A reflective blog, it has been a very long time since I have written a reflective blog. In fact I can remember as part of the university recommendations for a practical paper we had to keep a reflective blog. In those days, notes were recorded on sheets of paper and these had to be handed in when you submitted the paper so the tutor could make comments. This wasn't that long ago...... I find myself in an interesting space, I ask my students to reflect on their learning all the time, I have scaffolded them through this process, as it is an important process for me and my students, it is like taking a walk around their thoughts and the process gives them a voice.
When I look at my communities of practice where I teach, lead and mentor it is quite huge. It is amazing how much responsibility we have as teachers and the impact we have on different people's lives. When defining my community, I immediately think about my students and parents, the people I work collaboratively with, like my team of teachers, the team leader community, senior management and the Board of Trustees.
A community of practice is defined by Knox (2009), as "A group of people who share a passion of something they know how to do and interact regularly to learn how to do it better" when the purpose is to create, expand and exchange knowledge, and to develop individual capabilities. Wenger (2000) states there are 3 elements to a community of practice:
1. Collective understanding of what community is about and hold each other accountable
2. Mutual engagement and a trusted partner interactions.
3 Shared collection of resources.
For the purpose of this reflection, the main community of practice I would like to mention is the team of teachers I work with in my house.
1. Collective understanding of what community is about and hold each other accountable
2. Mutual engagement and a trusted partner interactions.
3 Shared collection of resources.
For the purpose of this reflection, the main community of practice I would like to mention is the team of teachers I work with in my house.
The joint enterprise or shared domain of interest I identify with my community of practice is developing teacher portfolios. We each started an online teacher portfolio as a way of addressing appraisal requirements and is an area to record observations and feedback on our teaching. Some of the examples of activities we have engaged in as a community is the shared coconstruction of criteria for our portfolios and we discuss our portfolios every time we meet as a team. We add to our portfolios on a weekly basis, professional development updates, mentoring updates, reflections on our teaching and we give each other critical feedback on how we could improve in areas of our portfolios. Each team member brings to the meeting a set of skills which we share and support each other through the discussion around our portfolios.
The team feels a sense of connectedness to the team because we have a shared understanding of our community. Because we are sharing experiences, reflecting on the same practice, supporting each other by working collaboratively, this is creating the sense of connectedness. My role is a leader as I lead my team through the process of developing a teacher portfolio. I am modeling the expectations and give examples regularly for my team to strive to.
Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246
Knox, B. (2009, December 4).Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk
Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. The Open University.
Mary, I enjoyed reading about how you lead your community of house teachers by sharing your learning through teacher portfolios. What platform do you use for these portfolios?
ReplyDeleteHI Sara, my team are trialling google sites. There is a New Zealand Teacher criteria in the google sites template we are using. We each have personalised the template. They are working really well. When we meet as a team once a week, we update components of the portfolio. I am finding the discussion are pedagogy based and we are very supportive of each other.
DeleteHi Mary. I really like your sentence using the the words " shared experience...reflecting...supporting...working collaboratively...connectedness.." It kind of sums up to me what a community of practice is all about. By incorporating these values and practices you can't help but be successful. How do you capture evidence and what portfolio system do you use?
ReplyDeleteHi Heather, we are using the google sites and are finding this format is working for us. We capture evidence by taking photos with the ipads and upload these to the google sites portfolio. In google sites, their is a template already created that covers the New Zealand teacher criteria. I do observations of my team and link my observations to their portfolio which I have editing rights to.
DeleteBy portfolio's I assume you are referring to your personal portfolio created as part of your attestation and appraisal?
ReplyDeleteDo these get shared in a larger forum such as with all the staff or are they only for immediate team consumption. I am very interested in how standards are maintained across teams in very large schools?
HI Peter...you are right here. The portfolios we have created are part of the appraisal system. My team are trialling the google site template and we are the only ones in our school doing this at the moment. My principal is watching closely. We each have shared our portfolios with each other in the team and our senior management team. We currently have a checklist system, this is great in ensuring standards are maintained. However I feel you could do this with a teacher portfolio. So far this year, in my team, we have observed each other and documented these observations and attached the observation to the portfolio I am lucky to have been observed 3 times to date and have had some really quality feedback and feed forward from my team. I feel I am also fostering their leadership skills by getting them to observe me, their team leader and their colleagues. It is a nice way to see what is happening in other classrooms. My team work collaboratively together to plan, we have 4 classes, 2 year 8s and 2 year 7s. We are a school of 650 students.
DeleteHi Mary, I resonate with your final section about joint enterprise and domain. The growth that comes from community shared purpose and valued contribution brings about both positive and sustainable change. We find that the more we use this approach, the better our outcomes. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete