Network Logic - Index of
Network Logic - Index of
Network Logic - Index of
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<strong>Network</strong> logic<br />
meant by that. How, from the perspective <strong>of</strong> teachers, could a<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional development project be called transformative? We were<br />
particularly interested in this question because, when most teachers<br />
talked to us about pr<strong>of</strong>essional development, they described it as a<br />
waste <strong>of</strong> time and an interruption to their work rather than a support<br />
for it. Typical in-services, they <strong>of</strong>ten complained, rarely provide<br />
follow-up and, even when a topic is interesting, it rarely has anything<br />
to do with helping them in their classrooms. What was it, we<br />
wondered, about the NWP that seemed to earn such passionate<br />
accolades from teachers?<br />
We began our study aware that networks – these seemingly loose<br />
and flexible organisational forms – are becoming an important way to<br />
organise teachers and schools in productive efforts toward school<br />
improvement. 3 We also recognised there are growing and deepening<br />
understandings about the power <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional communities for<br />
teacher learning, though such communities are complicated, rare and<br />
fragile. 4 A crucial question left hanging, however, is whether or not<br />
network learning ever actually finds its way into classroom teaching<br />
and student accomplishment.<br />
We learned that the NWP is a national network made up <strong>of</strong> many<br />
local networks throughout the country. Each local site comprises a<br />
school–university partnership <strong>of</strong>fering summer and year-long<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional development for teachers. The NWP bills itself as a<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional development initiative, providing multiple avenues for<br />
teachers to learn about literacy and writing. Because the NWP has<br />
been around since 1974 we had met many NWP teachers over the<br />
years and knew how ardently they affiliated themselves with their<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional community and its mission. Research literature exists, <strong>of</strong><br />
course, about networks, about pr<strong>of</strong>essional communities, and about<br />
teacher learning. But the NWP had integrated all <strong>of</strong> these so<br />
completely and placed them in such synergistic relationship with one<br />
another that to study the dynamics <strong>of</strong> this interplay <strong>of</strong>fers a<br />
particularly intriguing, yet daunting challenge. The more we became<br />
immersed in our study, the more we struggled to untangle these<br />
tightly woven threads in order to understand what was going on.<br />
66 Demos