Week 19 - Community of Practice

Week 19 - Community of Practice

Activity 3: Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice

I will use Jay and Johnsons’ (2002) Reflective Model to reflect on how two potential and inspiring digital and collaborative learning related teacher inquiry topics would contribute to my Communities of Practice.

Step 1 (Descriptive):

I have three Communities of Practice (Wenger, 2000) that I often collaborate with on a regular basis.  My Digital Technology team, Syndicate team and First language support team. Though I have indicated three different CoP’s, some of the members are in two of the three teams.

I have two possible inquiry topics that I could investigate and take to all three CoP.  The first is; ‘How can we use current theory in digital learning and practice to improve the outcomes for Maori and Pacific students?’ and the second is; ‘How can we connect more with our parents and community without demanding more of their time for face to face visits to discuss and show their children’s working progress?’  

Both these inquiry topics relate to my Communities of Practice.  Our schools last Education Review Office (ERO) visit had been an eye opener for everyone, especially our leaders (this included me).  Have you ever felt that feeling when everything is going good and great?

That is exactly how it was.  It wasn’t until ERO’s visit (15.9.2014) that we realised there were things that we could have been doing better.  My possible inquiry topics link with ERO’s last report (2.11.2017).

My syndicate team took ERO’s report as a shared interest and we often got together casually to discuss what was working or not in our classrooms.  Here we formed a deep trusting relationship with one another and often found ourselves having ‘friendly debates’ on different matters.

Step 2 (Comparative):

This year I am leading a new syndicate with different members.  So the strong relationships have yet to be formed but I feel we do share similar interest that will support my inquiry topics going forward.  Members of my former syndicate are part of my other CoP so the collaborative work still takes place but in a different space and under a different subject umbrella.  In saying that, all our talks still links back to the classroom and our learners.

My CoP would not exist if it weren't for our learners. Our shared interests are our learners and their progress to succeed. Each member of my CoP comes with their own strengths and set of skills.  They see things from different angles and views, they have their own opinions but respectfully listen to others if different from their own.  This is where it is important that we have the ‘friendly debates’ that way, problems or issues are discussed in a way that isn’t confronting but used as a way to learn from each other.

Step 3 (Critical reflection):

Wenger (2006) says “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”

Research on CoP explains the importance of working together and building relationships with people who share the same passion, this is exactly how I see my whanau community at school.  I want to be able to share their children’s learning experiences with them, I want parents to feel and know that they are part of the school community and to speak out when they are proud or concerned.  

Both inquiry topics bring up great discussions and I can see good relationships being formed with every stakeholder in school not just the Maori and Pacific.  Though I have focused on a target group at school, more stakeholders coming through our doors are of other ethnic groups which they too will need the support to help them with their achievements.

I’ve had to read Wenger’s (2006) above statement a few times, I know it makes sense and I know that more heads together is better than one.  But, as I reflect over this week’s activity, I know that sometimes I find myself trying to work problems and issues out on my own. I definitely don’t think I can solve it on my own, but more so that I have to try it first before taking the matter to the CoP.  So, I was also wondering if others do this too or is this me being the STORM before the CALM?

References

Bain, M.(2013, July 25) Poster: Connecting Communities of Practice at UBC (The University of British Columbia).  Retrieved from https://ctlt.ubc.ca/2013/07/25/connecting-communities-of-practice-at-ubc/

Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002) Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.

Education Review Office Website.  Cannons Creek School Reports. Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/cannons-creek-school-02-11-2017/

Bradd, S.(2013, May 11). Drawing Change: Facilitation Resources - Visualising a Community of Practice. Retrieved from https://drawingchange.com/facilitation-resources-communities-of-practice/

Knox, B.(2009, December 4). Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk

Week 18 - Future-Oriented Learning and Teaching

Week 18 - Future-Oriented Learning and Teaching

Activity 2: Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice

Theme 1: Personalising learning

Albert Einstein couldn’t have made it any clearer.  One size does not fit all and yet today, our education system is still failing our ever growing diverse learners.

One of the first things they teach us at Teachers’ College is that a student is the centre of the learning.  Person-Centered Approach "Self" or "Self-Concept" - the perceptions and beliefs about oneself (Rogers, 1959).  Building relationships and getting to know your learners take time, but is valuable information to know.  A change I made in my classroom was using learner maps. Getting my learners to tell me how they liked to learn and what helped them learn.  Knowing this information I was able to plan lessons to meet their needs.

I was excited about getting to know how my learners liked to learn, because I felt the information I would gather would give me light bulb moments on how I could support them more.  So yes, I was fired up in using this process, but as old habits do or stuck mindsets, I only allowed my learners to tell me how they like to learn one way. After I realised I had stopped half my learners from expressing themselves freely, I started again.

At first the students thought it was an odd question:  

“What do you mean you want me to tell you how I like to learn?”

The students reaction is almost the same as their parents/caregivers when you are telling them at parent-teacher conferences how they can help their child at home:

“I’ll get their big brother and sister to help them with that.”

For me personally, it was hard to hear parents feel they didn’t have the ability to help their child/ren at home, even though they did.  Changing mindsets are hard, but not impossible.

Has this experience improved my teaching practice?  Well, I can definitely say, it has made me work harder to build relationships with both parents/caregivers and students, so conversations about school and home life become the norm.

Theorist Lev Vygotskys’ (1978) Zone of Proximal Development explains the area between what the learner can do independently, and what they can do with help from others.  This as well as other theorist work by John Dewey (1904) Progressive Education and Jean Piaget (1936) Cognitive Development focused on how student learn which is better known as student-centered learning.  The three theorist had the student at the center of their theory, from a hands on approach to a peer collaboration or adult support. This goes back to getting to know your learner and how they learn best.

With everything, nothing is ever perfect, there is always room for improvement and reflection.  Some students were not sure how they learn best, so they could not answer the question truthfully but copied their friends answer so they had a response.  For students who are not sure of how they like to learn, I would give them different opportunities to learn using a range of materials, in several environments.  Allowing the children the chance to think about their learning in the actual environment supported their responses.

One thing I did get from implementing this change was know matter how much work I put into planning it out and thinking it was going to work, there was always something I would miss or I didn’t think of.  I don’t mean this in a negative way, but more of a reminder to myself that when things don’t work out the way I planned, I need to then look at the situation from a different angle.

References:

Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. London: Constable.

Rogers, C. (1986). Carl Rogers on the Development of the Person-Centered Approach. Person-Centered Review, 1(3), 257-259.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development/

Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Piaget, J. (1959). The language and thought of the child (Vol. 5). Psychology Press. Chicago

Piaget, J. (1976). Piaget’s theory. In Piaget and his school (pp. 11-23). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Retrieved from https://www.learning-theories.com/piagets-stage-theory-of-cognitive-development.html