The communities of practice I belong to include the Glenbrook School Teachers Team, Glenbrook School Mindlab Team, Glenbrook School Senior Learners Team, Franklin EnvrioSchools Schools Team and I lead the Glenbrook Schools Environment Team. For the purpose of this reflection I am going to focus on the Glenbrook School Teachers Team.
These communities are identified as communities of learning as I actively participate them in as an educational professional, as a learner and as a leader of learning.
Wenger (2000) discusses such practices as they relate to joint enterprise, mutual engagement and a shared repertoire. Glenbrook School’s vision of ‘Realising Potential’ is the foundation of all active participation within the teams (shared repertoire).
Examples of activities of events that members of my community engage in are:
Staff meetings - every staff meeting is deliberately structured to discuss learners and learning as an action. Every fortnight our Professional Learning Network as a staff uses the Spiral of Inquiry (Kasser and Halbert, 2014) to drive our purpose.
Professional conversations - administration and expert advice are sought to assist staff as leaders of learning, in unpacking what visible learning (Hattie, 2012) is, how we can co-construct the learning process with students regardless of age so that we model and learn with students. The majority of discussions are focused on the students in front of us and how we know them as learners and what tools they need to identify for themselves how to articulate their learning so that is has purpose. These include professional conversations with Senior Leadership, our own communities, specifically identified experts, whanau, the students and informed by recent research.
The culture of the school thrives because it has been set up for teachers to take risks and be vulnerable with each other professionally and safely. We are encouraged to include students as part of their active and reflective journey so that learning as an action is modelled as it happens rather than as an outcome. Whole school data and staff analysis identified metacognition as the action that we would work on as a team.
This focus and priority approach has contributed to my sense of place and connectedness within each community of practice. The sense of achievement and belonging with small acts such as knowing the name of each student, and being able to understand how our school values are the pillars which hold our communities together. These values whakawhanaungatanga, ako, mana and manaakitanga, allow us to move in between each team with a common purpose - to ensure each student is able to realise potential through learning as an action. My own growth and emotive purpose within these communities continues to blossom. I feel I can try new things, find someone or a community to support my ideas which contribute to this lens. I am listened to and valued, encouraged and excited. Most of all I am empowered as a leader of learning within each community.
As I have grown from a beginning teacher in 2015 to an active member and some cases a leader or facilitator, each role has contributed towards my confidence, kete of knowledge but more importantly my mana as a leader. Each role such as facilitating the Reading Together Programme, leading the Arts in Choir, G-Factor, or STEM opportunities such as EPro8, or sports has increased opportunities to connect with community members and shape each member’s lens of Realising Potential. Participating in Mindlab within our Glenbrook School team has now added an academic lens and like the students and learners I work with each day, every community of practice moulds not only the potential of all of learners, but gives me the tools to actively construct with each community member their realisation of learning as an action and key to Realising Potential.
References:
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge.
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Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.
Kia Ora Charlotte, I can relate to your blog post in many ways in that I too think of myself as not only a leader of learning but as a learner myself. I believe that is so important for educators to model being a reflective practitioner not only for fellow educators but most importantly for our students. I loved the comment you made "the culture of the school thrives because it has been set up for teachers to take risks and be vulnerable with each other professionally and safely". As a member of middle management within my school I strongly agree with the statement you made. It is crucial in the success of a school wanting to move forward. If a school culture is set which allows teachers to take risks the reflections being made will in turn be deeper and will hopefully encourage staff to look further outside the norms of their everyday practice.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlotte, I really enjoyed reading your post. I like how you have concluded your post and outlined the growth you have experienced from beginning teacher to facilitator and leader. Reflecting on my community of practice has also helped me to feel more connected and recognise my important place within each community. I relate to being a learner and reflecting on how each different community of practice we are actively involved in, enables us to reach our full potential. It was inspiring to read your blog, you are taking risks, leading learning and growing as a learner and educator. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlotte, I loved your comments about visible learning, informed by Hattie's research. I think it is imperative that teachers make an effort to engage in professional learning conversations both in and out of the classroom in order to grow in their pedagogy. Too often, non-contacts and 'spare time'(if there is such a thing!) are spent in a deficit-thinking kind of way, lamenting about how difficult it is to change situations or attitudes of students, instead of focusing on working collaboratively in order to affect that change. I personally have learnt do much from other teachers from different learning areas on how to engage students, and have adjusted my programme for those students with great results. Such value comes from collaboration, and such learning for teachers! Thanks for sharing!
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