reflective teacher communities

I was struck with the article about blogs and wikis. It really made a case for how useful these new technologies can be for building a more reflective teacher community. As I was reading it, I imagined a kind of professional development that was ongoing through out the year. School administration would actually build in time in the schedule to have reflective discussions based on whatever blog teachers were following, or wiki that was being built. I know "build in time" seems like a ridiculous thing to say, but it might be in place of hours of professional development that is often just time for teachers to sit and grade a stack of papers or tests. It would be PD that was far more meaningful and personal for teachers. Its also a way to make teachers responsible for their own professional growth. There are probably enough blogs out there for an entire faculty to be following, as well as an opportunity to collaborate on a wiki.

I'm also glad to read ideas about making schools better learning environments for teachers. I agree with the quote included by Richard Elmore, that schools are hostile places for learning. I've worked in schools where this was the case and the culture of surveillance, mistrust, and laziness was palpable among most of the staff. The administration was viewed as an adversary to the teachers. I believe, and hope, that this was an extreme case. But even in schools where the administration is not the ideal supportive and thoughtful body of people we all hope for as teachers, this system of PD may not be so negatively affected. Many poorly run schools have very few meaningful and substantive PD opportunities for their teachers within their schools. Surely it can be enhanced by a supportive administration, but by nature, it is hard to mess up. There will always be teachers who may put very little energy into finding a good Blog and finding ways to challenge and improve one's own teaching, but it just seems like teachers would be excited to have more control over their PD, and the fact that they are given time to be reflective. This shows that teachers are also valued as learners and not just as workers. It is also a huge commitment to genuine reflective practices.

giselle