ABSTRACT
Professional Learning Quality teacher leadership aligns with professional learning to help
achieve the school's shared vision for student learning. The relationships between the two are mutually beneficial because growth in teacher learning supports growth in teacher leadership, and in time, growth in teacher leadership influences teacher learning. National, state, and local school system reforms rely on this partnership of leading and learning, because only with internalleadership can these programs develop and be sustained. From the Field If the staff development Teachers are flooded with both manis to be meaningful, time must be devoted dated and voluntary professional learnto the intemalization of it. .. and we know how much time teachers have. Having it ing opportunities, some of which are on site helps with this. Professional worthwhile. Unfortunately, most are development is not one size fits all. considered a waste of time by teachers. Tina Link Sparks (2005), executive director of the Science Teacher, TLN Member Kennesaw, Georgia National Staff Development Council,
shared, "My work in the field of staff development for the past 25 years has revealed to me deep feelings of discontent among countless teachers, administrators, and policymakers regarding the quality of professional learning in schools" (pp. 8-9). Yet most teachers
know how they learn new teaching behaviors that affect student learning, as evidenced by the results of a national sample of more than 1,000 teachers. Here is what these teachers wanted in their professional learning:
• Sustained and intensive professional learning over time • Active learning • Professional learning that is coherent, connected to what I am
doing with my students • Content focused on what I teach (Caret, Porter, Desimone, Birman,
& Yo on, 2001). In this chapter, we first invite principals to think differently about profes-
sionallearning for teachers. Then we ask them to conduct a self-study of their own professional learning experiences. Next, we describe some group structures and professional learning designs then offer one comprehensive model that illustrates the teacher leading and learning process. Following this, we recommend strategies for principals to consider in confronting reluctant teacher learners.
