Learning Circles: Creating Conditions for Professional Development / Edition 1

by Michelle Collay, Diane Dunlap, Walter Enloe, George W. Gagnon

Overview

Learning circles—small groups of educators who come together to support each other in learning—can make great improvements in the quality of teaching and learning in your school.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803966765
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/18/1998
Series:	One-off Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Michelle Collay is a School Coach for the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (Bay CES) in Oakland, California, a private non-profit organization supporting urban small school initiatives. She supports school leader development and coordinates classroom-based teacher inquiry for the purposes of improving student achievement. Previously, she worked as a faculty member and administrator in teacher preparation and graduate teacher education in public and private universities. Collay conducts seminars and workshops about professional learning communities, constructivist learning design, and portfolio development. Before completing doctoral studies in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Oregon, she taught music and mathematics in elementary and junior high school and continues to play the bassoon in local ensembles. She and her husband, George Gagnon, write, teach, and parent together and are parent leaders in their children’s neighborhood school in Oakland.

George W. Gagnon, Jr. is the Director of K-12 Partnerships in the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He works with teacher and parent partners to support students who would be the first generation in their family to be engineers or scientists. George uses Math Models he has designed to support students in developing a conceptual understanding of mathematics. George has studied learning for thirty years as a teacher, principal, and teacher educator. Now he applies his research on constructivist learning design, appropriate assessment, and learning communities to encourage educational equity in urban public schools. George and Michelle live in Oakland, California, and are actively involved with the neighborhood public schools their children attend.

Table of Contents

Foreword - Linda Lambert
Creating Conditions
Building Community
Constructing Knowledge
Supporting Learners
Documenting Reflection
Assessing Expectations
Changing Cultures
Re-creating Conditions

Editorial Reviews

"A fine blend of analysis and highly practical advice. Useful for anyone interested in the professional development of teachers as a collaborative learning process."

Stephen Brookfield

"This book was written specifically for the professional development of teachers, and every staff developer and principal should buy one for themselves and all their teachers. This book is ‘cutting-edge’ and a must for all educators!"

Carole Funk Ed.D.

"This book was written specifically for the professional development of teachers, and every staff developer and principal should buy one for themselves and all their teachers. This book is ‘cutting-edge’ and a must for all educators!"

Ed.D. - Carole Funk