The Rise of the Dyad: Teacher Collaboration Networks in a Dual-Language Elementary School

• In Event: Examining the Influences of Teacher Collaboration and Socialization on Instructional Practices

Abstract

This study combines qualitative social network analysis and qualitative case study in an attempt to better understand staff interaction in a dual language elementary school. It draws on social network theory as both a theoretical and a methodological tool to understand teacher leadership and teacher collaboration. It finds that the paired teaching model substantially reoriented teacher perceptions of collegiality and their perceptions of where staff expertise lies. Of interactions which occurred between staff members, particularly those in which staff brainstormed on a problem of practice, a large majority occurred exclusively between paired teachers. In keeping with Achinstein’s work, it finds regular sources of “conflict amid community” as organizational change is meant with incomplete implementation and resistance.

Author

• Chase Nordengren, University of Washington - Seattle