Teacher to Teacher

Widespread and varied, networks offer a promising strategy for improving teachers' knowledge. Their popularity is a testament to the demand for professional development that grows out of teachers' interests and experiences.

By Joanna Richardson

Sue Funk can remember a time when she was happy to teach her 8th-grade mathematics course the old drill-and-practice way.

The Columbus, Ga., teacher had been following that tradition for most of her 16-year career. "I didn't think I was doing a bad job," she says. "My professors had all taught me to do it that way."

But when Funk stumbled into a teachers' network a couple years back, everything started to change. She had planned to take just one course through the Columbus Regional Mathematics Collaborative, a network for teachers, professors, and other mathematicians that is housed at Columbus College. Instead, she found a professional support group that coaxed her to try her hand...