Teachers in Professional Communities

Improving Teaching and Learning

Edited by: Ann Lieberman, Lynne Miller

This new volume, edited by leading experts, uncovers new insights and understanding in the world of teacher work communities. Based on many years of research and experience, the editors believe teachers learn best within work communities. Here they explore what research and practice have revealed about how such communities develop and flourish, and how to negotiate the inherent tension that comes with improving competence and building community simultaneously. Using the five themes that emerged from their studies of practice (context, capacity, content, commitment, and challenge), the editors examine selected research studies, personal reflections, and give cases that were specially commissioned for this volume. The text begins with essays on research and long-term development projects and concludes with vignettes that address the following questions:

• What is the context of your program?
• How does your program deal with facilitating both competence and the building of community?
• What are the challenges and how has your program dealt with them?

WestEd's Mayumi Shinohara and Kirsten R. Daehler contribute a key chapter, "Understanding Science: The Role of Community in Content Learning."