Survey of Collborative Practices by Jaclyn Dillon

Collaboration

dillon_j — 2015-03-06 22:48:42 UTC

Collaboration in the classroom is when students or teachers work together to achieve a common goal. I have interviewed three professionals ( a parent, a counselor and a classroom teacher) to get their take on collaboration in the classroom. It was interesting to see that my results were very much the same. I found that collaboration at one time could have been considered cheating, but today in the classroom it is becoming extremely popular. The parent that I had interviewed( Kimberly Perri) has a son that has a speech issue. She found that her son works very well in a group atmosphere. She had feared at first that her would lean on the other students to do the work for him, but that was not the case. He actually flourished and became more confident in the classroom due to collaboration. The classroom teacher ( Lisa Flattery) is math teacher. She also felt that collaboration is becoming a strong aid in schools. Lisa teaches math and does not necessarily allow her students to collaborate daily, but the teaching staff uses collaboration. They work together with in the school to find the best ways and most advanced ways to make their school stronger. She feels that collaboration is important to success. The school counselor that I interviewed ( Alicia Vorse) was also pleased with the idea of collaboration. She claims to use this in her day to day work. It is important for her to collaborate with teachers and administrators to come up with the best problem solving techniques. Although, all three interviewees had different experiences with collaboration, they all portrayed it in a positive way.

Co-Teaching

dillon_j — 2015-03-06 23:14:24 UTC

Co-teaching, or having two teachers in the classroom has become a popular teaching structure to provide an inclusive setting for special education students while insuring that they are in the least restrictive environment as recommended by their IEP team. In the co-teaching classroom you typically have a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the classroom. While co-teaching, both teachers are intended to share the teaching responsibility in a co-teaching classroom. All three of my interviewees had positive and strong feelings about co-teaching. The parent (Kimberly Perri) was pleased with idea of co-teaching. Her son has an IEP and has struggled through the past few years. She expressed how important it is and how sometimes all it takes for a student is to see an idea being taught in a different way. The classroom teacher ( Lisa Flattery) also had nothing but good thoughts on co-teaching. It not only has a positive affect on the student, but takes many pressures of the general education teacher as well. The counselor ( Alicia Vorse) actually spoke about the positive affects that she has seen from co-teaching and would like to see more of it in her school.

Consultation

dillon_j — 2015-03-06 23:27:32 UTC

Consultation is related to advising and showing the best way to do something. This is something that has become a term in the classroom. When asking all of the interviewees about their feeling on consultation I did not get the same vibe as I did from collaboration and co-teaching. The parent ( Kimberly Perri) related consultation to her first IEP meeting. She felt that was when they were basically consulting and reviewing a plan. It was difficult to get through this part of my interview because I felt as though I did not have a concrete feeling about consultation the way that I did with collaboration and co-teaching. The classroom teacher( Lisa Flattery) was unfamiliar with the term as well and that had really surprised me. The Counselor ( Alicia Vorse) had a bit more to say on the topic and described its use with IEP meetings and consultations with students. She was familiar with the term and had a positive take on it. Overall, the interviews were very interesting and went well.