Pamela L. Grossman

Content as Context: The Role of School Subjects in Secondary School Teaching

In this article we argue that understanding subject-matter differences among high school teachers is crucial for the analysis and reform of secondary schools. An emerging line of research suggests that high school teachers belong to distinctive subject subcultures; these subcultures are characterized by differing beliefs, norms, and practices. We report findings from surveys and interviews with high school teachers that illustrate salient aspects of subject subcultures. Shared beliefs about the possibilities and constraints posed by different school subjects may complicate efforts to restructure high schools or redesign curriculum.

The Impact of Subject Matter on Curricular Activity: An Analysis of Five Academic Subjects:

This article tests a framework connecting features of subject matter with curricular activities among high school teachers of five academic subjects. Using survey responses, it compares the conceptions of subject matter (defined, static, sequential) and curricular activities (coordination, coverage, consensus on content, standardization, course rotation, etc.) of English, social studies, science, math, and foreign language teachers from 16 high schools. Teachers differ in their perceptions of their subjects as defined, sequential, and static. For example, math and foreign language teachers score higher on those features than other teachers. In turn, certain curricular activities seem to differ depending on subject features. For example, in sequential subjects, teachers report more coordination with colleagues and more press for coverage of content than in less sequential subjects. Implications for research and policy are presented.

In the Company of Colleagues: An Interim Report on the Development of a Community of Teacher Learners.

Abstract This article reports on a professional development project that sought to establish a community of learners among high school teachers. Teachers from the English and history departments at a large urban high school met twice a month for two-and-a-half years. Project activities included reading and discussing pieces of fiction and history, developing an interdisciplinary humanities curriculum, and video-taping and viewing classroom instruction. Initial findings point to an enhanced collegiality among faculty within and across departments; reduced teacher isolation; and the development of an intellectual community for teachers within the high school. However, teachers at different points in their career trajectory were differentially affected by this project. Based on our preliminary findings, we offer implications for teacher induction and socialization, and on-going professional development.

Chapter 4: Considerations of Content and the Circumstances of Secondary School Teaching:

The landscape of teaching, learning, and teacher education is changing. Once, teachers majored in elementary or secondary education. Today, most states require that all teachers, elementary and secondary alike, major in an academic subject. Once, mastery of basic skills was considered sufficient education for most students. Society expected only a small percentage of students to finish high school or to attend college. Today, we expect all students to complete high school, and most high school graduates enroll in postsecondary education. Furthermore, students are expected to develop more sophisticated understandings of subject matter to prepare themselves for a changing and increasingly technological society. Once, few teachers questioned the isolation in which they worked. Today, demands for various forms of collaboration have increased, whether the purpose of such collaboration is to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities, to plan interdisciplinary curriculum, or to support teachers in improving practice. Landscapes change slowly, however, barring the occurrence of cataclysmic events. Although publication of A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) sent a jolt throughout education and the subsequent reports on high school (Boyer, 1983; Powell, Farrar, & Cohen, 1985; Sizer, 1984) and on teacher preparation (Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986; Holmes Group, 1986) created waves of aftershocks, expectations for high schools have changed more dramatically than their realities. The gap between changing expectations and unchanging realities reflects, in part, the complexity of schooling. In order for reforms to take root sufficiently to alter