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.