Into the Classroom

Teachers are the "lone rangers" of education. They are sequestered in their classrooms, unable to see what their colleagues are doing. All too often, good teachers have few, if any, opportunities to share their teaching techniques with others in their profession.

Based on the development of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Into the Classroom clearly shows the advantages of bringing teaching into the public arena and making it possible for many people to see the nature and quality of the teaching that goes on inside schools. Once teaching is more public we can create unprecedented opportunities for teachers to learn from one another and for others to participate constructively in supporting and improving schools.Into the Classroom outlines the myriad issues that must be addressed in order for the teaching profession to become a true learning profession.

Into the Classroom contains well-researched recommendations for ways to facilitate communication, collegiality, and information sharing and includes suggestions for

• Documenting and representing what teachers actually do in the classroom
• Establishing new forums for the presentation, publication, and review of teachers' work
• Creating an audience for teachers' work and building the collective capacity to interpret and assess what goes on in the classroom
• Implementing standards that recognize and encourage teachers' professionalism
• Developing new standards that support Federal mandates for improving teaching quality

In addition, Into the Classroom offers useful case examples of professional development, and describes the policies and practices that help teachers to develop and share their own expertise.

Hatch (education, Columbia U.) describes the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) program's work on the transformation of teaching from a relatively isolated activity to a "public" one in which teachers are able to learn from one another, and policy makers and the general public can participate constructively in supporting and improving schools. Following an overview of the CASTL program and the rationale for making teaching more public, the text reports the experiences of a small group of the K-12 teachers who participated in the first cohorts of the CASTL program and examines the challenges of such reform, recent efforts to use technology for such reform, and key developments needed in the future. For practitioners, researchers, administrators, policymakers, and other educational decision makers. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Teachers are the lone rangers of education. They are sequestered in their classrooms, unable to see what their colleagues are doing. All too often, good teachers have few, if any, opportunities to share their teaching techniques with others in their profession.

Based on the development of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Into the Classroom clearly shows the advantages of bringing teaching into the public arena and making it possible for many people to see the nature and quality of the teaching that goes on inside schools. Once teaching is more public we can create unprecedented opportunities for teachers to learn from one another and for others to participate constructively in supporting and improving schools. Into the Classroom outlines the myriad issues that must be addressed in order for the teaching profession to become a true learning profession.

Into the Classroom contains well-researched recommendations for ways to facilitate communication, collegiality, and information sharing and includes suggestions for:

Documenting and representing what teachers actually do in the classroom

Establishing new forums for the presentation, publication, and review of teachers' work

Creating an audience for teachers' work and building the collective capacity to interpret and assess what goes on in the classroom

Implementing standards that recognize and encourage teachers' professionalism

Developing new standards that support Federal mandates for improving teaching quality In addition, Into the Classroom offers useful case examples of professional development, and describes the policies and practices that help teachers todevelop and share their own expertise.

Praise for Into the Classroom

"I am hard-pressed to imagine work more appropriate to the Foundation's mission as articulated by Andrew Carnegie 100 years ago this year, 'To do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher.' Few things can bring greater dignity to teaching at all levels than the expectation that teachers themselves hold the ability and responsibility for learning from their own practice and systemically improving it. I hope that readers will find this volume and its message as heartening as I do."

—From the Foreword by Lee S. Shulman

"The development of the scholarship of teaching in K-12 classrooms is the centerpiece of this fascinating book. Hatch helps make visible how teachers influence people, structures, and ideas when they are supported in a community that encourages making teaching public. Such knowledge is critical for policy makers, administrators, and teachers themselves."

—Ann Lieberman, senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundationfor the Advancement of Teaching

Thomas Hatchis co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on creating methods and resources that support the examination of teaching at all levels and issues of large-scale school reform.

Foreword.

Preface: Making Teaching Public.

Overview: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

1. Introduction.

Bringing Teaching Out of the Shadows.

2. In the Classroom.

Challenges and Opportunities for Learning from Teaching.

3. Beyond the Classroom.

How One Teacher’s Inquiry Can Influence Her Peers.

4. Beyond the School.

How Teachers’ Learning Can Advance the Field.

5. Knowledge Out of Practice.

Using Technology to Build on Teachers’ Expertise.

6. Conclusion.

References.

Index.