in technology, collaboration is

becoming the norm.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF8oc5nP6jI

Click the link below to see how collaboration can make a large task seem very small.

We will discuss four different ways educators can utilize collaboration:

Grade Level CollaborationCo-TeachingCross-Curricular CollaborationStudent Collaboration

Grade Level CollaborationGrade level Collaboration involves working with the other teachers in your grade level to

develop and implement instruction.

Teachers should work with other teachers to make connections between and among

disciplines (Kentucky Department of Education, 2011).

Teachers utilize one another when effectively using grade level collaboration.

If we are closed-minded and not willing to work across our boundaries to discover what

the highly skilled teacher next door is teaching, we could potentially be

shortchanging our students.

Co-TeachingCollaborative teaching is defined as “the

preferred umbrella term for the joint efforts of two certified teachers with different areas of expertise….partnering to share responsibility for designing, delivering, monitoring and evaluating instruction for a diverse group of learners in general education classes” Kentucky Department of Education (KDE): Collaborative Teaching Practices for Exceptional Children, June 2011.

Co-Teaching ModelsThere are five defined co-teaching models,

University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning: Content Enhancement, Fall 2004.

One teach, One assistStation TeachingParallel TeachingAlternative TeachingTeam Teaching

One Teach, One Assist

Station Teaching

Parallel Teaching

Alternative Teaching

Team Teaching

Benefits of Co-Teaching1. Brings together teachers’ expertise to meet the

needs of all the students in the classroom (Austin, 2001).

2. Allows for more instructional options in the classroom and reduces the student-teacher ratio, therefore potentially improves classroom management (Magiera & Zigmond, 2005).

3. Disabled students felt a greater sense of pride and capability. Walther-Thomas (1997)

4. Creates high expectations and a positive climate for all of the students in the classroom. Dieker (2001)

“Planning instructional strategies and activities that facilitate multiple levels of learning”

“Identifying students whose learning could be enhanced by collaboration”

“Designing a plan to enhance student learning that includes all parties in the collaborative effort.”

Cross-Curricular Collaboration

Cross curricular learning helps develop meta-cognitive learners able to adapt their learning to new situations.

Since we do not practice basic skills in isolation in daily life, doing so in our educational

practice would be disruptive to the learning process.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, while students are

learning the basic information in core subject areas, they are not learning to apply their

knowledge effectively in thinking and reasoning (Applebee, Langer, & Mullis, 1989).

Making Connections

Interdisciplinary/cross-curricular teaching provides a meaningful way in which students can use knowledge they have learned in one

context as a knowledge base in other contexts in and out of school (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989).

Increase Student Motivation

Interdisciplinary/cross-curricular teaching can also increase students' motivation for

learning and their level of engagement. (Resnick, 1989).

Time Management

Curriculum integration maximizes the utilization of learning time by “borrowing” from one area to support another. (Timmons,2012)

Student Collaboration

It is our responsibility to give our students opportunities to collaborate in teams, small

groups or in pairs on assignments

HowThere are many ways this can be done

ranging from basic things such as the arrangement of desks in a classroom to more intentional things such as providing academic opportunities throughout the year to provide practice for students to work together collaboratively.

According to Wagner, “[o]ne of the lessons we learned quickly was that the hardest thing to change was the behavior of employees” (2008, p.

23).

In order to equip our students for the future that awaits them. We need to take advantage

of collaboration in all areas of teaching; within the classroom and among the

professionals in our schools. The future for our students is unknown, but we can be

certain that collaboration is a skill that they will need to possess in order to have a

fighting chance to adapt to the world that is waiting for them.

References Applebee, A.N., Langer, J.A., & Mullis, I.V. (1989). Crossroads in American education: A summary of findings: Educational Testing Service. Princeton, NJ.

Austin, V. L. (2001). Teachers’ beliefs about co-teaching. Remedial and Special Education, 22, 245-255.

Barton, K.C. & Smith, L.A. (September 2000). Themes or motifs? Aiming for coherence through interdisciplinary outlines. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 54 – 63.

Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (October 1991). A caveat: Curriculum integration isn’t always a good idea. Educational Leadership, 49(2), 66

Ciccorico, E. W. 1970. Integration in the curriculum. Main Currents in Modern Thought 27 (November/December):60–62.

Collins, A., Brown, J.S., & Newman, S.E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing, and mathematics. In L. Resnick (Ed.), Knowledge, learning and

instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Dieker, L. A. (2001). What are the characteristics of “effective” middle and high school co-taught teams for students with disabilities? Preventing School Failure, 46, 14-23.

Gatewood, T. (March 1998). How valid is integrated curriculum in today’s middle school? Middle School Journal, 29(4), 38 - 41.

Georgetown College Conceptual Framework Outcomes, Standards, and Indicators (2011).

Kentucky Department of Education, Division of Learning Services, Collaborative Teaching Practices for Exceptional Children, Question and Answer Document (June 2011).

  Kentucky Department of Education. (2011). HETL common characteristics. Retrieved from http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Instructional Resources/Highly Effective

Teaching and Learning/HETL Common Characteristics.tm.

Magiera, K., & Zigmond, N. (2005). Co-teaching in middle school classrooms under routine conditions: Does the instructional experiences differ for students with disabilities in

co-taught and solo-taught classes? Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 20, 79-85.

Resnick, L.B. (Ed.) (1989). Introduction. In Knowing, learning and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (1-24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Timmons, Jess “What’s the Big Deal?- Why Cross-Curricular Collaboration is so Darn Good For Kids. Retrieved June 3, 2012 from

http://pricetimmons.blogspot.com/2007/07/so-whats-big-deal-anyways.html

University of Kansas, Center for Research on Learning: Content Enhancement-Concept Comparison Routine (Fall, 2004).

Wagner, T. (2008). The Global Achievement Gap. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Walther-Thomas, C. S. (1997). Co-teaching experiences: The benefits and problems that teachers and principals report over time. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30, 395-408.