Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals

by Marilyn Friend, Lynne Cook

The most widely-used text on the topic of collaboration, Interactions is a guide for preprofessionals and professionals to help them understand and participate effectively in their interactions with other school professionals and parents. It addresses collaboration as a style, with accompanying knowledge and skills, that guides practices in many education efforts. Interactions provides a cutting-edge look at how teams of school professionals– special educators, general educators and related services professionals–can effectively work together to provide a necessary range of services to students with special needs. As a result, future teachers learn how to collaborate with school professionals and families to help special education students who are more often being placed in general education settings. The new edition discussion of collaboration in the context of IDEA 2004; Chapter Opening Vignettes; a new boxed feature entitled “A Basis in Research” that demonstrates the rigorous research underpinning the practical collaborative techniques; an expanded section on Ethics that includes a broader selection of ethical inquiries; Issues of diversity are now discussed in relevant passages throughout the text; the Foundations chapter has been expanded to include material on the evolution of inclusion strategies; the Teams chapter has been revised to demonstrate a more practical and less theoretical approach to teaming.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Teaching

416 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2006

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my MA class on Collaboration. This is an out of date version of the textbook, but I feel the majority of the information is still relevant and useful. However, this edition felt unorganized with topics lumped together that made no coherent sense to be put together; I'm hoping in revised editions this organization was revamped for a smoother collection. The strategies discussed were interesting and broke down what should be simple interactions into easier to understand and use steps. It was a useful and easy to read text.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the required text for my masters-level class on collaboration in schools. The book I read was the 7th edition from 2013 which includes a new section on interviewing.

I found this book to be very readable. The authors, Friend and Cook, also are experts in the field of collaboration in education and co-teaching. I had to read many scholarly journal articles about collaboration during this class and most of them cited an edition of this book.

This book is useful for administrators, teachers and related services personnel. It covers aspects of interpersonal communication, interviewing, co-teaching, working as a team and conflict resolution.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read selected chapters of this book in the fall of 2008, in an undergrad course on collaboration.

I am now re-reading this book for a graduate level collaboration course. My classmates are reading the 6th edition of the text but I didn't see the value in buying two editions of the same book.

June 2012 Update: I really just skimmed again, the information is more-or-less common sense, so unless you need to read this for a course requirement, I would not recommend it.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reference book for educators who collaborate frequently, which is to say, all of us. It clearly discusses the elements of an effective collaborative team, and the stages of team development to help optimize your team's performance and effectiveness. A somewhat dry read at times, but it has helped me in my work already, even as an underling in my teams.

[Erin Fowler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not my cup of tea. If you struggle with work relationships and collaborating with one another you may want to check it out. I did not find it helpful rather than a few tips here and there but not worth reading the whole thing.

[Amanda Mastran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very expensive read and probably not one you'll want to read straight through, but an excellent resource for anyone who works in education.