Honigsfeld, A., & M. G. Dove. (2010). Collaboration and co-teaching: Strategies for English learners.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This book is a comprehensive guide for educators who wish to establish a more collaborative approach to meeting the needs of English language learners. The book’s nine chapters and supplemental research appendix are well organized and clearly written, and contain a careful balance of theory and practice.

Although Honigsfeld and Dove are advocates of co-teaching, they do not promote a “one size fits all” program model. Realizing that English language learners have different needs, and that schools have different program models, they advocate for a collaborative approach in which educators plan and possibly teach together to meet the needs of their learners. In each chapter, the authors provide a brief overview of the topic and then a vignette that brings in teachers’ voices from the field. Realistic challenges and successes are described. They also synthesize current research supporting their topics and describe informal and formal collaboration practices. Next, Honigsfeld and Dove give advice and strategic support to educators and administrators for implementing and sustaining systematic collaboration. After summarizing the main points of the chapter, they provide discussion questions for teachers who are reading this book in a preservice or in-service course or for professional development. The authors also provide a list of key resources for further research and inquiry.

Chapter 1 provides the framework for the book, including the rationale, purpose, and organization. Key terms and findings from previous research on collaboration, co-teaching, and professional learning communities are presented. In addition, the authors describe program models being used in schools to serve English language learners and describe current collaboration practices. In chapter 2, Honigsfeld and Dove discuss the challenges English language learners, teachers, and administrators face in today’s educational climate, including the demands of student achievement and accountability, while operating under time constraints. To respond to the needs of all stakeholders, they call for creating teacher partnerships and moving away from isolation and toward collaborative school cultures. Chapters 3 through 7 deal with who, what, how, when, and where teachers collaborate. More specifically, Chapter 3 describes stakeholders of collaboration, which include the students, teachers, teacher assistants, administrators, school staff, parents, and community members. Chapter 4 is an excellent resource defining the essential components of an integrated, collaborative program, including informal and formal practices, how to co-plan, how to map and align curriculum, and how to co-teach. There are many helpful tables, figures, and visual aids to support implementing these practices and demonstrating what co-teaching models look like. In chapter 5, the authors discuss how to collaboratively plan, instruct, and assess students; they include templates for support. In chapter 6, Honigsfeld and Dove recognize that lack of time is often the primary reason collaborative efforts fail and offer ideas to schedule collaboration and manage time. Chapter 7 informs readers of possibilities of collaboration spaces, both physically and virtually. If teachers are planning to co-teach, the authors provide advice on co-teaching models, the space requirements, and suggestions to consider. Chapter 8 looks at assessing and evaluating collaborative programs and includes very useful figures and tables including surveys, a collaboration log, a co-teaching self-evaluation, and checklist. Chapter 9 does not follow the same template as chapters 2 through 8. Instead there are six authentic case studies from elementary, middle, and high school demonstrating the multiple forms of collaboration.

Teachers enter the profession being expected to collaborate but often without the training to effectively do so. Teacher educators need to prepare classroom teachers of English language learners to understand the elements of successful collaboration. This timely text is a must-have resource for teachers, administrators, and teacher educators. It provides research and rationale behind collaborative practices, and then includes practical ideas for making collaboration a reality. In this age of high-stakes accountability, it is imperative that educators work together to meet the needs of their students; Honigsfeld and Dove give us the road map to do so.

Angela Bell, Ph.D.,is an ELL consultant based in Colorado. She is an adjunct instructor for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and for the University of North Dakota. Her research interests include teacher collaboration and the administrators’ role in creating a collaborative community.