cameron paterson teachmeet (city)

Classroom isolation leads teachers to fall back on the ‘apprenticeship of observation’ that they undertook as school students.

“Teachers continue to work alone in cell-like classrooms, separated from other teachers, in physical structures that resemble prisons and mental hospitals.”

Vivian Troen & Kitty Boles

Spray and pray

Schools persist in practices that do not work.

“Schools learn collectively in teams and teachers get better by working in teams on teaching issues.”

Professor Richard Elmore

“Watching most teams operate in schools is like watching Astroturf grow. “

Professor Richard Elmore

Think of a group that you are (or were) part of that learned really well . . . what made it function so well?

“When a group is working well, we learn to listen to and respect diverse points of view, to share and exchange knowledge, and to clarify, modify, and extend our own thinking.”

Project Zero

Training group members to function as such prior to group engagement can improve interactions and increase productivity.

50%

70% Conditional Claims

Assertive Claims

TeamPerformance

HighLow

30%

How do claims of knowing vary across teams?

        ?              

? ?  

  ?     ?

  ? ? ?  

? ? ? ? ?

Team talk “let’s”

“we”

Conflict is normal, inherent, and essential to community practice and organisational learning.

Risk-taking

Distributed leadership

Common purpose

A development culture, not a compliance-oriented culture.

“The job of a leader is to follow the work, not to dictate the work.”

Professor Richard Elmore

80% of professional knowledge is built informally.

Networks rather than hierarchies

“Our future is not a future of fixed practices. Our future is a future of dramatic transformations. The more I know about learning, the more problematic I find this institution called school.”

Professor Richard Elmore