How the structure and focus of teachers collaborative activities facilitate and constrain teacher l文档格式.docx

How the structure and focus of teachers collaborative activities facilitate and constrain teacher l文档格式.docx

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Abstract

Whatkindsofteachercollaborationaremostlikelytoimprovewhatteachers—and,ultimately,students—learnduringtheirtimeinschool?

Thisstudylookswithinandacrossdifferentcollaborativeactivitiesthatoccurredamongoneteacherteam.Observationaldataanalyzedthroughasocioculturaltheoreticalframeworksuggesthowthestructureandintendedfocusofcollaborativeactivitycaninfluence

（1）howoftenandhowconcretelyteachersdiscusstheirteachingwithcolleagues;

（2）whichaspectsofschoolingcollaborationwilladdress;

and（3）whatopportunitiesforteacherlearningareaffordedandconstrained.Intentionallyfocusingandstructuringteachers'

collaborativeactivitycanimproveitsimpactonschooling.

Keywords:

Collaboration;

Teachercollaboration;

Teacherimprovement;

Teacherprofessionalcommunity;

Professionaldevelopment;

Staffdevelopment

ArticleOutline

1.Introduction

2.Theoreticalframework

2.1.Collaboratingteachersasacommunityofpractice

2.2.Thefaceofpractice

2.3.Thetransparencyofpractice

3.Methods

3.1.Siteandparticipants

3.2.Datasources

3.3.Dataanalysisacrosstheentiredataset

3.4.Samplingandadditionaldataanalysis

3.5.Feedbackfromcriticalothersandinformants

4.Theinfluenceofmeetingstructureandintendedfocusonteachertalk

4.1.Factorone:

thestructureofmeetings

4.1.1.Protocol-guided

4.1.2.Strongly-structuredandfacilitated

4.1.3.Looselystructured

4.2.Factortwo:

intendedfocusofmeetings

4.2.1.Instruction-focused

4.2.2.Student-focused

4.2.3.Schooloperations-focused

4.3.Frequencyofmeetingscategorizedbystructureandintendedfocus

4.4.Theinfluenceofstructureandintendedfocusonthefrequencyoftalkaboutinstruction

4.5.Theinfluenceofstructureandintendedfocusonthespecificitywithwhichpracticeisrevealed

5.Howdifferenttypesofactivitycreateddifferentopportunitiesforlearning

5.1.Instruction-focused,protocol-guidedmeetings

5.2.Instruction-focused,strongly-structuredmeetings

5.3.Student-focusedinformally-structuredcollaboration

5.4.Addressingorignoringaspectsofteacherswork

6.Whatkindsofcollaborationaremostlikelytoimproveschooling?

7.Professionalcommunity:

ifyoubuildit,willtheylearn?

Acknowledgements

AppendixA.Excerptofcodes

AppendixB.Acriticalfriendsprotocol

Criticalfriendsprotocol

Protocol

References

IntheU.S.,researchontheorganizationalnormsandconditionsofteachingpaintsaportraitofteachingasworkwhichiscarriedoutlargelyalone,withahighdegreeofautonomyandisolationfromcolleagues（[Little,1990],[Lortie,1975]and[McLaughlinandTalbert,2001]）.Whenteachersdointeract,theyusuallyvalueharmonyandcongenialityoveractivitiesthatriskconflictregardingthemeansandendsofschooling（[Achinstein,2002]and[Little,1990]）.Duringthepasttwodecades,animpressivearrayofscholarsandreformershavesoughttocounteractthetraditionalprivacyandisolationofU.S.teachers,callingforstrengtheningvariouskindsof“community”andpromotingteachercollaborationtoimproveteachingandlearninginschools（e.g.,[Cochran-SmithandLytle,1992],[DarlingHammond,1997],[DufourandEaker,1998],[FullanandHargreaves,1991],[LouisandMarks,1998],[McLaughlinandTalbert,2001]and[Meier,1995]）.

Asmallbutgrowingbodyofresearchconfirmsthatparticipationinmorecollaborativeprofessionalcommunitiesimpactsteachingpracticesandimprovesstudentlearning（Vescio,Ross,&

Adams,2008）.Forinstance,LouisandMarks（1998）studied24restructuringelementary,middle,andhighschools,showingthatthepresenceofmorecohesiveprofessionalcommunitycorrelateswithanobservableincreaseintheuseofsomedesirablekindsofpedagogy;

inaddition,85%ofthevarianceinstudentachievementwasaccountedforbythestrengthofaschool'

sprofessionalcommunity.Suchpositiveoutcomesmayoccurbecausemorecollaborativeworkingconditionscanleadwholedepartmentsorevenwholeschoolstodevelopsharednorms,values,practices,andorientationstowardscolleaguesandstudents（[Achinstein,2002],[McLaughlin,1993],[McLaughlinandTalbert,2001]and[Westheimer,1998]）.Teacherswhoindicatethattheyworkincohesiveandhighlycollegialprofessionalcommunitiesalsoreporthighlevelsofcommitmenttoteachingallstudents,highlevelsofenergyandenthusiasm,andhighlevelsofinnovation（McLaughlin,1993）.Twothoroughreviewsofresearchonprofessionallearningcommunities（[Bolametal.,2005]and[Vescioetal.,2008]）concludethatteachercommunitiesaremosteffectivewhentheyfocusonstudentlearningorevidenceofsuchlearning.Onesystematicreviewof14studiesofcollaborativeprofessionaldevelopmentconcludedthatthepresenceofsuchongoingprofessionalcollaborationwas“linkedtomeasuredincreasesinstudentperformanceinallthestudies”（Cordingley,Bell,Rundell,&

Evans,2003,p.4）;

tworeviewsofresearchonprofessionallearningcommunitiessupportthisclaim（[Bolametal.,2005]and[Vescioetal.,2008]）.

Althoughtwodecadesofresearchsuggestthatteachercollaborationandcommunitymatterforteachers'

workandstudentachievement,relativelylittleresearchhassoughttolookcarefullywithincasesofteachercommunitytounderstandwhether—andhow—differenttypesofteachercollaborationafforddifferenttypesofteacherlearning.Teachersmightdomanydifferentthingstogether.Whatkindsofteachercollaborationaremostlikelytoimprovewhatteachers—and,ultimately,students—canlearnduringtheirtimeinschool?

Howdodifferentkindsofactivitiesfacilitateandconstrainwhatteacherscanlearnfromtheirjointwork?

Withoutcleareranswerstothesequestions,itwillbehardertodesigneffectiveteachercollaboration,tosupportit,andtoknowwheretolooktoassesstheresults.Thisarticleaddressesthesequestionswhilereportingonacasestudyofintensive,ongoingcollaborationatoneschool.

Toexploreteachers'

opportunitiesforlearningfromcollaboration,weconceptualizeteachers'

ongoingworkwithcolleaguesasacommunityofpractice.WorksbyJeanLaveandEtienneWengerhavedevelopedtheconceptofcommunitiesofpracticetodescribesiteswherepeoplejointlyconstruct,transform,conserve,and/ornegotiatethemeaningsofpractices（[LaveandWenger,1991]and[Wenger,1998]）.Suchcommunitiesformwhenpeopleengageinasharedenterpriseovertime.Incommunitiesofpractice,thekeymechanismforindividualandgrouplearningcomprisesaccesstoobservingandthenparticipatinginthepracticesatthecoreofthecommunity.Thus,novicePh.D.researchersmightjoinaresearchgrouptogainaccesstopracticesassociatedwithresearch.Theyfirstwatchfacultyorexperiencedstudentswriteaninterviewprotocolanddoaninterview;

theylatermayco-interviewwithanexperiencedpeer,andgetfeedbackontheirfledglingefforts.Inacommunityofpractice,novices—andexperiencedpractitioners—canlearnfromobserving,askingquestions,andactuallyparticipatingalongsideotherswithmoreordifferentexperience.Learningisfacilitatedwhennovicesandexperiencedpractitionersorganizetheirworkinwaysthatallowallparticipantstheopportunitytosee,discuss,andengageinsharedpractices.Participantsinsuchcommunitieslearn—orjointlyconstruct—practices,whichcanbeunderstoodaswaysofachievingdesiredendsintheworldsuchasfacilitatingstudents'

learningofhistory.Practicescanbeunderstoodbothasteleologicalentities—ascontainingwiththemspecificpurposesorends—andassocioculturaltraditions,i.e.,socially-constructedwaysofbeingandactingintheworld.

Doctoralstudentscaneasilyengageinsharedpracticesineachother'

spresence;

collaboratingteachers,however,usuallymeetinatimeandplaceapartfromtheiractualengagementinteachingpractices（Little,2002）.Withtheexceptionofteacherswhosecollaborationinvolvespeerobservationorjointteaching,mostcollaboratingteachersmustrepresenttheirworkverballyorthroughartifactsofpractice,suchasstudentworksamplesorlessonplans.Little（2002）hasstudiedteachers'

everydayconversationduringongoingcollaboration,andhastheorizedonseveralfactorslikelytoinfluencethelearningthatcanoccurinsuchsettings.Littleobservedthatmicropoliticalprocessesamongteacherscanleadgroupstoopenuporclosedowndiscussionofcertainaspectsoftheirwork;

thus,the“face”ofpracticewhichteachersmakepublicfortheirownreflectionandothers'

learningorcritiquecomprisesonekeyfactoraffectingwhatteachersmightlearnfromtheircollaborativework（p.934）.

Inordertothinkaboutwhataspectsofteachers'

workarepartofthepubliclyavailablefaceofpractice,weidentifiedsixdistinctaspectsofsecondaryteachers'

workbasedonothers'

conceptualizations（Grossman&

Richert,1988）andourowndata.Thus,weareinterestedinwhetherthejointworkaddressesthefollowingaspectsofteacherswork:

contentandpedagogicalcontentknowledgespecifictotheirdiscipline;

classroommanagement;

pedagogy;

methodsofasses