[HOME] [teacher vistas] [online training] [FAQs] [forums] [resources] [links] [contact us] 09-01-2000 FEATURE ARTICLE Boldly Going Where Angels Fear to Tread By: KAREN D. HOWELLS January 2000, Intervention,35, 157-160. Copyright 2000 by PRO-ED, Inc. Reprinted with permission. The stresses of meeting the educational needs of an increasingly diverse population of students has inspired some successful and some rather unsuccessful collaborations. In this article, a special education teacher who started a much needed collaboration program at a midsized parochial school in a suburb of a southern city reflects on her experiences, discussing several different types of service delivery models as well as some of the problems she encountered with each. As the classroom becomes a more complex place in which to teach, requiring a vast repertoire of knowledge, strategies, and energy, educators have reached toward one another for help. Solutions to stress have been sought by almost everyone in the field of education. As these persons have come together to meet the disparate challenges of educating the youth of our nation, they have deemed this effort "collaboration." But: all collaborations are not created equal. For some teachers, collaboration is forced upon them and viewed as yet another burden on teaching. For others, collaboration comes just in time to rescue a teacher that is "going under" from the endless details of planning, teaching, and professional development. For special educators, collaboration can be both at the same time. My own view of collaboration in education has always been akin to healthy family collaborations, where no one has power over another but all contribute to the cause, and give and take occurs. Each member is valued, is knowledgeable, and has an impact on or voice in what occurs. What follows are my experiences with collaboration as a special educator and the lessons learned from it. A BUMPY RIDE Four years ago, I had a unique experience in that I began the year as the sole special education resource teacher in a midsized parochial school in a suburb of a southern city. Before obtaining my teaching credential in special education, I had taught preschool and art in that same parochial school, and I was hired on a part-time basis in special education. I served a total of 17 students from Grades 1 to 8 who had been identified as having various disabilities, including traumatic brain injury, mild mental retardation, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, behavior problems, and learning disabilities (LD). The principal, though possessing 2 decades of administrative experience, had never had special education services in any of the schools in which he had served as principal. He was willing to have me provide the services, but admitted that I would be on my own. His only request was that I provide a report to the school board now and then. It was fortunate that I had an existing relationship with most of the teaching faculty. The number of students and the time required to provide services far exceeded the available time per day, which probably would not surprise most special educators. I realized that to provide 17 students in eight different classrooms with services in 16 hours per week, I would have to invent a way to be in more than one place at a time. I tried to deny the reality that I would more than likely not be able to meet all of the needs of the students, families, and teachers all of the time. Had similar experiences with collaboration? Try some of our learning modules: Presentation Strategies Strategies for Planning for Heterogeneous Classes Communication: Dealing with Conflict Click here to view the rest of the article Archived Feature Articles 01-NOV-02 20 Ways To.... Work Effectively with Paraeducators in Inclusive Settings Cathryn G. Riggs 01-APR-02 Three Steps for Gaining Access to the General Education Curriculum for Learners with Disabilities Margaret E. King-Sears 01-DEC-01 Accessing the Curriculum Creating Instructional Rubrics for Inclusive Classrooms Catharine R. Whittaker ? Spencer J. Salend ? Devon Duhaney 01-OCT-01 Responding to Student Concerns about Fairness Ann B. Welch November/December 2000, Teaching Exceptional Children, 33, (2) 36-40. 01-SEP-01 What?s Good? Suggested Resources for Beginning Special Education Teachers By: Sharon A. Maroney 01-JUN-01 Bright Futures for Exceptional Learners: An Action Agenda to Achieve Quality Conditions for Teaching and Learning Reprinted with Permission from CEC Today Online by the Commission on the Conditions for Special Education Teaching and Learning 01-MAR-01 Vocabulary Development: A Collaborative Effort for Teaching Content Vocabulary SUSAN S. JOHNSTON, BETH L. TULBERT, JOAN P. SEBASTIAN, 01-FEB-01 Tips for Communicating Academic Progress DR. JANE B. PEMBERTON, Assistant Professor of Special Education 01-JAN-01 The Good Student Game: Behavior Management for Diverse Classrooms ALLISON E. BABYAK, GAYLE J. LUZE, AND DEBRA M. KAMPS 01-DEC-00 Cooperative Learning and Social Skills: What Skills to Teach and How to Teach Them By: Marilyn W. Goodwin 01-NOV-00 Strategies and Resources to Evaluate the Impact of Inclusion Programs on Students By: Spencer J. Salend, Associate Professor of Special Education 01-OCT-00 Planning High Quality Assignments in Diverse Classrooms By: Joyce A. Rademacher, Associate Professor of Special Education 01-SEP-00 Boldly Going Where Angels Fear to Tread By: KAREN D. HOWELLS 01-AUG-00 Myths and Misunderstandings about Professional Collaboration By Marilyn Friend  Back to this month's feature article
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