Talk about Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations

Citation

Dodge, H. (2010), "Talk about Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 120-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231011015467

The complex nature of teaching requires that educators diligently engage in the ongoing development of their subjects. To ensure high levels of student achievement, school leaders are responsible for promoting a culture of inquiry for both students and teachers. According to the author of Talk about Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations, Charlotte Danielson, one medium through which school leaders can promote inquiry is through professional conversations. Danielson asserts that (p. 1) “with skilled facilitation, conversations can help a teacher reflect deeply on their practice and see patterns of both student behavior and the results of teacher actions”.

Because she has been both a teacher and an administrator, Danielson offers useful insight on the challenges of conversations between the two. In addition, her work as an educational consultant, serving hundreds of districts, universities, intermediate agencies, and state departments of education in nearly every state and in many countries informs practitioner training in instruction, assessment, and teacher evaluation. In Talk about Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations, Danielson provides a practical guide, that includes a framework of ideas, scenarios, topics of conversation, and techniques designed to engage teachers in professional conversations about their work. She explains that the book was inspired (p. xiii) “by conversations with thousands of educators – in the United States and around the world – that convinced me of the value of structured dialogue around the myriad challenges of teaching”. Danielson uses concrete techniques to provide educators with a (p. x) “mental map” and practical tools to conduct professional conversations. The book is organized into eight chapters, with sections that explain the importance of professional conversations, set up the framework for such conversations, provide topics for conversation, and offer conversation skills. The last two chapters focus on implementing professional conversations through practical and easy to follow teacher prompts, rubrics, worksheets, and activities.

The first two chapters of the book, “Why professional conversations?” and “Power and leadership in schools” concentrate on setting the context for conversations. Danielson argues that (p. 3) “the single most important factor under the control of the school influencing the degree of student learning is the quality of teaching”. Furthermore she aptly points to the potential that professional conversations have in empowering teachers to apply the content of their own situations and contexts. Danielson urges school administrators to promote study groups, professional learning communities, and joint planning time, to create a collaborative culture for teachers to engage with their colleagues. Such engagement allows teachers to acquire habits of mind that enable them to pursue their own inquiry.

Danielson's discerning recognition of the relationship between true leadership and power as essential to building professional conversations sets the tone for how school leaders can engage in the (p. 27) “big ideas that shape professional conversations”. She advocates the importance of building trust with teachers, as they are often the stewards of the schools culture and history. Humility, consistency, ongoing learning, and soft leadership skills are all traits of a teacher leader; people who Danielson argues are essential in building trust within a school. This foundation of trust offers a platform for the big ideas that Danielson discusses in chapter three.

“The big ideas that shape professional conversations,” introduced in chapter three, details the underlying themes that guide the rest of the book. These overarching principles include an examination of what constitutes important learning, what causes learning, student motivation, and intelligence. Danielson argues that forging consensus, within a school, on the big ideas lay the framework for professional conversations. She suggests that conversations premised on shared understanding have the potential for deep change and could yield positive outcomes for students, if they are supported by research. By forming a consensus on the big ideas, thus avoiding a subtext of judgment and empowering teachers to use their experience and expertise, professional conversations can serve a larger purpose.

In chapter four, “The topics for conversation,” Danielson guides school leaders on the specifics of conducting a professional conversation. Discourse on stance, clarity of purpose, organization, and management are included. Details of conducting professional conversations are addressed in chapter five, “Conversation skills.” Danielson explains that setting the tone and establishing rapport are essential in creating a positive culture, particularly when (p. 72) “dynamics of unequal power relationships exists between teachers and administrators”. She advises that new teachers need feedback that validates their practice, while experienced teachers need professional conversations that are more collegial.

Danielson describes how to invite thinking and use linguistics skills when conducting conversations in chapter six, “Informal professional conversations.” She suggests that such conversations should take place after a brief, unannounced drop‐in observation. Danielson argues that the conversation is (p. 74) “purely professional” and that “the informal observation and the ensuing conversation are nonevaluative,” but rather meant to engage teachers in in‐depth reflection on what was observed.

Notions of non‐evaluative observation and conversations that Danielson discusses in chapter six, are contradicted when Danielson writes, (p. 74) “it's possible that a teacher's practice, as observed in an informal observation, might show serious deficiencies that require corrective action by the administrator”. While the intention may be to invite thinking and reflection, an underlying affect of any conversation is evaluative in nature at the personal level at the very least. The inherent tension between power and leadership requires that (p. 75) “a culture in which everyone recognizes the nature of power in a professional organization and the responsibility of those with positional authority to promote high levels of student engagement and learning” be established.

In chapter seven “Implementation issues,” Danielson addresses the practical application of the ideas in this book. Issues of time, communicating the purpose, establishing trust, and forging consensus are discussed. The author recommends that school administrators establish a schedule for forming consensus on the big ideas at the beginning of the school year. She states that (p. 85) “if professional conversations are valued, then the preconditions must be met”. While many administrators and school leaders may see value in professional conversations, issues of time may be out of their control. Danielson recognizes this complex issue, but offers few suggestions on how to remedy this constraint. She maintains that creating a culture of trust is essential in creating an environment conducive to professional conversations, but if a consensus on the big ideas does not already exist within a school, and the time has not been allotted to build such a consensus, school administrators may find themselves dealing with the subtext of judgment that is all too common between teachers and school leaders.

In the concluding chapter, “Conversation activities for implementation,” Danielson offers specific tools that may be used and modified for supporting the implementation of professional conversations. Activities are included for communicating the purpose, establishing trust, forming the big ideas, how people learn, worthwhile learning experiences, human motivation, and topics for conversation. The activities offer prompts, possible teacher responses, strategies for framing the question, and desired outcomes of the discussion. Danielson argues that (p. 129) “after engaging in a series of discussion, as outlined in this chapter, a school faculty should have acquired important shared understanding of essential big ideas that underlie practice and a sense of how these are manifested in the classroom”.

This is a book that any school leader may enjoy, but seems to be best suited for those who aim to improve the culture of inquiry in their institution. This guide is both helpful to new administrators looking to build trust among teachers and administrators, school leaders who want to encourage more reflections among teachers, and informal teacher leaders who are looking to engage in more meaningful professional conversations. Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations is a practical guide, offering valuable advice and insight on how to cultivate a culture of inquiry in schools. While many traditional evaluation systems offer feedback to teachers, (p. 25) “it is the conversations following brief, unscheduled classroom visits that offer the greatest opportunity for productive professional conversations”.