Collaborating With Students in Instruction and Decision Making
The Untapped Resource
- Richard A. Villa - Bayridge Consortium
- Jacqueline S. Thousand - California State University-San Marcos
- Ann I. Nevin - Arizona State University, USA
Foreword by Paula Kluth and Peyton Goddard
"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.
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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!"
"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."
"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."
Sample Materials & Chapters
Foreword by Paula Kluth and Peyton Goddard
Chapter 1: Why Collaborate With Students?
