Inclusive World of Today’s Classrooms

Barbara Cozza is a full Professor of Educational Leadership at St. John’s University and educational consultant. She held leadership positions as Department Chairperson, Assistant Chairperson, Director of Instructional Leadership programs, a Multi-age School Director, and her research targets educational reform issues in the areas of leadership, curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

• Introduction PrefacePART 1. Organizational PracticeChapter 1. Multi-age Framework: A Support System for Collaboration and AnalysisChapter 2. Collaborative Inquiry: Roles of Principal, Teachers, and Teacher Leaders with Inclusivity, ELL Teaching, Technology and International IdeasPART 2. Culture-BuildingChapter 3. A Community of Learners: Building a Caring and Trusting Environment for Diverse StudentsChapter 4. Building a Multi-age School Culture – Elements to ConsiderPART 3. The Learning ProcessChapter 5. Instructional Components for a Multi-age ProgramChapter 6. Teaching Reading and Mathematics to Multi-age LearnersChapter 7. Curriculum Cycles, Interdisciplinary Studies and Other Effective StrategiesPART 4. Assessments and Systemic ChangeChapter 8. Classroom Assessment in the Multi-age ClassroomAppendix A. Technology and ResourcesIndex

Beyond the practicality of multi-age configurations, however, as I read the book, I was reminded of the professional and personal richness I experienced through the years when working with my colleagues in the school that “grew us all up” as teachers. To be sure, we had our share of days that were more about despair than victory working often with a sense of being lost in a swamp. Nonetheless, our mission was to create the most defensible and engaging method we could muster to support the success of our remarkably diverse learners. In that process, we became architects of curriculum, instructional inventors, assessment and grading pioneers, shapers of schedules, and partners with our students.