Imagine the challenge of being immersed in a dynamic learning network where you play brinkmanship with being overwhelmed by a plethora of information, comments, and conversations on a topic of intense interest to you. Through adept facilitation, the comments and encouragement of fellow participants, and your own perseverance, you develop a network…

This paper explores how a preservice teacher defined, experienced, and transacted with multiple professional communities in becoming a social justice-minded urban English teacher. It extends research on urban teachers and professional communities by arguing that professional community in relation to urban teachers must be informed by…

An effective learning community helps foster positive student learning experiences and outcomes. However, in distance learning environments, the communication barriers inevitably hinder the interaction among the students because of the lower levels of social presence. These barriers present challenges in building learning communities in an online…

Learning has been described by two conceptual metaphors: as individual acquisition of knowledge ("acquisition metaphor"), and as an enculturation into a subject community ("participation metaphor"). On the other hand, academics' conceptions of teaching are usually reported to vary between teacher and student orientation. In…

Increasingly, instructional improvement efforts include teacher communities as part of their overall strategy, yet the relationship between teachers' talk and professional learning remains underspecified. Using a discourse perspective on learning, this article compares opportunities to learn (OTLs) in the collaborative conversations of 3…

This paper reports on the initial stage of an exploratory project based in six primary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)--and on plans for its extension. The potential value of the project as a curricular initiative is set out, from both practical and research perspectives. Its framing as a vehicle for the continuous professional development…

In this article, I re-visit the gap between educational research and practice, by reviewing some initiatives that have been taken to bridge the gap. I argue that most of these initiatives do not pay due attention to local contexts of research use. They tend to focus more on the "management" of researchers' theoretical knowledge than on…

Numerous districts are implementing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as a part of reform efforts to improve student achievement to meet external accountability mandates. Few districts, however, have considered the essential supports and components that teachers working in PLCs require for these teams to result in instructional improvement.…

In a global and volatile world, teachers are being constantly challenged to support students' literacy development and assist them to develop knowledge and skills to expand into new ways of knowing. This two-year school-university partnership is dedicated to enhancing teachers' learning about language with the goal of building teachers'…

Currently, there is a shift in language learning from the "acquisition" metaphor to the "participation" metaphor. This involves viewing learners as active constructors of knowledge who can collaborate together to create meaningful language learning situations and contextualised practices. Thus, this worksheet aims at exploring…

Teaching is an ever-evolving profession, one in which teachers must stay abreast of recent research and trends to continually deepen their knowledge and refine their skills. Therefore, teachers need high quality professional learning opportunities to help them master the content they teach and strengthen their teaching skills. Professional…

This study described the subjective opinions of teachers about their experiences at Edcamp, an unconference-style form of teacher professional development (PD). Traditional PD has been maligned for being overly expensive and ineffectual in affecting changes in teacher practice. In order to defend teachers' decisions to partake in Edcamp-style PD,…

Postsecondary education refers to any education beyond high school. It builds a strong foundation for the strength of the economy and elicits other benefits as well. For those who earn a postsecondary degree or credential, there are additional career options and more income is earned over a lifetime (American Psychological Association, 2017;…

Current scholarship focused on a college-going culture, and college readiness in schools often underestimates or gives little attention to the role of the school leader. This study draws on qualitative data from a larger descriptive case study to help fill this gap by examining the role and approach of one principal at a public high school in…

Initial plans for this project arose from a need to address issues of professional development of science and technology teachers that went beyond the norm available within school board settings. Two teams of 4 teachers responded to an invitation to participate in a collaborative action research project. Collaborative action research was chosen in…