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Collaborating With Students in Instruction and Decision Making
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Collaborating With Students in Instruction and Decision Making
The Untapped Resource

Edited by:

Foreword by Paula Kluth and Peyton Goddard



April 2010 | 248 pages | Corwin

"This book reveals how powerful learning could be if students and educators shared more of the teaching responsibilities! Involving students in the teaching experience helps them learn more academically and do more socially."
—Peggy King-Sears, Professor
George Mason University

"In this easy-to-read resource, the authors help educators understand that inclusion isn't something that we do to and for students, but rather, something we must do with students. The powerful anecdotes of educators and students planning, tutoring, and teaching side by side give us new hope and further direction for the creation of inclusive schools."
—Cathy L. Taschner, Assistant Superintendent
Oxford Area School District, PA

Take advantage of a resource that's right in your classroom—your students!

How can you meet the needs of a diverse student population in mixed-ability classrooms and maintain a cooperative, caring, and active learning environment? Students are the perfect resource!

Research shows that when students collaborate with teachers, they take responsibility for what happens in the classroom, care about their classmates, and become more engaged in learning. This comprehensive book offers practical strategies for empowering students as co-teachers, decision makers, and advocates in the classroom. Ideal for K–12 general and special education teachers, this guide describes how to

  • Involve students in instruction through collaborative learning groups, co-teaching, and peer tutoring that foster self-discipline and responsible behavior
  • Make students a part of decision making by utilizing personal learning plans, peer mediation, and other methods
  • Put collaboration with students into practice using the assessment tools, user-friendly lesson plans, case studies, and checklists included

Collaborating With Students in Instruction and Decision Making is packed with all the information, strategies, and tools teachers need to tap their students' potential as a resource for making a difference in the classroom.


Foreword: The Importance of Students' Voices by Paula Kluth and Peyton Goddard

 
 
List of Tables
 
List of Figures
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
I. Introduction
Letter to the Reader

 
 
1. Why Collaborate with Students?
Rationale #1: Student Collaboration Facilitates 21st Century Goals of Education

 
Rationale#2: Student Collaboration is Democratic Schooling

 
Rationale #3: Student Collaboration Increases Self-Determination

 
Rationale #4: Student Collaboration Increases Academic and Social Competence

 
Rationale #5: Student Collaboration Facilitates Other School Reform Efforts

 
Rationale #6: Student Collaboration is an Untapped Resource in Times of Limited Fiscal and Human Resources

 
Summary

 
 
II. Teaching With Students
Definition of Teaching

 
What is the Instructional Cycle?

 
What is the Research Base for Teaching with Students?

 
 
2. Students as Co-Teachers in Cooperative Learning Groups
What is Cooperative Learning?

 
What Cooperative Groups Are NOT

 
Five Essential Ingredients of Cooperative Group Learning: PIGS Face

 
The Four Phases of Planning and Implementing Formal Cooperative Group Lessons

 
Teacher Decisions at Each Phase of Planning and Implementation

 
An Example of a Formal Cooperative Group Lesson

 
What Do Students Say About Cooperative Group Learning

 
Summary

 
 
3. Students as Peer Tutors and Partner Learners
Meet Some Peer Tutors

 
What is Peer Tutoring/Partner Learning?

 
Essential Ingredients of Peer Tutoring and Partner Learning

 
Getting Started with Peer Tutoring and Partner Learning

 
An Example of a Peer Tutoring/Partner Learning Lesson

 
Students' Views of Peer Tutoring and Partner Learning

 
Summary

 
 
4. Students as Co-Teachers
What is a Co-Teacher? What are Examples of Adults Co-Teaching with Students?

 
Co-Teaching Approaches

 
Challenges Faced by Student Co-Teachers

 
What Are Student Co-Teachers, Adult Co-Teachers, Administrators, and Learners in Co-Taught Classes Saying About Co-Teaching?

 
Summary

 
 
III. Decision-Making With Students
5. Empowering Students as Collaborative Creative Thinkers

 
Barriers to Creative Thinking and Action

 
Awareness Plans for Busting Barriers and Imagining Improvements

 
Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) Process

 
Thinking for Collaborative Solution Finding—Focusing Upon What You Can Do

 
Summary

 
 
6. Students as Instructional Decision Makers
Collaborating with Students to Determine the Product of Learning

 
Collaborating with Students to Differentiate Instruction for Struggling Learners

 
Summary

 
 
7. Students as Designers of Their Own Learning
Defining and Nurturing Self-Determination

 
Making Action Plans (MAPs) as a Tool to Actualize Self-Determination

 
Student-Led Individualized Education Programs

 
Personal Learning Plans as a Tool to Teach Self-Determination

 
What Do Students Say About Self-Determination?

 
Summary

 
 
8. Students as Mediators of Conflict and Controversy
Examples of Everyday School Conflicts

 
Understanding Conflict

 
An Example of a Class-Wide or School-Wide Peer Mediation Program

 
A Lesson Plan Example: Learning Friendly Disagreeing Skills

 
Summary

 
 
9. Students as Collaborators in Responsibility
A "Circle of Courage" Definition of Responsibility

 
The Self-Discipline Pyramid

 
Summary

 
 
Epilogue: Beyond Benevolence to Befriending
 
Glossary
 
Resources
A. Cooperative Group Learning Lesson Plan

 
B. Peer Tutor Lesson Plan

 
C. Co-Teaching Lesson Plan

 
D. Syllabus for High School Course for Teaching Students to Be Co-Teachers

 
E. Template for Product-Activity Matrix Integrating Bloom’s Taxonomy and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory

 
F. Template for Facts about the Learner, Classroom Demands, Mismatches, and Potential Solutions

 
G. Student Collaboration Quiz (for students)

 
 
References
 
Index

"The authors brilliantly bring the reader's focus down to the core of the educational process: the student. This powerful focus on the purposeful engagement of students in their own learning process guides us through reflection, cooperative learning groups, planning, choice, a sense of belonging, and advocacy, as well as social, emotional, academic, and life-skills issues. Resources abound in this contribution to the dialogue of increasing student achievement and well being while reflecting on the whole student."

Denise M. Gudwin, Educational Consultant and Adjunct Professor
Retired Executive Director, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, FL

"How powerful learning could be if students and educators shared more of the teaching responsibilities! Educators who use even a few ideas from this text will find their teaching and learning experiences greatly enhanced and far more enjoyable. Best of all, involving students in the teaching experience helps them learn more academically and do more socially."

Peggy King-Sears, Professor
George Mason University

"In this easy-to-read resource, the authors help educators understand that inclusion isn’t something that we do to and for students, but rather, something we must do with students. The powerful anecdotes of educators and students planning, tutoring, and teaching side by side give us new hope and further direction for the creation of inclusive schools."

Cathy L. Taschner, Assistant Superintendent
Oxford Area School District, PA

"This book is a must-read for every administrator seeking to build a school that meets the needs of diverse learners. Villa, Thousand, and Nevin practically and purposefully demonstrate how the reallocation of existing resources can be instrumental in ‘re-forming’ schools. The descriptive, step-by-step planning guides empower administrators, new and experienced, to redesign their school community in a way that will increase student achievement without increasing the budget!"

Kimberly R. Donahue, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
Susquehanna Township School District, Harrisburg, PA

"This book emphasizes the work of students as significant members of the school and classroom community, not just as recipients of the work that teachers do, but as an integral part that can benefit from the teaching as well as be part of the teaching force. I loved the emphasis on empowering students in this co-teaching arrangement. I also appreciated the focus on listening to students' voices so the work of teachers is based on what students really need. The authors provide knowledgeable and practical advice for personalizing and individualizing instruction for all students while maintaining high expectations."

Mary A. Falvey, Dean, Charter College of Education
California State University, Los Angeles

"Classrooms go further when they are student-driven, and this book provides amazing resources and ideas to empower both students and teachers. From providing a rationale for teacher/student collaboration to helping with the nuts and bolts of the actual work, the authors have written a practical, useful, and inspiring guide for collaboration."

Renee Salazar-Garcia, Principal
Hillerman Middle School, Albuquerque, NM
Key features

This book includes:

  • Graphic organizers, case studies, and checklists such as best practices in effective peer tutoring, effective cooperative learning, effective service learning, and more
  • Approximately 10-15 figures
  • Many vignettes—some based on research and others which directly capture the real-life experiences of teachers and students
  • A glossary of key terms
  • Reproducibles such as lesson plans, agenda formats, procedures to keep track of student progress and more

For instructors

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ISBN: 9781452271439

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