Communities of Practice, Communities of Learning?

Communities of Practice
Acoording to Wenger-Travner (2015), the definition of Communities of Practices are "Groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly:.  As professionals we a duty to be a part of Communities of Learning (CoLs) or Communities of Practices (CoPs) in one form or another. 

For my own understand CoLs are a group of lie-minded professionals and community members, whom ever this may be or as the MOE (2016) states "can involve organisations outside the compulsory education sector" coming together to access the best quality resources, be it human or educational, for the better of our children. 

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As part of my Mindlab journey I have already made new connections with practices I am involved in, and am learning new concepts to use in my classroom, daily.   A CoP I am currently involved with at present, are the teachers in our syndicate level, to the whole teaching staff (small school), through to members of a Primary Teachers Facebook page.  As a professional community we are constantly striving to figure out what the needs of our community are and how we can best meet those needs.

In our school, we came together as a CoP, and were given the task of undertaking a collective teacher inquiry to design a spiral curriculum for our school, to implement over the next three years, that would have more meaning for our whanau and be more applicable for them.  The key to this inquiry was the collaboration of all teachers and the principal.  Sweeney (2015) stated “Collaboration involves teachers committing to a common goal or focus using inquiry practices, challenging and critiquing each other respectfully, focusing on evidence-based needs, and having clarity about their roles in the work/process. Building trust is important”.   This inquiry was the utmost epitome of what Sweeney (2015) stated above:  we came together as a staff with the common goal of designing our three year spiral curriculum, using inquiry practices of sound, classroom and pedagogical based knowledge, and best classroom practice, and as Galileo (n.d.) states are “solid knowledge of practice, knowledge in practice and knowledge for practice”: respectfully challenging and critiquing each other’s knowledge and professional experiences to get the job done, using evidence-based knowledge of past inquiry content and contexts,  and having the clarity around their roles and processes to meet our community’s needs.   

Focus On Inquiry. (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2017, from http://inquiry.galileo.org/

Introduction to communities of practice. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2017, from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Ministry of Education - Community of Learning: Guide for Schools and Kura. (2016). Retrieved November 24, 2017, from http://www.bing.com/cr?IG=292EAB34EDA74A609D47B43834A9F316&CID=331701E910106407023A0AA41116657A&rd=1&h=lqZoIo4cpGZrpmtIRk8f5Z004imzSmaiK1TLucZ8qhg&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.education.govt.nz%2fassets%2fDocuments%2fMinistry%2fInvesting-in-Educational-Success%2fCommunities-of-Schools%2fCommunities-of-Learning-Guide-for-Schools-and-Kura-web-enabled.pdf&p=DevEx,5067.1

Sweeney, R. (2015). Building collaborative Teaching as Inquiry teams using spiral of Inquiry. Retrieved November 24, 2017, from http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2015/06/building-collaborative-teaching-as-inquiry-teams-using-spirals-of-inquiry.html

A Change in my Practice towards Future-oriented Learning and Teaching

Since the exciting introduction of the Commodore 64 into my life in 1982, technology and future oriented learning and teaching have been a constant part of my life.  From using tape recorders and cassette tapes to labouriously programme a little ball on the screen to bounce across the screen, to now being able to programme an app-enabled Sphero ball using a smartphone, iOS or android.  Technology at its finest.

Change in my practice towards future-oriented learning and teaching; I’m all for making a change in my practice if it means our children, digital natives themselves, are as the Honourable Nikki Kaye states in MOE (2017), will be “confident and fully equipped to contribute and flourish in the economy of the future”.   As the world is changing so are the technologies and the jobs, that haven’t been invented yet.  Soffell states that “These job candidates must be able to collaborate, communicate and solve problems” As educators we need to equip our young people for this digital future with these skills. 

Change was inevitable!  In 21st century-enabled classrooms, we are now facilitators and not "just a teacher" with our children.  Even though I have been confident using technologies and Web 2.0 tools in the classroom for several years, I felt I needed to upskill and bring my pedagogical knowledge into the 21^st Century, so I joined the Mindlab postgraduate study programme.  As we completed the first 16 weeks of Mindlab, it has shown me that just using technologies and Web 2.0 tools is not enough, we need to teach the children to be innovative and creative learners, that 
Sweat (2010) states “are needed for developing technology and new media, and for solving challenges with more limited resources”.  

My Mindlab journey since July 2017, is to enable 21^st century learning in my classroom, starting with “foundational literacies” and ensuring that children have a firm understanding of all of these learning areas, utilising self-efficacy and learner agency.  Next, by ensuring children have opportunities to think critically while problem-solving using real world contexts to communicate and collaborate, because Ramsden (2003) states “When our interest is aroused in something, whether it is an academic subject or a hobby, we enjoy working hard at it.  We come to feel that we can in some way own it and use it to make sense of the world around us” which rings true for most children, and lastly ensuring children are given opportunities to show curiosity, use their initiative, be able to adapt to ever changing situations, show leadership , and practice social and cultural awareness. 

My next journey during or after Mindlab,  is to offer my children the opportunity to engage in STEM activities because Sneideman (n.d.) states that "Experts in education, industry, and national security all agree that there is a national imperative to graduate students with a thorough understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM.)", and that "the modern workforce depends on a foundation of math and science learning" 

Digital Technologies. Hangarau Matihiko (Draft). Digital Technologies in Education. (2017). Digital Technologies for School Collaboration. Wellington. Ministry of Education

Ramsden, P. (2003) Learning to Teach in Higher Education. Taylor and Francis, London, United Kingdom

Sneideman, J. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2017, from http://naturalstart.org/feature-stories/engaging-children-stem-education-early


Soffell, J. (2016). The Critical 21st Century Skills Every Student Needs and Why. . Retrieved November 24, 2017, from https://globaldigitalcitizen.or

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Sweat, B. (2010). How Can We Cope in a World of Rapid Change? Retrieved November 24, 2017, from https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/how-can-we-cope-in-a-world-of-rapid-change

What is reflective practice?

Reflective Practice
What is reflective practice? Well, according to Boud et al (1985), it is the "process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/ or practice".  Reflective practice for me is looking back in hindsight , seeing what occurred during the teaching session , who did it affect, why did it affect them that way, where and when did it happen, and what will be my next steps and whether or not I needed to change how or what I taught.  If the lesson went well, how could I use that way to aide learning in other areas.  As I write this post I wonder if the teachers I had, when I was going to school, ever reflected on their lessons delivered.  To me it seems they never did.  I don't recall teachers ever redoing lessons or changing the way they taught lessons.  It was always the one way of teaching; be quiet, sit still, at your desk with your pen and paper, and listen to what they had to say and if you didn't get it, tough luck!  I am glad I will not be one of those teachers.  Reflection need not be something that we labour over, but thought of as a snapshot of time in our daily teaching lives.  I say "daily" because I believe we need to be thinking about what is happening in the classroom and lessons , as children grow and acquire new learning, whatever that may be, daily.  When I reflect, most of the time it is about the children who did not understand what I was teaching.  I then have to think to myself "why?"  It is not always easy to understand why or why not, but more to understand "what next?".  Reflection is like a mini professional development session where we look at what went wrong then figure out how to fix it.  It is the "how do I fix it?" that makes all the difference.  When I am stuck in reflection: I share these problems with my colleagues or the principal and they help me to understand that there are different or better ways to do something, because the classroom does not have a giant sized mirror to reflect your practice.  I need someone to tell me if what is happening in my classroom is valuable for students.  Powell states that "Without adult-to-adult interaction , it is almost impossible to for a teacher to learn whether her class climate promotes risk taking, whether her use of humour is appreciated, or whether she is asking too many low-level questions".  This could be done by peer observation, then complimented, or not,  by a video recorded observation that is looked at, at a later time.  Lindon states that "The significant opportunity of watching something that has been recorded is that it is possible  to point to actual examples" gives us a chance to see what actually occurred at that specific point in time.

Lindon, J. (2016). Reflective practice in early years.  London, United Kingdom: Hodder Education

Powell, W. (n.d). Chapter 11: Professional Development and Reflective Practice.   Retrieved Decembe 01, 2017, from https://www.state.gov/m/a/os/45723.htm

Reflecting on "Reflective practice" - The Open University. (2008, January). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from http://www.bing.com/cr?

Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice. (n.d). Retrieved December 01, 2017, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/ reflective-teaching-exploring-our-own-classroom-practice

Real World Problem Solving and Innovation, what is it?

Well, real world problems are just that, real world problems.  Our in-class task today was to make a video about real world problems and innovations.  Talk about "daunting".  The first thing I thought about was "what are we going to do?" then "who's going to do what?".  Then Chris said "Why don't you use Api's example of not being able to tie a tie?", I thought to myself "Yes that'll work".   Then all the ideas started to flow.  Infomercial came to mind, so we took that path.  Wi is such a natural performer that he naturally suited the front man position for the video.  Chris was our director and person in charge of keeping things clean (wink wink) Moana was our iMovie expert and I played the role of the artful dodger (the videographer).  Even though we all did a splendid job, we had not followed the brief to the letter.  Oh well, we will have to get over it and move one........Google+ community here it comes.

Games for fun or games for learning, what do you think?

Do we test children's ability to play a game or do we test children's learning? Is there a way that we can do both; something that help us as teachers with assessment and something that reinforces the learning with children?  Games..........

Mindlab week 13:

What type of player am I? I took the test at tinyurl.com/TMLGamer and I came out with:
Have a go and see what you get.

griefer: hack, cheat,heckle
achiever: in, challenge compare
socialiser: share,comment, help
explorer:

Reflections

Mindlab - Week 2

What exciting things do you have install for us this week Milla? I can't wait to get going.  We have to like someone's introduction from last week or make a comment on their post; I feel quite uncomfortable about commenting on someone's post while they are in the room; you could almost say I'm scared!   I did it! I found that I commented but I only did the positive comments.  I could not give a critical analysis or truthful one.  

Follower or Leader?

I don't know if it is the natural leader in me or the teacher; but, when we were asked to make a video I just jumped in and took the lead.  Being the confident IT person I am (hmmmm!), I started taking photos and giving suggestions for how we could do our video then I started talking with Chris about what platform to use.  We decided on using Photopeach because it was easy to use.  We put our Photopeach together and one minute before we were to have finished our video, I couldn't get the embed code to go into Google+ (disappointing).  We were so close but yet so far! Never mind. At the moment of truth I didn't come through for us with our video, this time.     I will be ready next time.  I will know how to upload a video to Google+!   I thought that with this particular task, Louise, Chris, Jesuline and I worked well together.  I think being a good leader is having the ability to let go of the reins and follow the others as well.  A good leader is one that can take the lead role when needed, listen to others' points of views/ ideas and then making the best decision for everyone, but I say we make a great team, so far.