This paper explores the character of the teaching communities that have emerged in Michigan's charter and professional-development schools (PDS). It focuses on rhetorical constructions of what a teaching community is and how it is understood by those who are a part of it, with the assumption that teachers are subject to the cultural perceptions of the organizations in which they function. Three questions guided the investigation: (1) How can different teaching communities be characterized, either formally or informally? (2) How does the formally constructed work environment influence or impact the nature of a teaching community? and (3) In what ways do approaches to building a teaching community differ between charter and PDS? An examination of the various teaching communities in Michigan public schools reveals important insights about the nature of schools as institutions as well as efforts to reform them. Therefore, the researchers' goal was to develop a framework for investigating teaching communities and to illuminate the impact the two reform strategies (charter and PDS schools) may have on teachers' work. The work was drawn on teacher qualitative data including administrator and focus group interviews, classroom observations of whole school events, as well as text and artifacts collected over a three year period. A total of eight urban elementary charter and professional development schools in Michigan were studied. The purpose of the study is to show that there is just as much variation within as well as between the teaching community. The findings conclude that while the researchers expected to see similarities and contrast between PDS and charter schools, a pattern was not found. Suggestions for developing and sustaining a framework for investigating charters and PDSs, opportunities for staff development, faculty stability and hiring procedures, supervision and leadership, and faculty commitment to a vision/design are all explored. Future uses of this framework are outlined. (Contains 27 references.) (AA)