This article explores several professional development models currently being used in the US and in other countries to support teacher learning, including coaching, mentoring and communities of practice. While in some contexts the activities of the participants are informed by social constructivist views of learning, the authors argue that communities of practice offers the most promising lens for sustained growth and change. Two contrasting scenarios are presented offering a sharp illustration of the difference between a coach who assumes and maintains the position of expert, versus a consultant positioned as a collaborator and colleague in meaning-making through turn-taking and authentic dialogue. Literacy coaching and mentoring based on traditional definitions and practices may set the tone for professional development that diminishes the power and voice of teachers as agents for change — their own and that of their colleagues. This article emphasizes that it is the language of collaboration and dialogic processes that influence the development of learners within the community as it simultaneously shapes the identities of those who inquire within it.
Bakhtin M. ( 1981) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin , ed. ME Holquist, trans. C Emerson and M Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press.
2.
Barnes D. ( 1976) From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Penguin Education.
3.
Barton D. and Tusting K. ( 2005) Beyond Communities of Practice: Language Power and Social Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4.
Beyene T., Anglin M., Sanchez W. and Ballon M. ( 2002) Mentoring and relational mutuality: Protégés’ perspectives. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development41: 87-102.
5.
Britton J. ( 1969) Talking to learn. In: Barnes D, Britton J and Rosen H (eds) Language, the Learner, and School. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Education, 79-115.
6.
Brooks JG, Libresco AS and Plonczak I. ( 2007) Spaces of liberty: Battling the new soft bigotry of NCLB . Phi Delta Kappan88(10): 749-756.
7.
Bullough RV, Young J., Birrell JR, Clark DC, Egan MW, Erickson L., Frankovich M., Brunetti J. and Welling M. ( 2003) Teaching with a peer: A comparison of two models of student teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education19(1): 57-73.
8.
Cochran-Smith M. ( 1991) Learning to teach against the grain. Harvard Educational Review61(3): 279-311.
9.
Cochran-Smith M. and Power C. ( 2010) New directions in teacher education. Educational Leadership67(8): 6-13.
10.
Cole M. and Engstrom Y. ( 1993) A cultural-historical approach to distributed cognition . In G. Salomon (Ed.) Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations. (pp.1 -46). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
11.
Costa AL and Garmston RJ ( 2002) Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools. Norwood, MAChristopherGordon.
12.
Darling-Hammond L., Wei RC, Andree A., Richardson N. and Orphanos S. ( 2009) Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher Development in the United States and Abroad. Palo Alto, CA: National Staff Development Council and School Redesign Network, Stanford University.
13.
Davies B. and Harré R. ( 1990) Positioning: The discursive production of selves . Journal of the Theory of Social Behavior20: 43-65.
14.
Dewey J. ( 1938) Logic: the theory of inquiry. Oxford , England: Holt Publishers.
15.
Dunne F., Nave B. and Lewis A. ( 2000) Critical Friends Groups: Teachers Helping Teachers to Improve Student Learning. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Center for Evaluation, Development and Research.2000 December , No. 28.
16.
Edwards JL and Newton RR ( 1995) The effects of cognitive coaching on teacher efficacy and empowerment. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April.
17.
Fairclough N. ( 1992) Discourse and social change. Discourse & Society3(2): 193-217.
18.
Fletcher S. ( 2007) Educational research mentoring and coaching as co-creative synergy. International Journal of Coaching and Mentoring5(2): 1-10.
19.
Freire P. ( 1970) The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
20.
Gamston R., Linder C. and Whitaker J. ( 1993) Reflections on cognitive coaching. Educational Leadership51(2): 57-61.
21.
Gee JP ( 1999) Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method . New York: Routledge.
22.
Gutierrez K., Crosland K. and Berlin D. ( 2001) Reconsidering coaching: Assisting teachers’ literacy practices in the zone of proximal development. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA, April.
23.
Hargreaves A. ( 1994) Development and desire: A postmodern perspective . Paper presented at the American Association of Educational Researchers , New Orleans, LA, April.
24.
Hargreaves A. ( 2000) Four ages of professionalism and professional learning . Teachers & Teaching6(2): 151-182.
25.
Hargreaves A. and Fullan M. ( 2000) Mentoring in the new millennium. Theory into Practice39(1): 50-56.
26.
Holland D., Lachicotte Jr W, Skinner D. and Cain C. ( 1998) Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
27.
Jewell T. and Pratt D. ( 1999) Literature discussions in the primary grades: Children’s thoughtful discourse about books and what teachers can do to make it happen . Reading Teacher52: 842-850.
28.
Johnston PH ( 2004) Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers .
29.
Kochan FK and Kunkel RC ( 1998) The learning coalition: Professional development schools in partnership. Journal of Teacher Education49(5): 325-333.
30.
Kochan FK and Trimble SB ( 2000) From mentoring to co-mentoring: Establishing collaborative relationships. Theory into Practice39(1): 20-28.
31.
Kohler FW, Crilley KM, Shearer DD and Good G. ( 1997) Effects of peer coaching: On teacher and student outcomes . The Journal of Educational Research90(4): 240-250.
32.
Lave J. and Wenger E. ( 1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
33.
Lotman Y. ( 1988) Text within text. Soviet Psychology26: 32-51.
34.
Manouchehri A. ( 2002) Developing teaching knowledge through peer discourse . Teaching and Teacher Education18: 715-737.
35.
Mullen C. and Lick DW ( 1999) New Directions in Mentoring: Creating a Culture of Synergy . London: Falmer Press .
36.
Nystrand M., Gamoran A., Karchur R. and Prendergast C. ( 1997) Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Learning in English Classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.
37.
Poglinco SM, Bach AJ, Hovde K., Rosenblum S., Saunders M. and Supovitz JA ( 2003) The Heart of the Matter: The Coaching Model in America’s Choice Schools. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Available at www.cpre.org, accessed 1 February 2011.
38.
Showers B. and Joyce B. ( 1996) The evolution of peer coaching. Educational Leadership53(6): 12-17JB ( 1996 ) The evolution of peer coaching. Educational Leadership53(6): 12-17.
39.
Smith K. ( 1995) Bringing children and literature together in the elementary classroom. Primary Voices3(2): 22-32.
40.
Sorensen P. ( 2004) Learning to teach collaboratively: The use of subject pairs in the school practicum. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy32(1): 1-24.
41.
Rogoff J. ( 1990) Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social Context. New York: Oxford University Press.
42.
Van Sluys K (guest ed.) (2007) Creating professional communities of practice. School Talk12(2): 1-6.
43.
Veenman S., Denessen E., Gerrits J. and Kenter J. ( 2001) Evaluation of a coaching programme for cooperating teachers . Educational Studies27(3): 317-340.
44.
Vygotsky L. ( 1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
45.
Wells G. ( 1999) Dialogic Inquiry: Toward a Sociocultural Practice and Theory of Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46.
Wenger E. ( 1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
