Tuesday, May 17, 2005

The Impact of Organizational Structure

“High schools are places where teachers are constrained by time and space, and where teachers generally experience professional isolation from one another. Historically, these organizations have responded by granting—and the teachers have responded by taking—considerable autonomy once the door to the classroom closes.”

It has often been written about that the isolation that teachers experience during the work day is not positively impacting student achievement. Teaching is a process that one experiences and grows into. In order to do this, teachers must collaborate and communicate with other teaching professionals. In my work this semester with a group of six teachers, this has been an observation. Our situation may not be perfect (two groups of three teachers meeting once a month), but they find those three hours of interaction to be the highlight of this professional development experience.

The sharing and discussion that goes on during our time together gives them a sense of support as they struggle to integrate technology in their classrooms. When we encounter a problem, we collectively put our heads together and work through a solution. Frequently, teachers don’t collaborate, they feel isolated, and burn out quickly, being consumed by the pressures from many competing interests.

I am hoping that what we have done this past semester can become a model for what goes on in our school in terms of professional development. We need to orchestrate these opportunities for teachers to think about and work through problems related to all sorts of high school issues, including the integration of technology, by paying particular attention to how we organize our schools and our school day. Collaboration really is a powerful strategies that can help teachers overcome school reform hurdles.

Posted by Randy on 05/17 at 05:59 AM
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