What Matters is Mutual Investment and Evidence-Based Dialogue: Designing Meaningful Contexts for Teacher Learning

How might teachers be supported as professional learners, in activities and conversations that assist, rather than distract from, the complex work they do each day? In this article we describe a public school/university partnership model designed to support practice-oriented communication among educators– where professionals from various roles, institutional affiliations, and experience levels, communicate together about the details of their teaching. We outline the principles behind our approach and describe the specific practices we use to promote communication that engages teachers’ pedagogical thinking. We share how teachers’ own practice can become a centerpiece of professional development, and how authentic questions and evidence help educators develop insights into the relationship between their own assumptions, curriculum materials, and student understanding.