Activity 1: Community of Pracitce
My topic of interest is teaching as inquiry. The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education pg 35 2007) recommends teachers converse with their colleagues about changes they can make in their practises to enhance student engagement and raise achievement. When teachers determine what their students know and what their next steps in learning are they can rely on research, past practices and professional conversations to inform their practice to raise student achievement. I believe teachers are unable to know everything and we are not required to because we work in a community of teachers as learners and learners as teachers, tuakana, teina where learning happens together.
Knox (2000) speaks of a"community of practice" being where people have grouped together because they share a passion for something they believe in and strive to achieve. When this group interacts regularly they are able to learn how to improve the ways they perform in order to support their learners more effectively.
My community of practice consists of the Junior Syndicate (made up of four teachers) in which I teach a year 2-3 class. Within this syndicate I have a critical friendship with my partner teacher ( in the open plan classroom) who is also the team leader. Significant others are my amazing release teacher who works closely with me to continue my maths programme in my absence, the very knowledgable Resource Teacher of Literacy and a few hours of precious Teacher Aide time. The wider community consists of the senior teachers, (including our assistant principal), and their students that support our students with their learning and behaviour. Holding our community together is our Principal. I see myself as an active and motivated member of this group. I am supportive of any events that occur school wide and I'm happy to share ideas, resources and my experiences.
.Knox (2000) decribes a community of practice as that which focuses on all the participants and is organised with a common area of interest to the community. Our goal is to continually build positive relationships with our students and their whanau, provide an interesting and safe learning environment where students needs are a priority and raise achievement of our tamariki.
Communities of practice are made up of a variety of strengths in different areas and
develop through regular interaction where there will always be varying levels of participation. It is through excitement, enthusiasm, relevance and value that community members are encouraged to discover the power of working collaboratively. Our community must be forward thinking to provide for 21st century learners. Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi.
With your basket of knowledge and my basket of knowledge together we will grow.
Change can be challenging and it is easier for some than others. This learning has encouraged and reinforced the need for continuous change. The result has seen me taking risks in my practice with the support of my critical friend and making experimental changes that have lead to positive learning experiences.
Our ultimate goal is to paddle our waka in the same direction
We have worked together as a staff to complete the incredible years for teachers and professional development for science focussing on the nature of science. Seniors have recieved I Pad education. All of the Professional development is valuable for our teaching practice, building relationships, changing our approach to teaching and providing a safe positive environment for our tamariki.
Our staff and syndicate meetings often include updating ourselves with new research on literacy and numeracy. Syndicate meetings make time for discussing our priority learners sharing successes and failures within our practices. The more regularly we do this the easier it becomes to ask for suggestions and collectively research innovative ideas to support student learning including support from technology. We still have a long way to go and understand this is a lifelong learning journey we have our waka facing the right direction I believe.
Ministry of Education (2007) The New Zealand Cirriculum (pg 35) retrieved from www.learningmedia.co.nz
Bruce Knox., Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making them grow., retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk
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