1) Communities of Practice

Thanks for taking the time to skim through, read, or even comment on my blog.
This is where I will be posting reflections on my teaching practice as part of my studies towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Teaching (Digital & Collaborative Learning) through the MindLab.

Communities of Practice…

Wenger, proponent of social learning and who coined the phrase “community of practice”, defines it as “a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger-Trayner website). Three elements must be present – the domain (shared learning need, whether or not it is explicit), community (bonding of members over time) and practice (interactions that produce resources). He also describes these as joint enterprise, mutual engagement and shared repertoire (Wenger, 2000).

My Communities of Practice

In my role as a high school teacher, I can identify a number of work-related Communities of Practice.

• Science Faculty
• Chemistry Department
• Mansfield House 9Connected team
• Blue Planet group
• Dragon Boating team
• My form class
• MindLab July16 Christchurch group

All of these groups involve a joint enterprise, mutual engagement and a shared repertoire. The two communities I want to reflect on are the 9Connected team and my Form Class.

Mansfield House 9Connected team

– this is a group of 5 “core subject” teachers who have volunteered to work collaboratively to introduce a connected curriculum for Year 9 students in a new (will be as of Term 2 this year) Innovative Learning Environment.

We have a joint enterprise – we are all committed to working together to provide the best learning outcomes for our Year 9 students. And we have a shared learning need (none of us have done this before and we all want to help each other). So far we have had 2 x day-long meetings where we have got to know each other better, have established what’s important to us/ general learning outcomes/expectations/ boundaries etc, and started building resources together. This means we are on our way to mutual engagement and a shared repertoire.

Our team has an appointed leader but we are all core participants (Wenger again) sharing the load jointly. As yet we have not established a meeting schedule, but we have discussed the need for regular (weekly?) whole team meetings and probably daily informal “stand-up” meetings. I feel that as our time together increases and our sense of reliance on each other builds, we will develop a deeper sense of connectedness and do a lot (!!) of learning together.

Form Class

-this second group is one I would like to establish as a Community of Practice. Next week I will be assigned a group of 20 Year 9 students. It will be my role to lead this group as their form teacher throughout their high schooling. I would love to develop this group as a real Community of Practice where we all learn together in a supportive, trusting, caring but challenging environment where we also engage with the wider community.

As well as leader it will be my role to facilitate social interactions to enhance the groups’ learning. I hope we will develop a repertoire that includes: a sense of home/place in a large school, care for one another and others outside the class, support of each other in fostering growth mindsets, and shared learning of life skills.

Thanks for reading. I’d be keen to hear any comments you have.

Ngā mihi nui

Marian

Reference:

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