External Expertise
In democratic schools, teachers and others are regularly exposed to ideas and
knowledge from sources external to the school. These schools are constantly
participating in individual or collective staff development efforts. Ideas and
knowledge brought in from external sources are not simply “adopted” and put into
practice, but rather discussed, debated, and subjected to inquiry and discourse.
Michael Fullan notes that the isolation of a teacher within a classroom is
limiting because it restricts learning to the experiences of that individual.
Similarly, the isolation of a school from the wider environment is limiting
because it creates "a ceiling effect" if the school does not connect to networks
of others involved in similar and different pursuits.
External Expertise Articles:
Critical Friends and Service Learning: Bridging the Gap Between School and
Community (Thresholds in Education)
This article gives the benefits of using critical friends in order to establish
community collaboration. It gives examples of success stories and how critical
friends are helpful to schools.
Educational Technology: An Extended Literature Review (Brian Ferguson,
University of Utah)
A review of many articles related to technology integration in the school. It
gives some ideas of how technology will change education in the future. The use
of computers and the internet will lead to “more efficient organization and
information flow, which will lead to increased productivity.” The article tells
how schools are going to be forced to integrate technology in order to prepare
students to live in this society. It also gives some statistics on technology
usage in the classroom, and why teachers are afraid to use technology in their
classrooms.
Technology:
ProjectView
The "Walk Through Walls" program of the Schenectady City School District
involves connecting classrooms with cultural institutions through the use of
videoconference programming. Content providers include museums, zoos, libraries,
and more (in pdf format).
Sample Action Plan for Practice 10:
WORD
PDF