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Articles & Special Issues Community and National Service Democracy and Civic Engagement

Sharing the Classroom: A Professional Development Opportunity for Teachers and Social Workers

By CSD • November 16, 2017August 26, 2021

Teacher professional development associated with classroom-management strategies has proved to be particularly challenging in high-poverty schools working to emphasize the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL). Participation in weekly classroom-based, positive youth development (PYD) program sessions, facilitated by social workers, contributes to the repertoire of students’ social and emotional skills. Surprisingly, a closer examination of qualitative results from a mixed-methods longitudinal study suggests that when teachers and social workers share the classroom during the PYD program implementation, there is a positive shift in adults’ perceptions of students. As teachers and social workers observed each other working with students, their repertoire of SEL-associated classroom-management strategies expanded and positively overflowed into the school culture. This case study suggests a theoretical shift to consider interdisciplinary professional development that shares power and incorporates situational peer mentoring for teachers and social workers. Five implementation strategies are identified for optimizing outcomes.

Project: Service Learning in Middle School

Citation

Robertson, A. S., McBride, A. N., Chung, S., & Williams, A. (2017). Sharing the classroom: A professional development opportunity for teachers and social workers. Power and Education, 9(3), 161–176. doi:10.1177/1757743817739460

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2017Allison WilliamsAmanda Moore McBrideAnne RobertsonSaras ChungService Learning in Middle School

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