The concept of Communities of Practice as defined by Etienne Wenger has long been an area of interest for me and I completed my final Masters thesis around these and the power they can have to improve our teaching practice. The link below is to my final research report.
The following was a presentation created in 2014 to share what I had learned about how to develop an 'effective' community of practice, (see also Wenger, 1998).
Purpose and Function of my Practice and how it Meets the Needs of the Community
The purpose and function of my practice for the past year or so has been to meet the needs of my Year 6-8 students and the small rural community in which I learn and teach. My class was mostly made up of an equal number of Intermediate-aged students who have particular needs as they move into adolescence and need to be supported as they prepare for the next stage of their learning journey - College or Secondary School. There is also a need to support and reassure parents, particularly those for whom this is their first child at this level. Many I've spoken to are like me and have not had the best experiences at Secondary so they already have a preconceived idea of what school is like in relation to their own experiences; positive or otherwise.
Reassuring parents - and students - is all about providing connections and working in a partnership for each individual child and his/her individual learning needs. Connections are forged through class and individual blogs, communication with parents: face-to-face or via email, notes home etc or even a quick phone call. This is not just when there are concerns. It is important to connect when great things are happening too. Maybe it's even more important. It's all about relationships and connections.
The goal is always to help students become confident and connected learners who are not afraid to fail; who see this as a chance for deeper learning and also as an exciting personal challenge rather than as a stumbling block. It's about finding out what makes each individual student 'tick', what their passions are and working from there - you need to know who they are as people, not just as 'one of the students' - if you are going to connect and engage with them and provide the best learning opportunities for them.
Now that I am no longer at school and moving into studying for my Doctor of Education, the community I serve will change. My research, at this stage, is around improving writing for our students - finding ways to motivate and engage them and raise achievement levels at the same time. This will be another blog post. Challenges Faced in my Practice and How a Community of Practice (CoP) can Help Address Them
As I've written extensively about how CoPs can address the needs of teachers in the current environment in my research I won't repeat this in this section but will summarise what I've learned to date (with still a lot of learning to come).
CoPs provide a way to connect with others on a level playing field where everyone can learn with and from each other. Everyone's level / depth of knowledge is valued and appreciated. In turn, this sharing of practice and knowledge has the benefit and goal, if you like, of creating new shared knowledge or practice. It provides a platform for genuine reflection / reflective practice but only if it is set up and organised well from the beginning. The criteria for an effective CoP is set out in the presentation (Slideshare) above).
Changes in our Profession and How a Community of Practice Can Address the Changes
Currently we are experiencing many changes in the profession with a lot of pressure placed on teachers to 'lift the tail' in terms of our students who are not meeting the National Standards in the core curriculum areas of Reading, Writing and Maths. My thinking around these will be detailed in a later post. For the current assignment I will focus on a new initiative which seems, at first glance, to be built around the concept of Communities of Practice (the Communities of Learning initiative). Delving further into what these Communities of Learning are and the expectations for them possibly raises more questions than answers for me at this stage.
My first reaction on hearing that these communities were being developed was a very positive one and I'm still keeping an open mind so I've organised my thinking, at this stage into a PMI which looks at the positives to date, any negatives I can see and the interesting questions that have popped up as I've researched and read.
I am looking forward to revisiting this post in the future as the communities develop and grow. I would also love to read the views of others around the CoLs.
Hughes, J. (2014) Pathways to collaboration: developing an online community of practice. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Justine8/pathways-to-collaboration.
"We are all teachers and we are all learners in our learning environments."
Myross Bush Year 5/6 students, Room 8, 2011
Robotics for the July 2015 Intake at The MindLab
My class visiting and exploring The MindLab - putting the Key Competencies into practice!
KEY COMPETENCIES and a 24 WEEK LEARNING JOURNEY
The Key Competencies (KCs) in the New Zealand Curriculum include:
Relating to others
Managing self
Participating and Contributing
Thinking
Using Languages, Symbols and Texts
Examples of what each of the KCs include / involve can be found on TKI.
The following video is by the authors of The Key Competencies for the Future book (Rosemary Hipkins, Rachel Bolstad, Sally Boyd, and Sue McDowall). They state reasons why everyone needs to read their book and, having read it, I completely agree. I've always felt that the KCs were designed to drive the curriculum and learning with the Essential Learning Areas of English, Maths, Science, Social Sciences, etc providing a context. In the past few years, however, we seem to be driven by the subject areas with the KCs taking a very definite backseat. We see this in planning and assessment and we hear it in discussions.
In 2011, my students and I also spent considerable time pulling apart the competencies and creating key word summaries of what each of the competencies meant to us. You can read our thoughts at The Team in Room 8. I've just gone back to read this through again today and have realised that exploring these needs to happen more often if they are going to be given the importance that was intended when they were developed.
Key Competencies Digital Stories are a valuable tool for schools and communities to pull apart what each of the KCs mean to them in their particular learning environment / context.
The Key Competencies and the Past 24 Weeks of The MindLab Learning...
Undertaking this postgrad programme and reading the book discussed above, has helped me to focus more on the KCs and how important they are for not only the students' learning but also our own professional learning. The two KCs I've chosen to reflect on in relation to the postgrad learning over the past 24 weeks are:
Thinking
Managing self
Thinking
"Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge. Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of this competency.
Students who are competent thinkers and problem-solvers actively seek, use, and create knowledge. They reflect on their own learning, draw on personal knowledge and intuitions, ask questions, and challenge the basis of assumptions and perceptions."NZ Curriculum TKI
I've always been fascinated by the way people think about issues and particularly our students who often have far greater insight than many adults. During the past 24 weeks I've had to use my prior knowledge and experiences and merge these with new knowledge, particularly in programming and robotics, to create new knowledge and understanding and then to apply this to my teaching practice so that I can offer the best and most effective learning experiences for my students and colleagues as I am lead the professional learning at school.
I love learning new things and participating in new experiences and I also love challenging what I know currently. It's why I'm constantly pushing myself to learn more, experience more and why I chose to learn through the MindLab and to push myself further, hopefully, if accepted into the Doctor of Education programme at the University of Otago. It's about being a life-long learner and it's an active and collaborative process. It's also about being metacognitive and understanding how you think about something and why - the deeper reflection. It's what drives our learning and teaching and it's what I've tried to apply over the past 24 weeks, in particular.
Managing Self
"This competency is associated with self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners. It is integral to self-assessment.
Students who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable, and resilient. They establish personal goals, make plans, manage projects, and set high standards. They have strategies for meeting challenges. They know when to lead, when to follow, and when and how to act independently."NZ Curriculum TKI
Source: Facebook: Hunt Cartoons
The cartoon says it all! This KC is my biggest challenge. It seems that the busier I get the more I procrastinate which seems completely crazy really as it places a lot of pressure to get things done. While I do work well under pressure, there's pressure that is good for you and pressure that is not, let alone for those around you. It's also not a great look when you have to admit to your students that you are more like them than they think in terms of putting off assignments and other tasks. There is power in sharing that I have found however. The students keep you honest - especially when they ask if you've completed what you said you were going to complete!!
As I returned to teaching after an 18 month break to recover from serious illness there have been many challenges in this KC. I not only returned to full-time teaching but to a Deputy Principal's role and also completed my Master of Teaching through Otago in January 2015. A couple of months later I also signed up for The MindLab postgrad programme and developed a Makerspace with my students.
I learned that I had to be very organised and focused but it is still a work in progress. Have I improved? Possibly but there is still a long way to go, and it is something I need to master, particularly as I begin my Doctor of Education in July this year. In order to be able to do this I will follow the description of what we expect or aim for with our students and will rely on my community of practice to keep me honest and on-task.
Teaching as Inquiry and the Key Competencies
If you're like me and want to delve deeper into the KCs and what they mean for your professional learning then the following would be a good place to start. It has tools for learning and reflecting and great questions to get you started. I'm going to be putting this to good use when I begin my Doctor of Education studies in July.
The final part of this post centres around an article written by Lynda Finlay (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice.
What I Agree With...
I agree with Finlay (2008) and don't focus on one particular model as our reflections need to be flexible and adaptable to a particular situation, time and place. I have found, however, the following blog which contains questions designed to prompt some very in-depth reflective thinking / authentic reflection. This would be a great resource to add to your reflective toolbox.
I have always tried to be a reflective practitioner and previous entries on this blog which I started in 2009, I hope, reflect this. The following links to posts are examples of this. It's very 'interesting' (read cringe-worthy, forehead slapping) to look back on your old posts and see how / if your thinking has changed. Also a great tool for reflection!
For ease of reading, I will post the points from Finlay (2008) as bullet points rather than a long discussion.
Often, even in the discussion of what exactly is reflective practice, there will be a large range. This has been my experience when discussing this in both face-to-face and online learning environments.
"In general, reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/or practice' (Boud, Keogh, and Walker, 1985; Boyd and Fales, 1983; Mezirow, 1981; Jarvis, 1992, in Finlay, 2008, p.1).
Reflective practice can become a 'tick the boxes' exercise if not handled well.
Individuals need to be taught the models, be given time to reflect and the practice of reflection must be valued by the school / organisation.
Knowledge of expectations must be clear.
Support from colleagues is critical.
It is only successful if it is a social rather than an individual activity.
Must be flexible and adaptable in terms of the models used.
There are different models for different purposes.
No one model fits all situations.
There are a range of tools, practices and models.
"The point is to recapture practice experiences and mull them over critically in order to gain new understandings and so improve future practice" (Finlay, 2008, p.1).
Huge concern over performance-based practice - does this mean only focusing on assessment data to inform practice. Shouldn't it go far deeper than that?
Needs to be a balance of reflection-in and reflection-on practice. Formalised reflection-in-practice (e.g. through a journal or blog, etc.) can be difficult in the middle of teaching. This is something we do as teachers but it happens as we teach.
Beware of complacency and simplicity of / in reflection.
The context of reflection can be seriously undervalued.
Ethics
Reflective practice is not as 'simple' as it seems and can raise many ethical issues and concerns including those of privacy, consent to have stories shared and reflected on and the maintenance of professional relationships to name a few. It can also be very confrontational emotionally for some people to share their reflections, to put them on paper (or in a blog as the case may be). These issues need to handled carefully and respectfully.
Many courses, professional learning environments, university courses require reflection on what has been learned related to our own understandings so what do we do for individuals for whom this practice is very confronting but they need to complete the requirements for a particular purpose?
If the purpose of true reflective practice is to pull apart and analyse our practice to change or improve it but to do so means confronting our beliefs, etc., then are we getting genuine reflection from participants or just a surface reflection to meet the requirements?
Even the terms used can be confronting for some. The term 'Critical Friends' can be misunderstood to mean that your professional learning buddy is there to critique you and your practice and find fault with it when the true definition couldn't be further from the truth. It is vital to pull apart definitions, terms and expectations for this to be the valuable experience it can be.
I think that the heart of any reflective practice in a school or other organisation needs to be a shared and very clear understanding of not only what constitutes reflective practice but also the expectations for individuals within the practice. We need to be very careful about sharing information, using names, etc in a public forum such as a blog - even if it is a 'private' one. Indeed, the argument can be that if we make a blog private then are we stopping ourselves from learning from the opinions of others who would read the blog and comment if it wasn't private? The use of social media to reflect and learn is powerful but it often creates more questions than answers as we learn more about how to use it well - and professionally.
Professional / Cultural Concerns
Reflection is important otherwise how do we change our practice to meet student needs? How do we challenge our own learning / assumptions / beliefs and practices? But what about some cultures for whom self-reflection / self-analysis is against their cultural beliefs. How do we manage this? Also, how do we ensure that reflection is not used merely to justify current practice, particularly practice that is not as effective as it could be?
There is also the argument that if reflective practice is not shared or made public and is kept to the individual, then it becomes an individual tool / responsibility rather than a collective enterprise at an organisational level. (Quinn, 1998, 2000 in Finlay, 2008). This can lead to the status quo being maintained rather than being questioned if it needs to be questioned.
We also need to be aware of the requirements / guidelines from the Education Council around social media, particularly when so many of us use social media as part of our reflective practice, for example on Twitter formal chats and conversations with others, Facebook, Google+ etc.
Models of Reflection - What I Use... and are There Others I Would Like to Adopt?
My model is centred around a community of practice which I will discuss in a later blog post but which I have also discussed in previous posts and in my Master of Teaching research. I don't follow any one model but a range of models such as Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1988 in Finlay, 2008), critical incident analyses, case studies, reflective journals / diaries / blogs and Critical Friends, a process of learning through and with others, e.g. colleagues and students, and which has at its heart, reflective practice. See for example:
Advantages of models such as those discussed in Finlay (2008) are that they provide a starting point for teachers beginning their reflective practice journey. The question, however, is can one model suit all situations scenarios and experiences? I don't believe that it can. Just as the situations vary, so should the strategies/models we use to analyse them if we are going to be truly reflective practitioners and get the most out of our reflections.
Many models provide a solitary or individual reflective structure whereas social reflection via Critical Friends, for example, can provide a deeper insight into our practice through observation, discussion, analysis, questioning and the views, opinions and insights of others involved in the process, including the students.
"...practitioners gain from working in a dialogical team context that enables them to hear the alternative perspectives so vital for reflective practice" (Finlay, 2008, p.17).
How successful it is depends on the value placed on it by those involved. I've experienced both ends of the spectrum where it was used merely to 'tick the boxes' that it had been done and was often part of an appraisal process (a discussion for another time as it shouldn't be part of that if we want open and honest reflection), through to where it was extremely valued as it was a way of informing and improving learning and teaching for ourselves and for our students.
Reflection-on, reflection-in and reflection-before action are all important parts of reflective practice but the skills must be taught and supported and valued by all involved in the process.
THE REFLECTIVE TEACHER @ TEACHTHOUGHT
In 2014 I became involved with TeachThought as a Social Reach and Engagement Coordinator which involved creating an online community of practice. I developed this through the Facebook page, a community wiki and also started the Reflective Teacher@TeachThought weekly Twitter chat. Shortly after starting this Beth Leidolf, a colleague and now friend from the United States became involved and together we developed and grew the community and the weekly chat. Unfortunately, due to returning to teaching after a long illness, I have not been involved in the community recently but it continues to grow and thrive under Beth's leadership.
Our whole purpose and focus for the community was to create a reflective teacher community who were involved in true reflection as discussed in this post. We created a month-long blog challenge - one of many - which centred around reflective practice.
Education Council New Zealand. (2015). Practising teacher criteria. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/ Education Council New Zealand. (2015). Teachers and social media. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/
Finlay, L. (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from https://app.themindlab.com/course/release/205-week-25-apc-reflective-practice Hipkins, R., Bolstad, R., Boyd, S., & McDowall, S. (2014). Key competencies for the future. Wellington: NZCER. Literacy New Zealand. (2015, June 10). Reflective models. https://literacynz.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/reflective-models/ Ministry of Education. (nd) Key competencies online. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum#key_competencies Ministry of Education. (2007). New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Ministry of Education. (nd) New Zealand Curriculum online. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum#key_competencies
This week I started at The Mind Lab at Unitec to begin a Postgrad Diploma in Digital and Collaborative Learning. Talk about off to a flying start!!
We talk about the power of social media and it's so true - I made two new connections via a colleague on Twitter who told me that two of her connections were there. After many 'signs' and coincidences I found that one of her connections was in fact sitting right next to me!! Small world. The other one arrived drenched to the skin and was easy to spot given his own description of himself! That's another story. That's what I love about the power of our learning community - the ongoing connections that challenge my own learning.
One of our first tasks was to create, as a group, what we believed to be the meaning or description of knowledge. So what exactly IS knowledge? We had a fantastic discussion and the power of that discussion was in the differing points of view. It's incredibly important to be open to new ideas and ways of thinking and to not put up barriers with your own preconceptions. I had my own thinking challenged and I LOVE that! Isn't that why we teach? I expect my students to challenge and question my thinking and ideas every day, just as I question theirs. (Leads to some interesting debates and that's a blog post for another time!!)
So what IS knowledge? Below is our brainstorm and our symbolism for what we think it is...
We were also asked to think about and discuss how we made learning visible and purposeful in our classrooms. This is something that underpins everything I do and has done so since I began training to be a teacher in 1996. When I had my first class in 1999, a class of Year 3s, we planned together and always discussed the learning purpose and how that learning connected to the world outside the classroom door. This was in the days before we regularly blogged but we were a semi-digital class in that our learning was supported by appropriate tech in as many relevant ways as possible.
Our learning was displayed everywhere. Learning Intentions, Success Criteria, examples of learning in progress, Wonder Walls, completed learning and learning in progress was always on display and shared with our parents and community through classroom visits, workshops and displays, and always through the newsletter.
So, what has changed since then? Our learning is still prominently displayed but we have the added benefit of being a 1:1 classroom now. While we still share in the ways above, our class now has
their own class blog and individual blogs which I've been putting to good use since 2009. This helps to engage our community and share our learning locally and globally,
and use a huge range of tools in our learning. In fact, we've just created our own crowdsourced presentation with information from the students in my current class, to share tips and tricks and clear instructions on how to use a range of tools. This is only the start of this document as it will continue to grow throughout the year and give the students a real and relevant purpose for writing instructions.
The students and I plan our learning together through the use of Google Docs and Google Slides which enables everyone to be very clear about the purpose of the learning and where the learning is headed. We always have a purpose for learning and are clear about it. The students are expected to question this when it is not or when I haven't made it clear, or they themselves aren't able to clearly articulate our shared learning plans and goals that we've created together.
Michael Absolum's book - Clarity in the Classroom is still one of the most important books I've ever read. I regularly refer back to it and we are exploring it in our weekly staff professional learning sessions currently. I also share what I am learning with the students whether it's in person or on here,
or through discussions at school.
Everyone needs to be clear about the purpose - the 'WHY' of what we're learning and that purpose needs to be visible to all. (John Hattie's 'Visible Learning' is next on my reading list!)
Simon Sinek is another inspiration for me - both as a leader and also as a teacher. I first watched his talk on starting with WHY back in 2010 with a Principal who was an inspiration and taught me a great deal about being purposeful. This sums it up for us and our students as learners.
Day 20 of the Reflect and Renew Blog Challenge from Reflective Teacher @TeachThought TED Talks and all their TED-Ex spin-offs have been a source of inspiration for me for many years. I've used them for professional learning, sharing with colleagues and many times with my students. I love that there's now a TED-Ed site too. This is a fantastic resource for supporting you to 'flip your classroom.' There's always something interesting an inspirational and it's not just the education-focused talks that inspire. The science, arts, personal experiences and many from the business world also inspire on a daily basis. I've included links to previous posts as well as including some of my latest favourites. Sir Ken Robinson - Out of Our Minds - Learning to be Creative - posted 2011
Simon Sinek - Love Your Work.
This is a very powerful TED Talk to share - all about the 'Why' of what we do.
Adora Svitak - What Adults Can Learn From Kids
I've used this so many times over the years - particularly with students as an exmaple of a powerful speech. This young lady continues to inspire me today.
And one more for now - possibly the one that really hit home for me. From a passionate educator who sadly is no longer with us - Rita Pierson. I really hope that this continues to be shared as widely as possible. Great for the start of the year but also as a reminder when things get tough that ultimately, we are there for our students - always.
I've shared this with students too. Highly recommend doing this as you will be surprised at the insights the students will provide based on this. "Every kid needs a champion." I will always hold on to this statement, particularly when getting snowed under by all things admin.
Keep our students at the heart of what we do. Always.
Day 17 of the Reflect and Renew Blog Challenge from Reflective Teacher @TeachThought I'm a huge fan of Critical Friends - if it's set up and well-run. I've been fortunate to have experienced both extremes. This is such a powerful tool for creating collaboration and open reflection on practice but it does take time to set up and structure it well so that a community of learners develops along with a strong community of practice. Trust is absolutely key.
My best experience came from the school in which I was a Deputy Principal a few years ago. I learned so much from creating knowledge with my colleagues and from observing their teaching and learning processes. I also learned to be able to coach teachers to be able to reflect deeply on their practice. The biggest skill I think I learned was to be quiet and actively listen to what they were saying and how they were reflecting on their practice and asking appropriate questions in order to help them in that reflection process. That is something I really want to continue in 2015. Critical Friends becomes such an important part of the professional learning cycle / Action Research / Reflective Practice that it's power cannot be underestimated. I'm also quite heavily involved in supporting and mentoring many people online and in person. This is powerful for my own learning development as well. I hope that they get as much out of our conversations and knowledge sharing and creating as I do. My expectation would be that they'd tell me if this was not the case! I need to learn from them too. The link below includes video clips, etc of the Critical Friends process and would be a great resource to share if you're starting off on this journey.
Day 14 of the Reflect and Renew Blog Challenge from Reflective Teacher @TeachThought Today's prompt is all about what we'd do if a young person was asking for advice about becoming a teacher. What would we say? What advice would we give? I've been incredibly privileged to be in this position many times during my career and have recently seen at least five of my previous students become teachers. I'm so very proud of them for entering this crazy profession. I know that if they stay true to themselves and remember why they became teachers in the first place, they will be in it for a very long time.
I've often thought I should perhaps do something else for a career. I came to teaching quite late compared to others and graduated when I was 31. I had intended to focus on child psychology and had begun that degree but felt that teaching would give me the experience I needed over a wide range of age groups so off I went. My intention was to complete my two years post-study and become fully registered and then return to completing my degree in psychology. A funny thing happened though the moment I started my first posting or placement. I knew I'd found what I loved. It was instant and I'd never felt more sure of anything in my life. Over the years, like any of us, I've wondered if I should / could do anything else, expecially when the workload becomes a challenge or there are other challenges that present themselves. I've even taken time out of the classroom twice, once to study for my Masters and the second time for health reasons. There was a chance that I wouldn't be able to return to teaching. To have something that you love with a passion taken away from you, not by choice, changes your thinking somewhat. So why on Earth would you want to be a teacher? Because it's the most rewarding profession on Earth. Yes, there are so many challenges, yes it's hard and tiring, and at times beyond frustrating. Don't believe people about 'all the holidays you get' - you'll spend a lot of them preparing learning and teaching for your students. That's a choice by the way and it's why we do what we do - everything is always for our students. We have them for a year, two if we're very spoiled and lucky. That's a long time of learning and teaching that needs to be the best we can offer. Everything we do matters on a minute-by-minute basis and that can be quite exhausting and all-consuming. We give so much and that can make it hard to find a balance but it is so very worth it. The quote below, from Krissy Venosdale, says it all for me. It's wise advice.
Day 13 of the Reflect and Renew Blog Challenge from Reflective Teacher @TeachThought Creating a Community of Practice for and with my Students My research over the past couple of years has been around developing Communities of Practice for teacher professional learning. It's all about making learning connected and relevant for individual teachers and getting rid of the 'one-size-fits-all' professional learning and the 1 or 2 day courses which do very little to encourage sustained change in practice in our profession. The more I've researched this, the more relevant I've seen it to be for our students. I started to implement some changes and some of the ideas before I left my previous school and the impact, in a very short time, was quite a surprise. Communities of Practice are about sharing, curating and creating new learning. Everyone in the community learns from each other no matter what their level of experience. We started out with Google Apps as our platform. Skills were taught and shared and the ideas behind the CoPs were explained to the students who had many questions and ideas for adaptation which I was very excited about and which made so much sense. I learn from and with my students and this was a real case in point for me.
The presentation below details part of the journey I've been on. I'm at the stage of writing up the first phase of the research which is the final part of my Masters. My intention is that I will apply the knowledge gained from this research to my teaching practice and my classroom to develop a Community of Practice that is a successful learning tool for my students and myself. We will continue to use Google Apps for Education as our platform so there's a lot more learning around that for me too. My expectation is that my students and I will develop this community together as a way to strengthen and grow our learning.
