Showing papers by "Pam Grossman published in 2000"

Transitions into Teaching: Learning to Teach Writing in Teacher Education and Beyond

Abstract: This longitudinal study followed 10 beginning teachers from their last year of preservice education into their first 3 years of full-time teaching. Using sociocultural theory, we describe how these teachers appropriated a set of pedagogical tools for teaching writing. Data sources included approximately 5 interviews and at least 5 classroom observations a year, as well as observations and interviews with cooperating teachers, supervisors, and mentor teachers. The analysis suggests that teachers drew on pedagogical tools introduced during teacher education to develop their classroom practice. Conceptual tools that were buttressed with practical strategies proved to be most influential. The settings in which teachers taught also shaped teachers' developing understanding and practice. Finally, pedagogical tools developed during teacher education were even more evident during the teachers' 2nd year of teaching, as they tried to approximate their goal of good language arts instruction. The results of this stud...

What Makes Teacher Community Different from a Gathering of Teachers? An Occasional Paper.

Abstract: In this paper, the researchers draw on their experience with a professional development project to propose a model for studying the formation and development of teacher community. The project described brought together 22 English and social studies teachers, as well as a Special Educator and an ESL teacher, from an urban high school for a period of 2 1/2 years. The teachers met twice a month to read together in the field of history and literature and to work on an interdisciplinary curriculum. This detailed account of the first 18 months of the project sheds new light on definitions of professional community, its stages of development, and the challenges that confront community in the workplace of high schools. One of the challenges consists of the need to negotiate an "essential tension" at the heart of teachers' professional community. Among this group of teachers, many felt that the primary reason to meet was to improve classroom practices and student learning, while others were more interested in the potential for continuing intellectual development in the subjects they taught. The researchers--who deliberately built the essential tension into the project--claim that these two views must both be respected in any successful attempt to create and sustain intellectual community in the workplace. The Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. researchers also describe the challenges of maintaining diverse perspectives within a community and how familiar fault lines--both in society and in school--threaten the pursuit of community. The paper includes a model of the markers of community formation--as manifested in participants' talk and actions--and concludes with a discussion of why teachers must continue to care about professional communities. (Contains 33 notes, 109 references, 2 figures, and a table of data.) (Author/SR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. What Makes Teacher Community Different from a Gathering of Teachers? U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Renewer, ?no improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI This document nas been reproduced as received from tne person or organization originating it. Minor changes nave been made to improve reproduction ouality Points of view or opinions stated in this document 00 not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy An Occasional Paper co-sponsored by Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy and Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA) by Pamela Grossman Stanford University Sam Wineburg Stephen Woolworth University of Washington

Interdisciplinary curriculum : challenges to implementation

Abstract: This collection of essays examines the reputed merits of the interdisciplinary curriculum movement that has gained widespread popularity in recent years Going beyond the platitudes, they explore the complex texture of what actually happens in the classroom when theory meets reality The contributors provide accounts of how curriculum reform plays out in practice The questions they address are consequential, the documentation they present about the interdisciplinary movement across different systems, subjects and settings, is thorough Some of the topics addressed are: how teachers with diverse backgrounds come together to plan curricula; what happens to school culture when an interdisciplinary effort is spearheaded by adminstrators; and what transpires when new curricula are put into practice either at the local school level or across major urban districts