An ongoing discussion: Sharing and Learning

We are engaged in discussions at our school about how to best share what we do well in our school to both elevate the level teaching and learning at our own school and also provide a public service to schools in the state and beyond. We would like to create an forum for a illuminating great teaching and practice so that others may see it.

It is kind of like just opening the doors on the classrooms for others to see and this is not, as our head of school points out, a new idea-- there are schools all over the country trying to do this work. Still, this quest towards transparency creates a tension with teachers' tendency towards (and love of) autonomy. Some of the comments in an exploratory discussion today demonstrated this tension.

First there is the classic fear of letting anyone in (literally or figuratively) to your classroom. There are some departments that do a great job fostering an environment where sharing practice is the norm, and many more where this is a work in progress. How can this initiative be presented in a way that doesn't elicit fear from those who fall into this category?

Another teacher suggested a big chunk of time (weeks) that we could carve out of the school year to address this. A neat idea, but it goes against the notion of on-going and embedded on the job learning and improvement. We hope to share accessible, easily digestible and searchable information that can help teachers do their work better.

The discussion then turned to the ease with which younger people (I would say more connected) share the goings on of their lives, and that perhaps this shift to sharing just feels hard to this group (with an average age closer to fifty than thirty, as one administrator pointed out). Couldn't agree more! The simple idea of a social network and leveraging the connections that you have and sorting information based on how those that you trust feel about it is hardly new to those of us engaged at any level in an on-line presence (twitter, Facebook, Ning, etc. . . ). (as pointed out by @dkiang)

Then came the notion that the most valuable stream of information might come from the kids. One teacher suggested that if she could access information from students about what was working for them (or not) in their classes, she would spend the time to read that. I see lots of that kind of data from former and current students who I am friends with on Facebook
(which I know people have a variety of opinions about). And while it sometimes informs my practice, I get much better data from directed and pointed questions of my current students, who I survey often about my classes.

In any event, I am energized by these types of questions on a Monday morning in early October. No conclusions here, just sorting out some ideas. Any thoughts?