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Provides insights into an uncharted territory in the educational environment of schools—the teachers' lounge.
What happens behind the closed doors of the teachers' lounge? Does the lounge provide more than a place to rest and maybe drink a cup of coffee between classes? Behind Closed Doors examines the teachers' lounge as a site for the development of communal knowledge. While the book discusses an extensive qualitative study of teacher interactions in 26 teachers' lounges in Israeli schools, it reveals that the culture of teachers transcends national boundaries and is quite recognizable. Teachers in the lounge are regarded in this book as 'learners' whether they are actually involved in formal professional development activities, or in informal exchanges with their colleagues. Teachers learn about students and modes of instruction, but also about norms of collegiality that govern life in the lounge, and about supporting each other and coping with the manifold stresses of teaching. Written in a lively fashion, this book makes a significant contribution to the literature on teacher learning and socialization.
"What comes to mind immediately about this book is its ring of authenticity. I, too, am a former high school teacher (with experience in four quite different countries in North America, Europe, and Asia) and have spent many 'free' moments in the teacher's lounge. I continue to do so as I supervise interns. What the authors describe seems to be part of a universal culture of teachers—a culture which transcends national boundaries." — Helen Christiansen, coeditor of Recreating Relationships: Collaboration and Educational Reform
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Modes of Inquiry
2. Social Situations
3. Dramatic Language
4. Blurring of Boundaries
5. Metaphors and Monologues
6. Teachers' Perception of Lounges and Student Achievement (Coauthored with Haggai Kupermintz)
7. Principals in the Teachers' Lounge: Intruders or Colleagues?
8. Professional Communities and Teacher Development
9. Implications for Teacher Education
Epilogue: Paradoxes in the Lounge
Appendix I
Appendix II
References
Index