Akoako@TeKura - Our Online Community of Practice - More than halfway!

 We have had a term of two sessions twice a day in Weeks 3, 6, and 9 and have been reflecting on the impact of Akoako@TeKura in general and specifically the extra sessions. What has the impact been on the Community of Practice at Te Kura. Is it becoming a way to create a sense of community and connection? 

Sessions in Term 3

Our sessions this term have focused on creating a sense of belonging at Te Kura and the part that each and everyone of us has to play in that. We can say we don't feel a part of something, but what can we do to change that - to be solutions-focused, rather than only seeing the problem? What are the opportunities that have popped up as the result of something we've noticed?

The focus questions for the Term have really challenged us to go deeper - to think more critically about how we can continue to be part of the change we want to see...and be.  You can see an example of some of the questions below with the related Mātāpono in brackets:

• What does belonging look like at Te Kura?  
• What does it feel like, sound like, taste like, smell like? (Whakamana, Whaitake) 
• How do we create a sense of belonging for our ākonga and their whānau at Te Kura? What are all the rauemi/resources we have available to do this? (Kotahitanga, Whakamana, Māramatonutanga) 
• How do we create a sense of belonging for kaimahi at Te Kura? What do we do now and what are the possibilities for the future? What are the possibilities? (Māramatonutanga, Kotahitanga, Whaitake)
• How can individually do something to create a sense of belonging at Te Kura? (Whakawhanaungatanga, Māramatonutanga)  

Here is what we've explored in Term 3

Every time we create a session, our focus is always to connect to who we are at Te Kura. 

Belonging at Te Kura

The Danger of a Single Story

Moving Beyond a Single Story

We've picked up a few new leaders, which is fantastic and have more people interested in running sessions in the future - lots of ideas for future sessions are added to the Jamboard. The beauty of using this tool is that once it's opened, it stays in your Google Drive and can be accessed anytime, anywhere. It is really exciting to see when people in our CoP add ideas at times outside of the main session.

We have deepened our focus and connection to our Ngā Mātāpono as discussed in a previous post. This has had an impact on the level of discussion. This is mostly in the chat and on the Jamboards. I think our next - and most important - focus for the community, is to find ways to encourage people to have the confidence to share with cameras and microphones on - this is the challenge of having a solely online Community of Practice...but we are up to the challenge! 

So, Why is a CoP so Important and Valuable?

 

I've written a previous post on Reflective Practice and Communities of Practice - a warning: it's a long one! It goes into detail about the power of reflection in a CoP and includes thoughts on how important the Key Competencies are. You can read it here. 

As I looked back at that post from 2016, I made many connections to what we are working to achieve at Te Kura. I know how powerful CoPs can be when they are designed well and work well. As part of this - and underpinning it - at Te Kura we have our Ngā Mātāpono/values, which I've also reflected on in a prior post: Looking Back to Look Forward.  In Akoako@TeKura we are focused on creating sessions that are underpinned by these values so that our people can see Ngā Mātāpono in action and explore them in the context of the discussions.

Our community continues to grow and it has been exciting to see the level of confidence growing in our participants. 

A question came up about why we wanted to share the invitation to the sessions with ALL staff. The reason behind this is that it shouldn't only be about our teachers if we are going to be a true CoP - all voices need to be heard and have much to offer. As an example of this, I remember many years ago when I first became interested in CoPs and we made sure that all of the staff at our school, from our caretaker through to the Principal was involved and invited to sessions. Some of the most powerful changes we made to our teaching practice came from discussions with our people who weren't teachers. I'm pretty passionate about including everyone, particularly if we are to live our values - our Ngā Mātāpono. 

Ngā Mātāpono are our principles that guide our practice but they are also how we want to be. 

Discussions in the second part of the year have included the following:

Term 2

What's Your Why? Simon Sinek

Everyone is a Change Agent

Be a Change Agent - Teachers as Change Agents

Where to Next?

We still get requests to record the sessions, but are sticking to our guns on this one. We have made sure that everyone knows that they can still access the rauemi/resources, Jamboards, extra within our learning platform and that is helping a little bit. It's still a challenge for us and I'm not sure we have the answer yet. The power of being live -and not recorded - is the interaction, comments in the chat and the connections that are formed during each sessions between people. I still think we would lose that if we recorded and I definitely believe we would lose some of the trust and openness. 

We have, however, listened to people who have really struggled to get to the 8.00am session. If we want to be a truly inclusive community, we needed to address this so, from Term 3 we are moving to twice-daily sessions, three times a term. The second session will be a lunchtime one from 1.30pm - 2.15pm. 

It will be interesting to see the impact the second session has. This is such an important aspect of creating a strong and effective CoP - listen to voices. Your people own this community, find ways to make it theirs. 

Creating a Community of Practice in a Special Space

 I've written before about Communities of Practice and how powerful they are in all spaces, whether the community is one involving ākonga(students), or adults - or even better, ALL ages and stages.  See here, here, and here for a few previous posts. 

The power of a well-designed CoP means that it is a space for all voices to be heard, they have a place and space to contribute and it is not reliant on a certain level of experience. Everyone has something important to offer.

Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu

At Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - The Correspondence School, we are spread across the whole of Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond, so it can be challenging to find ways to create a sense of community. From the time I began teaching at Te Kura, I quickly became focused on how I could help create this sense of community through something like a Community of Practice as I had in many previous spaces I had worked in as well as during my Masters' study.

The perfect opportunity arose this year when I took on a new role as a Kaiarahi-a-motu - National Leader of Learning in the Curriculum Wāhanga (team). Another kaiako (teacher) was also interested in creating an online group of some type - a book group or club - to focus on professional learning and development as well as personal growth and development, and so the plan began.

We are a term into the group now. Akoako@TeKura has become our online community of practice where we can share and collaborate in a safe space. Currently, there is one session in Weeks 3, 6, and 9 of the Term. The sessions are a 'Breakfast Club' and run from 8.00am - 8.45am.

Our format is the same each time:

• Pre-reading or viewing - never longer than 15-20 minutes at the most (often a TEDTalk or TEDxTalk)
• Focus questions to prompt thought and discussion for our sessions

We also have other rauemi/resources available if our people want to delve deeper into the topics. These are released on the day of the sessions so that we don't overwhelm people beforehand.

The sessions are never recorded - even though we've been asked many times to do this. We have been firm in our thinking on this as we wanted to create a safe and open space where people don't feel constrained in what they can share by the fact of it being recorded. This has meant that we have had some incredibly personal stories shared and we've been really humbled by this. A well-designed CoP relies on being underpinned by a sense of respect and trust and I think we have worked hard to develop this.

During the sessions, the focus is on discussion and creating new learning together - another important aspect of a CoP. We start with an icebreaker - often just a quick thought-provoking or funny video. We then open a Jamboard - we have one for each session and they are consistent in format so that people know what to expect:

3 Important Points (from what we've read, watched, etc)

Something that Squares with Your Beliefs or Practice

Something Still Circling Around Your Head (thoughts, wonderings)

A Call to Action

Moving Forward - Ideas for Future Sessions (to give a voice and choice/agency in what we share and learn about)

One of our other main goals was to create opportunities for leadership in the CoP - another important part of a well-designed CoP. We are gradually widening the group of leaders in the space and this is something that we will always have as a goal and focus. 

Everyone has something to offer and contribute in a CoP

Some of the topics for discussion in Terms 1 have included:

Two-eyed Seeing

From Two-eyed Seeing to Two-eyed Being

My Identity: Mana: The Power in Knowing Who You Are - Tame Iti

Where to Next?

Heading into Term 2, we are focusing on leadership and knowing our 'why' or purpose in what we do at Te Kura. One of our main goals is to increase participation and ownership of the community. It is already strong but we know we can do so much more to create this sense of belonging and ownership. We've already increased the number of people who are keen to develop sessions and lead with us supporting. Our goal is still to create a CoP where people know they belong and are keen to take leadership of discussions with us in support roles. 

Stay tuned!