Collaborative Teaching in Secondary Schools
Making the Co-Teaching Marriage Work!
- Wendy W. Murawski - California State University, Northridge, USA
"This is like the 'Everything You Wanted to Know About Co-Teaching' book that answers questions you did not even know to ask! Murawski's wit, enthusiasm, and expertise are engaging and informative throughout. From the details of starting a co-teaching relationship to the fine art of sustaining the co-teaching union, this book has something for everyone."
—Peggy King-Sears, Professor of Special Education
George Mason University
Create a successful partnership that provides the ultimate learning environment for every student!
Many districts across the nation are incorporating co-teaching into their schools in order to create the best learning environment for all students. This practical, easy-to-use resource offers administrators and teachers a wealth of strategies and tools for setting up, conducting, and maintaining a successful co-teaching relationship that addresses the diverse needs in today's inclusive classrooms.
Offered in a lighthearted, humorous manner that compares the co-teaching relationship to a marriage, this comprehensive guide provides substantive, field-tested differentiation and application strategies strongly supported by research and years of expert, hands-on experience. Numerous replicable forms, worksheets, checklists, and examples are included as well as helpful references, Web sites, co-teaching scenarios and case studies, and much more. Each chapter is packed with straightforward ideas for:
- Dealing with difficult content
- Mastering scheduling challenges and personality conflicts
- Setting roles and responsibilities
- Various approaches for co-instruction
- Co-planning and co-assessment
This resource is ideal for helping schools improve current programs or as a reference for teachers who have no experience with co-teaching and are ready to initiate a new relationship.
"The book is full of practical tips, suggestions, and tools to help you become a successful co-teacher. While the book is designed for secondary educators, the content can easily be applied to middle school and elementary educators. If you are looking for a valuable resource to guide you through the co-teaching process, I strongly encourage you to consider this as a first purchase."
"The humorous comparison of co-teaching to marriage is the spoonful of sugar that makes the mass of information in this text go down smoothly. While this text is strongly supported by research and expert opinion, it is also written by someone who has practical experience."
"A comprehensive, informative resource with enough humor to keep you reading and enough substance to get you started. The author shares her long experience with co-teaching and gives valuable strategies, forms, and charts to help make your foray into co-teaching as successful as possible.”
"This is the most practical guide to teaching that I’ve read to date! Wendy Murawski has a true-to-life understanding of what really goes on in the K-12 schools and classrooms with teachers, administrators, students, and parents."
"The book provides a fun, practical, and realistic approach to a complex issue in today’s secondary classrooms. The numerous forms provide quick access to remediate, enhance, or simply start a co-teaching relationship. Her approach to building the perfect co-teaching relationship is one that is not only essential, but practical and refreshing."
"This is like an 'Everything You Wanted to Know About Co-Teaching' book that answers questions you did not even know to ask! Murawski's wit, enthusiasm, and expertise are engaging and informative throughout. From the details of starting a co-teaching relationship to the fine art of sustaining the co-teaching union, this book has something for everyone."
"This is a compendium of the latest research and wisdom on co-teaching: where to start on the path, how to avoid the potholes, and what makes it work. Clearly, Murawski has established herself as a national expert on a topic of critical concern to special and general educators. This book is accessible enough for beginners yet detailed enough to provide experienced educators with new approaches and classroom-tested strategies."
"Murawski’s engaging and witty book provides a practical approach to understanding the world of co-teaching. She defines ambiguous special education terms in an understandable format for classroom practitioners. Her use of the marriage metaphor is appropriate for describing the co-teaching process. Murawski’s writing is based on up-to-date co-teaching research that affords secondary co-teachers the ability to translate theory into practice. Through various assessment tools, case studies, and activities, co-teachers can go beyond the honeymoon and engage in successful co-teaching for many years to come. This book is a welcome addition to our field!"
