Staff members work to maintain group cohesiveness throughout the week. They listen to teachers and address their needs. By the end of the week, a sense of community develops, along with the personal and professional renewal of each individual's spirit. Participants come to realize that teaching is still an important and respected profession. May 2000, Vol.
Video clubs can provide unique opportunities for teachers to investigate their teaching practices.
In video clubs, teachers can focus their attention on a specific type of classroom interaction, reflect on what they observe, and explore their observations with other teachers. The author offers suggestions such as selecting a focus and what types of classroom video to view, two key issues in developing a video club. By exploring a particular theme or focus, club participants are better able to explore what happened rather than what might have happened in the classroom. When selecting a video, teachers do not have to select a lesson that illustrates their best teaching. Instead they should choose a portion of classroom interaction that is worthy of interpretation by the group.