It is essential that middle school content-area and special education co-teachers adopt evidence-based literacy practices that they can integrate into their content-area instruction to address the needs of all of the students in their classes. This article provides co-teachers with four planning tips to improve implementation of the practices they…

Student-centered teaching practices such as active learning continue to gain momentum in college science education. Many instructors committed to these innovative practices transform their classrooms beyond the standard lecture. Nevertheless, widespread implementation of these practices is limited, because the learning benefits for students are…

Team-taught courses have the potential to enrich experiences for both students and instructors. While the exact motivations for team teaching vary, these courses often share important goals for the students who enroll in them. For example, many team-taught courses seek to promote students' development of higher-order thinking skills by enabling…

This theme issue of "Educational Leadership" arose after asking a group of educators about their current challenges and they mentioned the intricacies of co-teaching. The topic was broadened to look at not only co-teaching with specialists--particularly, special needs educators and ELL educators--but all team teaching across content…

Co-teaching is one approach for providing instruction in the general education classroom for students with and without disabilities. In this approach, two licensed teachers (usually one general educator and one special educator) teach a diverse group of students. Researchers have confirmed that often co-teachers do not experience parity; that is,…

In the Northwest Independent School District (ISD) located in north Texas, collaboration is "not" optional; it is expected from all teachers. The driving force behind this effort is the district's vision: "the best and most sought-after school district where every student is future ready: Ready for college, Ready for the global…

Collaboration is one of the most important aspects of the role of the school librarian in the twenty-first century, but, for many reasons, collaboration is challenging to implement. Some classroom teachers may not know how students benefit from the classroom-school library collaboration. Others may be unwilling to relinquish control of their…

Collaboration and coteaching with classroom teachers and campus specialists are the cornerstones of a successful school library program. Whereas collaboration is the process of planning a lesson or unit of instruction, coteaching suggests a much deeper level of collaboration--one in which both the teacher and campus specialist (be it school…

From October 2004 to June 2006, I worked as a curriculum leader across 18 elementary schools as part of an Alberta Incentive for School Improvement project focused on the reform question: How does inquiry transform learning environments? As a curriculum leader, my role included, but was not limited to, the introduction, articulation, and…

At a recent national conference, colleagues from different academic disciplines but all worked in college or university teaching-improvement programs found that the subject most frequently discussed was how to improve the teaching of "tired" faculty members. Tired faculty members are most often senior professors who have worked at their…

Discusses five types of flexible block schedules used in a team-taught middle school classroom. Briefly describes the transition from traditional scheduling to block scheduling. (JPB)

Discusses the interaction of several factors that contribute to the success of interdisciplinary teaching teams at the middle school level. Describes importance of planning time, team size, keeping students in teams, designating team areas, and longevity of teaching teams. Considers how these research-based principles can guide the improvement of…

Discusses the transition from traditional teaching and scheduling to a comprehensive block schedule with team teaching at the middle school level. Describes the process of educational change, including framing the problem, establishing consensus for change, creating pure teams, designing the master schedule; also discusses implementation issues.…

This monograph advances the middle school educational philosophy and explores its special contribution to secondary schooling. The first chapter attributes middle school origins to experimentation with various junior high school grade configurations serving young adolescents since the 1920s. The next two chapters address middle school rationale…

Discusses the affordability of implementing interdisciplinary teaching teams and block schedules in middle schools. Argues that the benefits of these school schedules and models make them worth the investment of time and money it takes to implement them. (JPB)