Teaching and Learning in Public

“Teaching and Learning in Publicaddresses the central issue of education reform: How do schools become places where teachers continuously improve their teaching? . . . This is a compelling first-hand account of what it means to be a change agent of a different sort.”

—From the Foreword byCatherine Lewis, senior research scientist, Mills College, Oakland, California

“This is a seminal analysis of an inspiring case of collaborative teacher professional development, within the extraordinarily challenging context of the inner city school. An extremely important book for our times.”

—Kathleen Metz, Graduate School of Education, University of California Berkeley

This is the inspiring story of a group of teachers who used new technologies to document, analyze, and share an inquiry learning process together. The Supporting Knowledge Integration for Inquiry Practice (SKIIP) is an exciting new professional development model that brings together the strengths and benefits of several existing approaches: participant-directed inquiry, school/university partnerships, and the shared pedagogical improvement model of lesson study. Based on the work of public school science teachers over the course of three years, the SKIIP approach was developed to assist teachers in the daunting task of “learning in public.” How can an inquiry into teaching practice help teachers to support inquiry learning with their students? Essential reading for professional developers, teacher leaders, and school administrators, this book:

Documents the lessons learned from a school-wide professional learning initiative.
Examines how SKIIP impacts teachers, school culture, and learning outcomes.
Showcases innovative new technology to use in professional development, such as streaming, videotaping, time-stamped assessment, and sophisticated analytics.
Offers guidance for implementing the SKIIP professional development model inyourschool.

Stephanie Sisk-Hiltonis an assistant professor of elementary education at San Francisco State University. She has worked extensively as a teacher professional developer dealing with school-wide curriculum reform and with science curriculum and pedagogy.