The impact of a professional community on the leadership development of induction-year teachers in the United States

Abstract

Through case-study reports, this paper examines the development of two induction-year teachers (years one to three) through their participation in a professional development community in the United States: the Invitational Summer Institute (ISI) of the National Writing Project. Typically, the ISI focuses its professional development efforts on veteran educators as they negotiate sound writing pedagogy and become teacher-leaders in their communities. At the site in this study, induction-year teachers were intentionally invited into the ISI as a way of supporting their development as well as their longevity in the profession. The authors explore how including induction-year teachers in the summer institute may change the nature of it as professional development but also consider the circumstances in which novice teachers might find a supportive professional community, one factor identified in the literature as contributing to teachers thriving in the profession. Results indicate that the two induction teachers negotiated and identified ways in which they developed as writers, as teachers of writing and as teacher-leaders.

Keywords:

• induction year teachers
• teaching of writing
• teacher leadership
• equity