In recent years a research literature has developed which increasingly problematizes the project to construct professional community in schools. This case-based literature explores the messy complexities of teacher cooperation and collaboration. It points to the human, cultural, and political dimensions in schools that prevent changes in the…

This study analyzes how mentor teachers make pedagogical suggestions to beginning teachers during mentoring conversations and how beginning teachers respond. Sixty-four conversations between 16 veteran teacher mentors and their beginning teacher proteges are examined and analyzed. The analysis reveals the extreme efforts of mentors to avoid giving…

This article presents ten time-saving ideas for teachers. One great time-saving tip is to come in an hour early once or twice a week for grading papers. It is also a great idea if teachers will not give tests on Friday in order to reduce their weekend work.

Reformers seeking to increase student understanding and interest are looking to collaborative partnerships to support improved science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching. At the college level partnerships across colleges are encouraged by reformers in order to provide all students with strong content understanding, model…

This essay describes the author's collaboration with a counseling faculty in the development of a Social Foundations of Education course that was tailored specifically for Masters level preparation of school and community counselors. This exploration of dilemmas arising during the first offering of the course compares the interpretive and…

"Physicists have shown that subatomic particles behave as if 'there were some communication between them' even when they are 'too far apart to communicate in the time available.' These so called particles, widely separated in time and space, seem to be connected in ways that make them act less like isolated individuals and more like…

Using the biology faculty of one high school (n = 9) and the mathematics faculty of another (n = 16), this study tested the hypothesis that constructivist teachers play an active role within teacher communication networks (the constructivist-teacher hypothesis). This hypothesis contrasts with the view that constructivist teachers operate alone and…

Transcript analysis is a way for teachers to engage in inquiry on their own practice. The insights of three teachers who engaged in transcript analysis of their own classroom discussions are described in this article. The teachers analyzed and reflected on their transcripts using a coding manual and a comparison and reflection guide. The coding…

It is notoriously difficult to classify occupations as professions and to define professional work. Numerous authors have provided criteria for categorising occupations as professions but the judgement still remains a difficult one. Freidson (1991) is clear that professional work is Good Work. It has a moral purpose and arguably that sense of…

Switching from multiple lunch periods to one lunch period for the nearly 2,000 students at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, has contributed more to a positive school climate than any other single factor in the eight years since the school opened. This article presents how Blake has come up with the single 50-minute lunch…

"Our culture underestimates teachers--not only the complexity of their work, but also their potential to contribute substantively to the dialogue about school reform," write the authors of this article. Online teacher networks have the potential to transform traditional concepts of teacher leadership, enabling teachers to bond together into…

The science teachers at New Hampshire's Concord High School are no longer satisfied with what Wiggins and McTighe call the "teach, test, and hope for the best" learning cycle (2005). These teachers have been stepping up to the professional responsibility that demands more of them and their students--the responsibility to teach for…

This article discusses one of the most important issues facing anyone who begins their teaching career in a typical institution of higher education in the United States. The term "tenure", in the case of professors, refers to a status that is granted for a faculty member, normally after a probationary period of several years. Tenure…

As postsecondary institutions are confronted by the challenges of escalating accountability, shrinking budgets, and administrative downsizing, higher education leaders are expecting more from their faculty members. In this environment, an improved understanding of faculty followership behaviors is increasingly important. We examined the…

One of the greatest challenges for those who study schools and their success in educating students is defining the characteristics of those organizations that are successful, and recognizing the variables that exist to support the actions of the members of the organization. In this era of assessment and accountability, school districts struggle to…