Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of three years’ worth of purposeful interactions between colleagues in the mathematics department at a Montreal area High School as a form of ‘grass roots’ professional development. Recognizing the lack of meaningful avenues for self-improvement within the teaching community, this group started meeting formally and regularly to discuss improving their practice. Over the course of the three years they met there was the strong feeling that there had been an overall improvement in the quality of the instruction within a student centered learning approach. The experience was described as empowering and led to a greater degree of accountability as well as a stronger sense of camaraderie for each of the ten participants. Each member described how they felt that they had improved their craft in some way and how much more connected they felt to each other.
In a School Board that primarily relies on periodic mass workshops to provide professional development to its workforce, this professional learning community appears to offer an interesting alternative instead. Parker J. Palmer (1998) provides the backdrop throughout by suggesting that teachers tap into their individual strengths and create communities that are conducive to teaching and learning. The main questions to be answered in this paper, through dissection of some of the existing literature and in interviews with the participants, are whether this sort of group dynamic meets the criteria of PD and if it is a viable alternative to what is currently being offered?