An Invitation to Study Group: A Collection of Think Pieces

By Learning Moments Press

The contributors to this edited collection of think pieces reflect on their experiences as members of a group intent on studying their own practice. In sharing the challenges and rewards of study group participation, the authors hope to encourage others to engage in similarly productive study group experiences. This message is particularly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Learning Moments Press
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9780999363881

Book preview

An Invitation to Study Group: A Collection of Think Pieces

Published by Learning Moments Press

Pittsburgh, PA 15139

learningmomentspress.com

Copyright © 2020 Learning Moments Press

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

ISBN-13 978-0-9993638-8-1

BISAC Subject: Education/Research (EDU037000); Education/Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects (EDU 04000); Education/Essay (EDU042000)

Book Layout

Mike Murray, pearhouse.com

Originally published 2001by the School Performance Network. This collection of think pieces was commissioned by the School Performance Network as a resource on study groups for Western Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

PREFACE TO 2020 EDITION

PREFACE TO 2001 EDITION:

WHY THIS COLLECTION OF THINK PIECES?

— Cynthia A. Tananis

A THINK PIECE ON THINK PIECES

— Maria Piantanida

ON BECOMING A STUDY GROUP

— Noreen B. Garman

A JOURNEY TO DISCURSIVE LEARNING:

A THINK PIECE ON STUDY AND LEARNING

— Cynthia A. Tananis

THE STUDY GROUP AS A FRAMEWORK FOR SELF-GUIDED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITHIN SCHOOL SETTINGS

— Micheline Stabile

A STUDY GROUP I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED:

A THINK PIECE IN PROGRESS

— Pam Krakowski

STUDYING AT THE TABLE:

NOURISHMENT FOR THE PROFESSIONAL SELF

— Lynn A. Richards

A CALL TO STUDY AND CONTEMPLATIVE SPACE

— Marilyn J. Llewellyn

SEARCHING FOR PROFESSIONAL FULFILLMENT:

MY JOURNEY TO STUDY GROUP

— Kathleen M. Ceroni

STUDY GROUP: ENGAGING MULTIPLE SELVES

— Marjorie Logsdon

FINDING MY INTELLECTUAL HOME: THE STUDY GROUP

— Patricia L. McMahon

AN INVITATION I COULDN’T REFUSE:

WHAT MAKES THE STUDY GROUP WORK FOR ME

— Maria Piantanida

INVITING LEARNING

— Noreen B. Garman

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Preface to 2020 Edition

— Cynthia A. Tananis

Educators might wonder why we have chosen to reissue a collection of think pieces generated at the turn of the 21 st century. As we reviewed the perspectives offered by think piece authors, we felt they still held relevance for those aiming to improve the quality of education through collaborative learning groups. Indeed, over the past two decades, the importance of group deliberation has received growing attention among policy makers, educational researchers, and reform advocates. As noted by Kay and Greenhill, 21 st century skills include capacities for collaborative learning and decision-making. ¹ Similarly, Levin-Goldberg identified the 4Cs of 21st century skills as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. ² As cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach point out:

As individuals, we know little. There’s not too much we can do about that; there’s too much to know. Obviously we can learn some facts and theories, and we can develop skills. But we also have to learn how to make use of others’ knowledge and skills. In fact, that’s the key to success, because the vast majority of the knowledge and skills that we have access to reside in other people. In a community of knowing, an individual is like a single piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Understanding where you fit requires understanding not only what you know but also what others know that you don’t. Learning your place in a community of knowledge requires becoming aware of the knowledge outside yourself, what you don’t know that touches on what you do know.³

Although neuroscience is now providing insight into the way brains function, the calls for collaborative learning are not new. For over 30 years, various initiatives have brought educators together for the purpose of learning in community. Two efforts that have received extensive consideration are Professional Learning Communities and Communities of Practice. Embedded first in Pre-k–12 schools and later in higher education, Professional Learning Communities typically focused on specific problems or issues—e.g., curriculum development, discipline policy, equity in schools. Whether the focus was set by administrators or by group participants, the culture, structure, process, and duration of Professional Learning Communities could vary widely from location to location.⁴

Communities of Practice⁵ pressed the notion of collaborative learning beyond the gathering and sharing of resources to address specific issues in a timely fashion. Generally viewed as a longer-term development process, Communities of Practice often grappled with emergent issues and concerns across time. Additionally, some formed longer-term commitments with an improvement agenda, forming ongoing learning communities highlighting the importance of both implicit and tacit knowledge drawn from practice.

More recently, the Carnegie Initiative for the Improvement of Teaching has offered the notion of Networked Improvement Communities⁶ ⁷ ⁸ in which educational practitioners and academic researchers work in partnership to identify problems from practice, analyze root causes, and implement tightly focused, carefully tested interventions for change. Results of these efforts yield direction for subsequent cycles of Plan-Do-Study-Act as originally described by W. Edwards Deming.⁹ One difference between Networked Learning Communities and previous collaborative learning efforts is an emphasis on teams, including practitioners and scholars, working across practice settings to consider new knowledge and applications that might spread improvements on a larger scale.

As these initiatives suggest, the profession of education has embraced the value of collective and collaborative learning—whether in formally constituted networks or self-initiated groups. Often, however, the potential of such collaborative communities is not fully realized. Time constraints, competing priorities, insufficient resources, and inhospitable organizational cultures are among the forces that can undermine efforts to join with others for the purpose of professional growth and learning. Beyond these external forces, however, lies the mindset for study¹⁰ that each individual brings to a space of shared deliberation. Some individuals come eagerly; others reluctantly or resentfully. Many experience anxiety, especially in the early stages when expectations are unclear. Some relish the opportunity to talk through nebulous ideas to gain a sense of clarity and direction; others cringe at the prospect of sharing ill-formed thoughts. These typically covert dynamics can exert a powerful influence on the success or failure of a learning community. The think pieces in this collection are meant to provide lenses for exploring how individuals enter into and engage with others in a community committed to the study of practice.

As noted in the Preface to the original monograph, it is important not to take too naïve a position, thinking that establishing and maintaining study groups are easy and uncomplicated tasks. Simply bringing individuals together and declaring them a collaborative learning group glosses over the hard work required to let down one’s defenses, engage substantively with issues that matter to others, encounter contrary ideas, consider alternative perspectives, and risk a level of participation that allows trust to emerge. All too often, we educators focus so intently on making learning spaces for our students that we forget to create spaces for ourselves. Pedagogically, we know that our students need time and patience to learn. We must give these gifts to ourselves. If we see schools as learning communities, then we must remember that the learning of faculty and staff deserves support just as the learning of students does.

In Teaching and Its Predicaments, David Cohen describes education as an improvement occupation in which teachers strive to improve the knowledge and capabilities of their students. These efforts, however, may yield little sense of accomplishment and satisfaction if students are unwilling to engage in the learning opportunities being offered.¹¹ Working alone in the face of such challenging circumstances can be emotionally draining. Participation in study groups can be a source of renewed energy and affirmation.

As we focus and study together, we can consider the nuances and complexities of practice, helping each other refine and expand what we do and how we do it.¹²

The think pieces offered in this book provide examples of the processes and products of a group of scholar-practitioners who chose to engage in thinking together about issues and interests emanating from their worlds of practice.¹³ Diversity of thinking and experience serves as a hallmark of our group. As testimony, the included essays are quite different in form and substance, depending on the intent of each author. The pieces also provide insight in the depth and complexity of community that had formed within the group.

We offer this collection now, beyond the confines of the original group of schools and educators, because the notions of collective, collaborative learning not only remain relevant, but have grown in importance as educators consider how to improve practice. We hope that a more in-depth consideration of the processes and development of community within our group might serve as both a warning to ward off a naïve posture and an example of the potential benefits.

Preface to 2001 Edition

WHY THIS COLLECTION OF

THINK PIECES?

— Cynthia A. Tananis

When the School Performance Network (SPN) ¹ began to explore the notion of using educator study groups as a strategy for collaborative professional development and brought up the idea in our conversations about evaluation efforts, I immediately thought of my colleagues and our work in a collaborative study group focused on writing. It seemed to me that our group might be perfectly situated to engage in thinking about study groups since it was a group that had been in successful, sustained existence for a long period of time, and was primarily a group of educators or people involved in education in some way. While the group’s composition had changed over the years, its focus (assisting in dissertation and post-dissertation writing) and processes (providing thoughtful critique and dialogue on education and research-related issues) remained notably consistent.

I had come to value my own participation in the study group, not just as a means to an end in writing the dissertation, but more as a learning space for me to question issues of my practice and thinking as an educator and educational evaluator. As a result of my own experience, I very much wanted to encourage the SPN as well as other school-related initiatives to struggle to overcome the barriers to establishing study groups so that the experience might be more widely available across the region.