Interactive Staff Development Supports Collaboration When Learning to Teach

Abstract

Teachers' adoption of a new teaching practice is related to their investment in staff development and the degree to which they consider it worthwhile. We conducted an interactive staff development, which involved teachers in the analysis, practice, and refinement of new instructional activities. Data from teaching observations, interviews and surveys indicate that the interactive nature of the staff development assisted the teachers to adapt the featured instructional practices in ways that both mirrored and challenged their personal beliefs and knowledge about teaching and learning. The sustained interactive staff development process helped the teachers re-consider the efficacy of their current approaches to teaching while integrating new instructional practices.

Going Beyond Test-Taking Strategies: Building Self-Regulated Students and Teachers

“…These groups involve teachers bringing current issues to the table for discussion and implementation. Instructional principles that acknowledge and incorporate learners' beliefs and knowledge are also embedded in the constructivist theory (Florio-Ruane, Raphael, Highfield, & Berne, 2002;Scanlon, Gallego, Duran, & Reyes, 2005). Lefever-Davis, Wilson, Moore, Kent, & Hopkins (2003) support collaboration as an avenue to achieve meaningful inquiry.…”