Composition
Teachers who work with the same students
Description/Examples
More typically found at middle and high schools, these teams cross over subject area lines to bring together teachers who share the same students.
Teachers who teach the same content
Can be found at all levels—grade level teams at the elementary level, and department teams at the secondary level.
Continued
Ground rules, like manners, are intended to make things work more smoothly. They define how people will relate to one another as they work together. They spell out the group members’ expectations for themselves and each other. Adherence to ground rules shows respect for fellow team members and enables the group to focus on what needs to be done without spending an undue amount of time on how things should be done.
The following ground rules are suggested as a model for study teams to utilize in devel-oping their own norms:
Attend all meetings—if someone can’t attend, determine if the meeting can be rescheduled.
Participate actively in discussions and complete all assignments on time.
Listen to understand, not to debate or refute.
Let others know before you get overwhelmed and are not able to complete your tasks.
Keep it between team members—no critical comments about teammates to others.
Review these ground rules and revise them as necessary to reflect the expectations of the professional learning community as a whole. Individual study teams can further revise these ground rules in order to tailor them to their own situation. Having the study teams begin with a set of ground rules that reflects the consensus of the faculty will make collaboration among study teams easier and more effective. The following are some suggestions for establishing your own set of ground rules:
Print the examples of ground rules on a handout or poster, and share them with the faculty or study team.
Using the examples as a starting point, revise, add to, or delete the statements until the list reflects the faculty’s or the study team’s consensus as to how it would like to operate in the collective study of reading.
Post the final wording of the ground rules, and make sure that each individual has a personal copy.
Periodically conduct a check to ensure that the ground rules are serving their purpose. You may find that as your collegiality grows, some of the ground rules could be revised to reflect more effective or preferred ways of working together.
Methods of Study Team Selection
Composition Description/Examples
Teachers who are interested in a particular topic
This arrangement works well when groups are ad hoc and change during the course of a single school year.
Teachers at varied stages of their professional careers
A team may include two veteran teachers and two less experienced teachers or one first year teacher, or two teachers with 5 to 10 years of experience and one teacher with 10+ years of teaching experience.
Currently existing group structures
Most schools already have some form of grouping of teachers (grade-level teams or departments), and those groupings may be retained.
“Three teachers and an administrator”
This structure enables teachers to see administrators who are committed to continuous learning for them-selves as well as for others.
Preparing for new roles
A change in school culture that truly enhances teacher learning will provide opportunities for teachers to be involved in leadership activities that focus on direct interaction with their fellow teachers, peer-coaching study teams, and action research. These roles expand teachers’
responsibility for their own learning and the sharing of responsibility for student learning.
They contribute to the construction of a professional learning community where all teachers model the types of learning in which they want students to engage. Performing well in these roles enables teachers to make significant contributions to school improvement. Lieberman (1995) identifies three examples of new roles for teachers in professional development:
teacher leader, peer coach, and teacher researcher.
Teacher leaders
Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) identify teacher leaders as “those interested in playing a larger leadership role” in efforts to produce change. Teacher leaders or study-group leaders should consider the following tasks as they apply to professional development:
Helping others look critically at proposed study-group activities to determine if the content addresses a priority need and if it has proven effective in similar settings
Helping the group stay focused on a limited number of change initiatives or projects. If everything is attempted, nothing will succeed
Interacting with the administration to determine and/or influence the level of support for the project
Assessing faculty interest in the project
Involving faculty members in collaborative exchange and experimentation that builds a collaborative culture
Peer coach
A second role that is a critical part of life within a professional learning community is the peer coach. The purpose of peer coaching, as mentioned earlier, has traditionally focused on supporting the implementation of new practices to the extent that their impact on student achievement can be assessed. However, Joyce and Showers (1995) have refined the roles and purposes of peer coaching to include “building permanent structures for collegial relationships.” Peer coaching involves
Sustained use of the new practices being implemented as a part of the study team’s activities.
Help and support of fellow study-team members through shared planning, setting objectives, and developing materials and lesson plans.
Collection of data on the implementation of new practices and the effects on student learning.
Shared planning, cited by Joyce and Showers as a primary activity of peer coaching, requires time for teachers to talk about objectives and the types of lessons, activities, and materials needed to reach those objectives. During planning meetings, teachers reflect on what they want students to learn and identify ways to divide up the labor involved in creating lesson plans and materials. Shared planning is a primary activity of study teams.
Teacher researcher
The role of teacher researcher is based on the following assumptions (Loucks-Horsley et al., 1987):
Teachers are inclined to search for data to answer questions that have direct application to a pressing problem in their classrooms and to reflect on the data to formulate solutions.
By contributing to or formulating their own questions and by collecting their own data to answer them, teachers will develop new understandings that will contribute to their professional growth.
Suggestions for moving from research to action
After reading through the background material, join with others in discussing the new roles for teachers that emerge as the faculty becomes a professional learning community.
For each new role, generate a list of things that can be done for and by teachers to prepare them to assume these new roles, and add a second list of ways to provide ongoing support for teachers after they have begun experimenting with these new roles.