Communities of
Practice
I belong to a large community of teaching
professionals, consisting of 24 intermediate teachers, 5 technology teachers, 1
Principal and 2 Deputy Principal’s. I
identified with this group as we share a common interest in providing effective
programmes for emerging adolescents, our motto being ‘striving for excellence.’
According to Wenger (2011) ‘Communities of Practice
are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and
learn how to do better as they interact regularly” (p.1).
On reflection, I identified with many
communities that I belonged to at my school namely; Team Tauhara (a group of
six Year 7 teachers); Co-H.O.D. Literacy and being involved with the CoL, and
mentoring a 1st year teacher.
However, I realised that the most significant ‘Community of Practise’
that I belonged to is with my Mindlab colleagues.
DOMAIN:
I have been fortunate enough to have three
colleagues with me on this new learning journey with Mindlab – Charlene, Jess
and Nikki. We are a diverse group of teachers
with different teaching backgrounds, ages and range of skills and experience; two
Year 7 teachers, 1 technology teacher and 1 release-ORS teacher. I was motivated to learn and develop my
capabilities and I was lucky to have others share the same vision.
THE COMMUNITY:
Throughout this year we have developed a close
professional relationship due to our shared interest in many of the digital and
leadership topics covered.
Mutual engagement: Initially I worked with
Charlene, Nikki and Jess during our weekly Monday night sessions, where we
supported each other during the theoretical and practical activities. Later, we carried on our learning conversations
at work, communicated via e-mail and phone conversations. Our sense of belonging developed further as
we often shared a similar interest in topics such as mindset and we provided each
other with professional readings and advice. Our regular catch ups and meetings
enhanced our sense of belonging. At
times, I was overwhelmed with the workload but with the support and
encouragement of many of my Mindlab colleagues, I developed the desire to keep going,
knowing that I wasn’t doing it alone.
THE PRACTICE:
As part of the TIS Mindlab Community of
Practice, we identified with similar ideals and aimed to upskill ourselves in
new knowledge, theories and practise that would support our learners. We all had a desire to develop our digital
fluency and competency. I especially
wanted to learn how to use meaningful digital programmes in my class since we
operate a laptop programme. I wanted to
develop learners who were confident and passionate about their learning, and to
teach different ways to show their understanding as 21st Century
learners which I felt I was not doing to the best of my ability. Jess supported our team with her profound
understanding of information technology and supported myself often, with her
expertise. We all acted as a sound board
when trialling new programmes in our classroom such as Scratch and Screen-cast-o-matic.
Our joint enterprise: After
some staff development sessions on digital technology and collegial
conversations, it was identified that many new staff (and some existing staff),
were unsure about using many Microsoft and OneNote programmes. As a Community of Practise, we decided to support
our staff to develop their fullest potential in the digital environment by
developing a digital and collaborative plan together for our Leadership 2
assignment. We met regularly, shared
professional readings, and devised a PowerPoint to showcase our ‘TIS Digital
Guide to the Galaxy.’ This was the
perfect opportunity to assist our staff and further develop my
followship-leadership style. It was a very
satisfying experience.
References:
·
Wenger,
E. (2011). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/11736/A%20brief%20introduction%20to%20CoP.pdf?sequence%E2%80%B0=%E2%80%B01
·
Taupo Intermediate School. Retrieved from http://www.taupointermediate.co.nz/taupo-intermediate
·
Wenger, E. & Tryner, B. (2015)
Introduction to communities of practice. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf
