Teaching in Community 2009-2010 will be co-facilitated by Barbara Stachniewicz, Professor of English and Bill Zannini, Professor and Department Chair of Business.

Project Description

The Teaching and Learning Center is pleased to announce the ninth year of Teaching in Community. The purpose of this project is to encourage and support faculty in creative exploration of experimentation with, and reflection on teaching and learning. The yearlong project focuses on two fundamental concepts designed to provide faculty with a new or renewed sense of vision and connection to teaching and learning. This project is supported by The Teaching and Learning Center.

Reflection: Implications for Teaching

Teachers often remark that they experience teaching as a kind of disconnection. They began to teach with the belief that they were entering a community of scholars and that passion for their subject and their desire to teach it would sustain them in their vocation. Instead, they often encounter students who are demoralized, bored, distracted or simply working too much. In addition, there are increasing demands on teachers' time for both teaching and non-teaching activities. Fewer and fewer teachers have opportunities to have conversations about teaching, students, and what drew them to this profession in the first place.

This project provides participants with the opportunity, space, and time to explore teaching and learning. Faculty will engage in activities that allow them to reflect on what they do, how they do it, and why they do it. Critical reflection can provide new insights, ideas, challenges, and excitement to teaching. This project draws on the work of Dr. Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach and Stephen Brookfield's The Skillful Teacher. Additional materials and articles, including those suggested by participants, will be used.

Partnering for Renewal

"If I want to teach well, it is essential that I explore my inner terrain. But I can't get lost in there, practicing self-delusion, and running in self-serving circles. So I need the guidance that a community of collegial discourse provides-to say nothing of the support such a community can offer to sustain me in the trials of teaching and the cumulative wisdom about this craft that can be found in every faculty worth its' salt" (Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach).

Faculty learn much about teaching from colleagues who offer venues for exchange that provide new understanding about learning. Learning occurs best through communication and collaboration with others, not in isolation. The "partnering" part of the project will support faculty in peer classroom partnerships and visits. Too often, classrooms are only visited for observations and for the purpose of evaluation, promotion, etc. Rarely do faculty have the opportunity to invite colleagues into their classes to share what they do.

This project provides support for faculty to develop a "community of teaching and learning colleagues" who will share each other's classes and perceptions as they challenge assumptions and promote collaboration. "If we want to grow in our practice, we have two primary places to go: to the inner ground from which good teaching comes and to the community of fellow teachers from whom we can learn more about ourselves and our craft."

Structure of the Project:

Participating faculty will attend a one-day retreat on Thursday, September 3, 2009 in Salisbury, MA. This retreat will introduce participants to the project, establish goals and expectations. Participants will explore and examine teaching practices, insights, common struggles, and joys. The retreat will provide an opportunity for exploration and inquiry as well as an opportunity to get to know each other. Participants will initiate agreements with colleagues to share classroom visits to observe each other's work, talk about what happened or what needs to happen next-in essence to truly share each other's experience. Participants will discuss a non-evaluative partnering model that requires thoughtful use of questioning, listening and observing.

Group Meetings: There will be four required meetings in the Fall semester and four in the Spring semester to discuss the experiences of the classroom visits, the continued "reflective practices," and discuss readings from the required books. Please see calendar of meetings for dates and times.

Partners in the Classroom: During the semester, participants will arrange shared-class visits. Inter-disciplinary partnerships are encouraged. Partners will be asked to arrange a pre and post meeting for each visit. Three one-hour visits (or two class sessions for longer classes) each semester are required. More frequent visits are encouraged if participants so choose. Partners may keep a "teaching log" of these experiences.

Readings: Participants will read two books during the project year: The Courage to Teach by Dr. Parker Palmer and The Skillful Teacher by Stephen Brookfield and additional articles will be supplied.

Year-end Retreat: On April 16, 17, and 18, 2010, participants will come together for a final retreat at Geneva Point, NH, to discuss the experiences of the year. The retreat will include continued work on reflection and renewal as well as opportunities to walk in the woods, sit by the lake and share stories around the campfire.

Applications are due by Thursday, April 30, 2009 and will be reviewed by the co-facilitators and Judith Kamber, Dean of Professional Development. Participants will be notified the week of May 8, 2009.

Eligibility Requirements: Full- and part-time faculty who have not previously participated in Teaching in Community and who are teaching in the fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters. The project will accommodate up to ten (10) faculty. Every effort will be made to include representation from all academic areas of the College.

If you would like more information about this project, you may contact Barbara Stachniewicz at extension 3386 or at bstachniewicz@necc.mass.edu or Bill Zannini at extension 3369 or at bzannini@necc.mass.edu.

Calendar of Meetings
Fall Retreat:	Location: Salisbury Beach Date: September 3, 2009 beginning at 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Fall and Spring Semester Meetings Dates:
All meetings begin with dinner at 5:00 p.m. and end at 7:30 p.m. Meetings are held in the Teaching and Learning Center (Room B-136 on the Haverhill campus)
Meeting schedule is as follows: All meeting dates are tentative (Check back for final confirmation of schedule.)
Fall 2009:	Friday, September 25, 2009 Friday, October 23, 2009 Friday, November 20, 2009 Friday, December 11, 2009
Spring 2010:	Friday, January 22, 2010 Friday, February 12, 2010 Friday, March 5, 2010 Friday, March 26, 2010
Spring Retreat:	Location - Geneva Point Center, Lake Winnipesaukee, NH Dates - Friday evening, April 16, 2010, through Sunday morning, April 18, 2010
Important Notes:	Snow Dates: If a meeting is postponed due to weather, it will be re-scheduled. Faculty partners will arrange classroom partnering. The Office of Faculty and Staff Development will provide all expenses for meals, retreats, materials and books.

If you would like to speak to a past participant, please feel free to click here for a list of all the past Teaching in Community participants.

Sponsored by:
The Teaching & Learning Center