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In JSD (the Journal of Staff Development, Spring 2005), Robert J. Garmston talked about how to build a collaborative working team in a school in his article, "Group Wise: Create a culture of inquiry and develop productive groups. In the article, Garmston observes...

"During my last visit to Southeast Asia, I was struck by the extent and variety of teacher collaboration on such activities as developing benchmarks and assessments to meet standards, producing unit plans, and reflecting on student work. In two International School Districts, one in Kuala Lumpur and the other in Jakarta, teachers and administrators work together to accomplish these tasks and improve their collaboration skills.

"As evidence mounts that student learning is the result of collaborative effort, teachers will increasingly need skills to conduct productive meetings in which they generate the know-how and will to improve instruction, raise student achievement, and enhance professional community. However, creating such cultures of inquiry and developing productive groups is much easier said than done."

Garmston also identify three factors that differentiate schools that create a culture of inquiry:

* Leaders who continuously communicate clear and compelling rationale and are public learners who actively participate in the practices being studied;

* Leaders who locate and arrange time and space for teacher collaboration, including weeding out information items from faculty agendas to make room for conversations about learning; and

* The frequency and caliber of self-reflection that occurs after the professional development sequence is done.

To read the complete "Group Wise" article, go to:
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/garmston262.cfm

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