Collaborative Professional Learning: Cultivating Science Teacher Leaders Through Vertical Learning Communities

• In Event: 29.051 - Teacher Leadership, Learning, and Change

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a multi-year study of a grant funded professional development fellowship program that supports teachers in becoming science teacher leaders and aids their efforts to improve science curriculum and instruction. The program’s activities are designed to: (1) create and support a corps of teacher leaders, (2) institute a culture reflective instruction, and (3) improve teacher quality through vertical articulation of curriculum and professional development. This paper shares the experiences of fellows in our third cohort during their first year in the program and focuses on their collaboration in a vertical group. We describe how this collaboration led to a reported improvement in their teaching practices and seems to have influenced science teacher leadership.

Authors

• Kristen Trabona, Montclair State University

• Zareen Rahman, Montclair State University

• Emily J. Klein, Montclair State University

• Mika Munakata, Montclair State University

• Monica Taylor, Montclair State University