- Teachers of a similar context come together and agree on a topic to learn more about. Note: School leaders or others may introduce a topic (as we did in the MALLI project), but the teachers must be interested and believe the topic worthy. As mentioned, the topic cannot begin with what school administrators believe is a shortcoming of teachers or teaching.
- A brief 2-3 hour “discovery” session in which teachers read what educators and researchers have to say about the topic and discuss their findings via videoconference, so that teachers from any location can participate.
- Teachers are then given time to begin writing a lesson that they believe demonstrates the topic. No expectation that the lesson is a perfect demonstration of the topic. However, capturing the importance of the topic in relation to the instructional context (e.g., grade level, content, student characteristics) is paramount.
- Teachers teach the lesson in their own classroom and video record it. Do-overs are common and encouraged. Teachers are given 100% assurance that the video will never be used to evaluate them, unless they choose that option.
- They watch their video-recorded lesson and reflect on it, with an eye on the notes taken during the discovery session.
- They upload their lesson to a password protected server.
- They are partnered with a teacher whose video is similar in grade level content but not necessarily in the same school or district.
- They watch their partner’s video.
- The partners meet via videoconference to share what they learned watching each other’s video.
- The entire club of approximately 8 teachers watch a compilation of edited videos (a “watch party”). They reflect on what they learned from watching all the videos and sharing with like colleagues.
- Teachers are paid for their time at roughly the extra duty pay established by the school or district.