Creativity and Collaborative Learning: The Practical Guide to Empowering Students, Teachers and Families

In today's inclusive classrooms, teamwork between students, teachers, and families has never been more important. Focusing on the power of these partnerships, this book shows education professionals how collaborative learning addresses challenges like literacy, behavior issues, teacher success, access to the general curriculum, multiculturalism, and more. Readers will get an overview explaining why collaborative learning works updated research and best practices diverse perspectives on practices like peer tutoring and small-group learning research-based teaching strategies educators can use to foster teamwork in classrooms from preschool to secondary school

About the Author :
Jacqueline S. Thousand has been a teacher educator since 1981 and has more than 20 years of experience in training teachers and providing technical assistance to schools to create inclusive educational experiences for children from preschool through high school. At the University of Vermont, she coordinated an early childhood special education teacher preparation program and one of the first Inclusion Facilitator graduate programs (1986-1996) in the United States. As the coordinator of the Vermont Homecoming Project in the early 1980s, she was a pioneer in developing instruction and curriculum modification strategies for including students with moderate and severe disabilities that came to be the staples of inclusive practice in the 1990s. With her move in 1996 to California State University San Marcos, she coordinates a teacher credential program that endorses graduates as general and special educators, thus enabling them to advocate for and support students with disabilities as either classroom teachers or special educators. In addition to directing the college's special education credential and master's programs, she continues her commitment to community development by working with leadership and staff of local schools to restructure special day class programs and move the teachers and students in these classes into the mainstream. She also works closely with families to make inclusive education communities a reality. She sits on the editorial boards of a number of professional journals and is past co-editor of Teacher Education and Special Education. She currently serves on the International Board of TASH (formerly The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps), an international advocacy association of people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates, and people who work in the disabilities field. Dr. Thousand has authored numerous books, research articles, and book chapters on practical how-to strategies for meeting the needs of all students in general education; adapting curriculum, instruction, and assessment; collaborative teaming; and creative problem solving. Richard A. Villa, Ed.D., has worked with thousands of teachers and administrators throughout North America and the rest of the world in developing and implementing instructional support systems for educating all students within general education environments. Dr. Villa has been a classroom teacher, special education coordinator, pupil personnel services director, and director of instructional services. He has authored more than 70 articles and book chapters regarding inclusive education and has co-edited three previous books for teachers, administrators, and parents: Restructuring for Caring and Effective Education: An Administrative Guide to Creating Heterogeneous Schools (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1992), Creativity and Collaborative Learning: A Practical Guide to Empowering Students and Teachers (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1994), and Creating an Inclusive School Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, (1995). He has presented at numerous national and international conferences and is known for his enthusiastic, humorous style of presenting. Ann I. Nevin, Ph.D., earned her doctoral degree in educational psychology in 1970 from the University of Minnesota with Maynard C. Reynolds, one of the pioneers of the mainstreaming movement. As a scholar and teacher, Dr. Nevin is passionately committed to discovering what educators, parents, advocates, and students can use to improve academic and social success of students who are difficult to teach. Since 1968, she has been involved in university-level experimental teacher education programs (e.g., in 1969, she collaborated in the development and evaluation of the Vermont Consulting Teacher Program; since 1979, she worked with consulting teachers to replicate the Johnson and Johnson cooperative group learning model for students with special needs). Since 2000, she has collaborated with public school administrators and mentor teachers to empower special education interns to teach self-determination skills and student-led individualized education programs within the K-12 curriculum. Most recently, Dr. Nevin collaborated with technology experts, continuing education programs, and various interdisciplinary faculty to create, implement, evaluate, and redesign graduate-level classes in special education for teachers to learn entirely over the Internet.

Review :
"An interesting and useful book . . . the kind of book that belongs on course reading lists and in school staffrooms." --Lani Florian