Into the Classroom : Developing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Teachers are the "lone rangers" of education. They are sequestered in their classrooms, unable to see what their colleagues are doing. All too often, good teachers have few, if any, opportunities to share their teaching techniques with others in their profession.

Based on the development of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Into the Classroom clearly shows the advantages of bringing teaching into the public arena and making it possible for many people to see the nature and quality of the teaching that goes on inside schools. Once teaching is more public we can create unprecedented opportunities for teachers to learn from one another and for others to participate constructively in supporting and improving schools. Into the Classroom outlines the myriad issues that must be addressed in order for the teaching profession to become a true learning profession.

Into the Classroom contains well-researched recommendations for ways to facilitate communication, collegiality, and information sharing and includes suggestions for:

• Documenting and representing what teachers actually do in the classroom
• Establishing new forums for the presentation, publication, and review of teachers' work
• Creating an audience for teachers' work and building the collective capacity to interpret and assess what goes on in the classroom
• Implementing standards that recognize and encourage teachers' professionalism
• Developing new standards that support Federal mandates for improving teaching quality

In addition, Into the Classroom offers useful case examples of professional development, and describes the policies and practices that help teachers to develop and share their own expertise.

Thomas Hatch is co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on creating methods and resources that support the examination of teaching at all levels and issues of large-scale school reform.