Rethinking Professional Development: Building a Culture of Teacher Learning

Abstract

This article describes a case study of an educational organization, the Big Picture Company, trying to implement a highly unusual school design. It offers a close look at its professional development strategies and how its comprehensive program helps create a culture where teachers can, and do, learn. I detail five professional development strategies Big Picture employs to build communities of practice: Mentoring: The buddy system; Networking: Extending the community; Observation days: Two-way feedback in action; Case studies: Group learning to tap into the collective knowledge base; and Workshops: Learning from experienced teachers and honing individual skills.

Notes

¹The Big Picture Company refers to the larger umbrella organization and the Met, the group of schools in Providence. For the sake of clarity I refer to all the schools in Providence as Big Picture schools.

²I have protected the identity of my participants by using pseudonyms for their names and masking any other identifying details.