The school as a learning community

Activity 1

This is what I like
Based on Living Democracy volume II, Growing up in democracy, pp. 18, 113;
http://living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-2/unit-1/lesson-1/
http://living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-2/students-manual-10/student-handout-1/student-handout-2/

This exercise may be used in an in-school training session for the whole staff or smaller groups of teachers. The debriefing may raise questions or suggestions for further topics in in-service training for teachers. If more than 30 teachers are taking part, we suggest creating sub-groups that share their results in a subsequent plenary session.

1. The group is introduced to the question: What different teaching styles do I know?
2. After a first brainstorming and a quick collection of answers, the group members are given the worksheet. They work on it in two steps:
   • Using the upper half of the worksheet, they note their answers under the four categories.
   • Then, they walk around, discussing their preferences and choices with five colleagues and write their answers on the lower half of the worksheet.
3. In the plenary meeting, the teachers sit in a circle. Their debriefing can be guided by the following questions:
   • Do you see any common ideas in the things that your colleagues like doing, but don’t do?
   • What do you think of your colleagues’ answers? Were you surprised?
   • What happens if someone doesn’t know about the things you like doing and do?
   • What happens if someone doesn’t know about the things you don’t like doing but do?
   • What is the possible practical outcome of this activity?

Activity 2

Taking steps towards school as a learning community

Volume I of the series of manuals for teachers in EDC/HRE, Educating for democracy, pp. 85 – 94, includes a chapter Guiding processes of learning and choosing forms of teaching. It is a handy theoretical and practical tool for those who want to develop school as a learning community. Work file 3 (p. 91), Selecting adequate forms of teaching and learning, contains key questions on this issue. http://living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-2/unit-4/chapter-2/lesson-3/

The teachers each receive a copy of work file 3.

1. Individual work. Each teacher studies the worksheet and selects three questions that seem particularly interesting to her/him.
2. Group work. The teachers share their results and agree on three questions.
3. Group work. In answering the questions they have chosen, the teachers create a poster with two precise proposals how to improve the quality of teaching and learning in school as a learning community.

Worksheet