Stuart Eccleston (2010) maintains that inclusive classrooms are more successful when educators work together. General and special educators, administrators, and families must collaborate and communicate with one another to help improve learning and achievement for all students in an inclusive environment. Co-teaching is one effective method for collaboration. Other successful collaborative efforts include collaborative problem solving with consultants, working with paraeducators, and when necessary, working with educational interpreters. Partnering with students’ parents or caregivers may be the most important collaboration that a teacher can have in any classroom (Salend, 2016)
Co-teaching is a collaborative teaching method involving …show more content…
In the article, Fostering Collaboration in Inclusive Settings, Beth Jones (2012) wrote that the U.S. Office of Special Education Services (2009) claims that 59% of students with disabilities spend at least 80% of their day in general educations classrooms. Because classrooms are so diverse and co-educators are not always an option, general educators must collaborate with special educators separately. Personally, I believe that the use of forms like beginning of year forms, end of year forms, and inclusion running records would be effective tools for collaboration that I would implement. The beginning of the year form, or BOY, would help general educators become more familiar with paperwork regarding special education while dispersing necessary IEP information (Jones, 2012). The inclusion running record (IRR) is a weekly log that would be kept, especially by paraeducators, to monitor how students with special needs are faring in the classroom, how and when they are being serviced, and how they are performing. The end of year form (EOY) would be used to help the student’s next teacher understand the best ways to communicate and instruct the student so that they can start off the school year knowing how to effectively communicate and instruct their new student (Jones, …show more content…
Educators have countless options for communicating with families. Lines of communication should open before the first day of school. Letters or postcards can be used to welcome students to the class and provide families with relevant information, answers to frequently asked questions, and the teacher’s contact information. I think it would be a great idea to include a questionnaire to provide families with a way to share their own pertinent information with their child’s teacher. Getting families involved and making them feel included in their children’s education is important. Asking parents for their opinions and feedback can not only make them feel valued, but it can provide teachers with more insight and another point of view. (Stivers, Francis-Cropper, & Straus, 2008). Documentation panels are one method I would like to use to provide a visual representation of how, what, and why their children are learning various lessons and how I can implement their suggestions (Brown-DuPaul, Keyes, & Segatti,