Some of the most important skills for all educators are efficient communication and collaboration skills. But this is especially true for special education teacher who work closely with students, families, and other school professionals. Both effective communication and successful collaboration skills are intertwined, and both need to be developed for each aspect to be effective in and out of the classroom setting.
Collaboration is the direct interaction between at least two coequal parties that engage in shared decision making as they work toward a common goal. As stated in Interactions, Collaboration Skills for School Professionals, “Collaboration is crucial as educators move to implement RTI practices, differentiate instruction, meet
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Sarah Conner, a general education teacher, and Jesica Edwards, a special education teacher met with me after school to discuss some of the key topics of collaboration. One of the first topics of the discussion was on issues of effective collaboration among colleagues, parents, and administration. The first thought brought up by both participants about issues in collaboration was lack of time. Both teachers expressed how their daily schedules were already packed, and sometimes it was difficult to schedule a time to collaborate. The participants also went on to discuss how this lack of time also hinders collaboration with parents and administration as well. The discussion then lead to the reality that often misunderstandings of teacher expectations and roles were experienced because of a lack of collaboration time and communication. This issue is not uncommon, as stated “The most common concern among co-teachers is lack of common planning time”, (Marilyn Friend, 2013, p. 182). The educators expressed that collaboration with families of special needs students was difficult because of time constraints experienced from all participants involved. It was also expressed that some parents just did not seem to want to participate in any educational collaboration or decisions for …show more content…
Both educators shared that one of the most important aspects to parental involvement is foster a positive relationship with parents. This begins with “getting to know each other” meetings, as well as, positive notes and calls home. I feel that all too often parents of special needs students feel that the only feedback that they receive is negative, and thus decreases parental involvement and communication. I also feel that educators need to be effective communicators to foster positive relationships with families. As the textbook describes, effective communication begins with mutual respect and trust, along with acceptance of individuals and their personal beliefs. “Building mutual respect and trust is essential for successful communication”, (Sharon Vaughn, 2015, p. 131). The teachers also shared that they try to foster parental involvement by having “family nights” at school. The participants described these “family nights” as low pressure, fun activities that provided opportunities for parents to participant in activities with their child. One of the events that was mentioned was a family movie night. I found this to be an excellent idea that I had never considered before. A “movie night” provides a free activity, low-pressure activity for families to participate in, and hopefully lessens the intimidation of school environments that some family members may feel. Another parental
Educators working closely together will allows students to receive the best possible instruction in the classroom. “Strong collaboration for the delivery of education services involves all the various education professionals serving a school building or district” (pg. 3). One of the major issues with the identification of poor performing students is if it has anything to do with the delivery of the instruction, or the instruction itself. Collaboration is an excellent way to make sure that the students receiving the best possible instruction to increase the academic knowledge. Teachers that are struggling have the opportunity to work with reading and special education professionals to work on implementing appropriate lessons in the classroom. “The classroom teachers, reading specialists, and special education professionals collaborate in planning and implementing the intervention” (pg. 3). This intervention and collaboration should not be seen as a negative, but as a positive because they are all working together to help the teacher use the correct instruction that is going to benefit each and every
Teacher Collaboration measures the degree to which teachers engage in constructive dialogue that furthers the educational vision of the school.
By implementing this idea in Area Two schools to support special education students, we will create a more data driven approach to increasing student achievement. By following this idea the team will also do a better job of implementing professional development and mentorships that greatly increase teacher effectiveness. The idea will also increase understanding of the diversity of the schools and promote community involvement by establishing more open communication with the parents and the community to support their students’ needs. The leadership teams will work together to set goals and objectives to support achievement in all grade levels. They will develop a framework for good communication between teachers and leaders so there is
There is a huge importance to establish a positive relationship with parents. “Parents and teachers are natural partners. Both are working to help children become more fully developed people, and both want the children to be happy, sensitive, intelligent, and well balanced. Therefore, it is crucial for teachers to establish and maintain effective channels of communication with parents” (Ryan, Cooper, Bolick, 2016). Communicating with parents via phone, email, or in person is very important. It is good to not just contact them when the child has done something wrong. A lot of times a special needs child’s parents use school more vas a daycare, or a break from their child. They usually do not believe their child can have a successful education. This will be a hard challenge because I am all about involving students with their peers. Ultimately it is the parents’ choice.
A special education teacher needs to acquire a variety of different skills in order to succeed. “The majority of young men and women who major in special education bring a heaping helping of heart, personal commitment, and passion to the profession” (Hollingsworth). A special education teacher must enjoy working with children and developing activities and lessons to help them learn. Qualities necessary for
She mentioned to me that the special education teachers work with small groups of children that are ELL, IEP, and 504 students. She mentioned to me that the classrooms have about 20- 25 students and that those students need ones on ones and special attention from teachers and sometimes it is better for them to work in smaller groups. She informed me that these students are taken out the class about 3 times a week to work in small groups with the special education teacher. Once this is done the special education teacher shares the result with the head teacher. Then the two teachers work on possible strategies to help that
Collaboration between teachers is a key component to professional development that will lead to higher student achievement. There is a need for schools to set up time for teachers to be able to collaborate together. This allows for teachers to help each other, matchup content, teach each other new and best practices, troubleshoot student issues just to name a few of the areas that collaboration time can help foster within a school. The key is to build time for teachers to be able to collaborate during the school day or week. This collaboration time needs to be between grade levels, departments, and cross curricular when needed. For many schools this is an afterthought to the school schedule or a fleeting thought after the master schedule is completed. A principal needs to keep an open mind to any strategy that will enable the teachers to be able to collaborate for the good of the students and the school.
The last CEC standard reviews the importance of effective and production collaboration between families, service providers, educators, community agencies, and most importantly individuals with exceptionalities. Although I have collaborated with other educational professionals for seventeen years, I did not understand the components and strategies for effective collaboration until completing the graduate program. After completing the course, I have changed some of the ways and manners in which I collaborate with other education professionals and families of individuals with special needs. Since changing the ways in which I collaborate, I can tell a positive change in my professional and personal relationships with others.
Parents have special knowledge about their child that school personnel might be unaware of. This aspect of parental involvement is especially important when applying special education services for a child with disabilities (Smith et al., 2005). That being said, parents need to understand that while they know a lot about their child overall, the school knows a lot about their child in an academic setting. It is very important to have open lines of communication and mutual respect for each other; to be able to bring together these different aspects of the child to create a successful intervention allowing complete access to education.
A barrier to working with families who have children with disabilities, is ensuring a seamless transition from early intervention to preschool. IDEA (2004) mandates parental involvement in providing special education services. With an increasing number of children receiving early intervention services, collaboration between special educators and families of children with disabilities, to navigate the transition process becomes an important task. In this light, it behoves preservice teachers to gain an understanding of challenges parents face during the transition from early intervention to preschool to be better prepared to advocate for
The perfect example of this situation is when we had to change labs for our advanced lab testing portion related to the Partner for Health program. Originally we used HDL labatory however due to some recent bad press we no longer felt this lab was a reliable option. We had to re-assure both the patients and the client that they would recieve the same quality of testing that they were use to with previous lab draws. As part of choosing a labatory, I reseached labs that offered similar advanced lab testing. I then sent the top three labs a proposal along with a list of questions. The questions were based on level of service, customer satisfation, flexibilty, and a request for data supporting population health research. Based on these responses
Many teachers assign group projects. Sometimes, however, an uncooperative member can affect the entire group. I think we should still work in groups because they help some people get better grades, it helps with communication skills, and it keeps they students from being bored in the class.
Collaboration in the world of education has become an increasingly popular method of addressing a variety of school issues, such as curriculum design, behavioral plans, professional development and management of resources. One of the areas in which collaboration is becoming more popular is co-teaching in special education, where special education teachers and general education teachers share the planning and instruction responsibilities for inclusion classrooms (Friend & Cook, 2010). As academic standards for the education of students with disabilities are held to the same standards as their typical peers due to the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the co-teaching model has been increasingly
Fundamentally the role of the classroom teacher is to implement strategies to support, engage and extend the learning of all individuals. In order for this to occur we need to also consider how we involve, collaborate and communicate with parents, fellow colleagues and specialised teachers. Ashman and Elkins (2008) state that teachers need to make themselves aware of the support systems they can access or create to support the needs of all students. This in turn will ultimately enhance teaching potential allowing teachers to fully maximise learning for all. I personally believe that collaboration is not only essential to the professional growth of teachers (Cramer & Stivers, 2007), but a vital key when acting in the best interest of the students and their families.
In the 21st century, collaboration plays an important role in education. Educators are required to collaborate with other teachers about future curriculum deadlines, test scores, and classroom management concerns. Yet, teachers should also learn to rely on their own best judgment when determining what is best for their classroom.