collaboration mentoring and fusion.

I've been swamped by the amount of reading in this unit. I don't think any other unit has required so much reading - and sometimes i find it a little disjointed and sometimes some readings are not suffieciently different to have been worth the pain. Yes, i'm grumbling but i'm well behind and the end does not seem to get any closer with these readings. (Fancy just 1 of several being 130 pages long!).

Anyway one of the things i have enjoyed reading about it the different mentoring and collaboration ideas. I think that Leiberman and Pointer-Mace (2010) are right when they suggest that as learning is social is it crusial that professional development reflects collegiality and co-collaboration.

Velzen's 3 step plan where modelling is "practical theorising" is great. I like the idea of the mentor teaching then co-teaching then the 'pre-teacher' teaching. I was also really struck by the Fusion model (Semadeni, 2009). I have been advocating at my childrens' school for more collaboration to improve teacher quality. As with many schools there are power bases and entrenched ideas and prejudices from old/new teachers.  I think this model, where it is based on observation not feedback or critique would be great. I would love it if they put something like this in place, particularity to utilise and share some of the expertise of the teachers, who currenlty don't really have opportunities to share this expertise or learn from others.

Lieberman, A and Pointer-Mace, D (2010) Making Practice Public: Teacher Learning in the 21st Century. Journal of Teacher Education 2010, 61(77) DOI: 10.1177/0022487109347319

Semadeni, J. H. (2009). Professional development. Taking charge of professional development a practical model for your school (pp. 28-48). Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.

Velzen, C. v., Volman, M., Brekelmans, M., & White, S. (2011). Guided work-based learning: Sharing practical teaching knowledge with student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(2), 229-239. Retrieved April 29, 2013, from http://www.citeulike.org/article/9948660