Description
Book SynopsisThe international collection of essays contained in this volume offer a comprehensive look at how small groups are being employed in the field of education today and the purposes for which they are being used. Where teaching is concerned, readers of this volume come to know how teachers experience professional development in book clubs, Critical Friends Groups, and teacher research groups and how action research has been used by teachers in a particular curriculum reform project. Where teacher education is concerned, readers are afforded an insider view of what is happening in various cohorts and other small group configurations throughout the nation and the world, particularly with respect to diversity. Finally, readers catch a glimpse of what is occurring in higher education and how professors learn to be teacher educators, contributing members of the academy, and collaborative colleagues in their efforts to support and enhance student learning along the educational continuum.
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Introduction Part 3 Teaching Chapter 4 Overview and Framework Chapter 5 Collaborations and Conversations in Communities of Learning: Professional Development that Matters Chapter 6 Constructing Practice through Conversation in Professional Learning Groups: Variations on a Theme Chapter 7 What Makes Some Learning Communities So Effective? And How Can I Support My Own? Chapter 8 Commingling Action Research and Professional Learning Communities: An Illustratio of Key Components Chapter 9 Posing Questions: Teacher Research Groups in Search of Answers Chapter 10 Creating Learning Communities: An Interrogation of a Sustainable Professional Development Model Chapter 11 Summary and Implications Part 12 Teacher Education Chapter 13 Overview and Framework Chapter 14 Cohort Learning and Complexity Thinking: The Case of the CITE Teacher Education Programme Chapter 15 Seminars as Small Group Learning Sites in Teacher Preparation Chapter 16 Preservice Candidates "Looking at Student Work" in a Professional Development School Setting Chapter 17 Tracing Learning in Collaborative Reflection Meetings of Student Teachers Chapter 18 Cracks in the Mirror: Discovering Teacher Candidates' Strategies for Resisting Reflection Chapter 19 Exploring Significance and Benefits of Group Learning for Developing Cultural Competence with Teacher Candidates Chapter 20 Beginning Teachers' Inquiry in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Exploring the Power of Small Learning Communities Chapter 21 "It Could Take 40 Minutes, It Could Take 3 Days": Authentic Small Group Learning for Aboriginal Education Chapter 22 Summary and Implications Part 23 Higher Education Chapter 24 Overview and Framework Chapter 25 The Somehow of Teaching: Small Groups, Collaboration, and Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Chapter 26 The Research Issues Table: A Place of Possibilities for the Education of Teacher Educators Chapter 27 Voices from a Reflective Space: Teacher Educators Reflect on Practice Chapter 28 The Faculty Academy: A Place for Grounding and Growth Chapter 29 Summary and Implications Chapter 30 Afterword
