This guide is intended as a resource for school administrators, school leadership teams, and other teacher leaders as they learn about implementing professional learning teams (PLTs) in their schools. PLTs are teams of four to six teachers who come together to help each other improve student learning by changing classroom instruction. This guide…

Much research links collaborative experiences to the professional development of teachers. The author of this study designed a project, called the Buddy System, which provided opportunities for teachers to observe one another in the classroom and to interact with one another collaboratively. The goal was to determine if these activities provided…

This case study documents the changes one urban secondary school English teacher made to improve the quality of her students' educational experiences, noting the impact of her school's participation in the Coalition of Essential Schools. The first section describes her transition from being a good conventional teacher to being a teacher-as-coach,…

This document outlines the development of an American Studies learning community in which a literature and a history professor created a framework for collaborative inquiry across the two disciplines. The learning community was situated within General Education requirements, and thus reflected the freshman course level. The community was linked…

This book describes an inquiry-oriented form of professional development--the New Teacher Group--which provides teachers with opportunities to engage in discussions with their peers about problems experienced in their professional lives. Blending school psychology and teacher education, the book adapts a consultee-centered consultation model…

Universities have historically encouraged individual academics with research expertise in a discrete area of study to undertake research and teaching in their discipline. In this process academics have had full autonomy, from the discovery of knowledge, the method used to integrate and interpret it, and the means used to convey it to students and…

This paper discusses the range, frequency, structure, and content of teachers' professional and interpersonal relationships in their schools, describing data from a study of teacher cultures and collegiality. The study, which involved two Portuguese secondary schools, examined the informal networks of collegial and interpersonal communication ties…

This 19-minute VHS videotape introduces the structured reflection protocol, a tool designed to help teachers learn by working together and by using student work as a beginning point for their learning together. The videotape shows scenes of the structured reflection protocol being used in diverse school settings (elementary, secondary, rural,…

This book presents an interactive, step-by-step method for implementing and evaluating mentor programs and relationships. The 11 chapters include: (1) "Mentoring: A Welcome Teaching Assistant" (e.g., benefits to mentors, proteges, and districts); (2) "Initial Program Development" (e.g., planning, implementation, and assessment); (3) "What is Our…

This article presents a methodological comparison of beliefs and practices with regard to teaching a third-year introduction to reading and literature course. It reviews the different educational backgrounds of the teachers--one in foreign language acquisition and the other in literary study--and describes their different approaches to teaching…

This study investigated the perceptions of teachers regarding their own professional development along five distinct constructs (teaming, time, organizational support, communication, and professional responsibility). It also compared the perceptions of teachers utilizing a team-based approach to professional development with the perceptions of…

This study explored elementary school teachers' perspectives on their evolving understanding of themselves and children as learners while they were co-researchers in inquiry about children's thinking. Through collaborative inquiry, professional reading, classroom experimentation, shared stories, and personal reflection, participants created a…

This collection of papers presents the reflections of five beginning public school teachers from the greater Boston area on their first years in teaching. They share lessons garnered from teaching, writing, and reflecting together on their introductory experiences. As their first months in teaching passed, they found themselves working in some…

This publication presents a collection of tools that promote instructional coherence. It focuses on the importance of teachers collaborating to develop a deeper understanding of how children learn and exploring relationships between teaching and learning. Coherence leads to improved educational experiences for learners as teachers make their…

A limited approach to team teaching at the college level is described and assessed. Two instructors with solo assignments collaborated to teach a single instructional unit across separate sections of an interdisciplinary course. The experience demonstrated that small-scale joint teaching can have significant advantages while avoiding the practical…