My community of practice
My Community of Practice - Week 25
If I had
initially asked myself what my communities of practice were, I would have
listed the working groups I am involved in as part of my work within my school.
I am a Lead Teacher, responsible for 3 other teachers, I am working in a MLE with 1 other teacher, and I am a
classroom teacher responsible for 30 students in my class, 60 across our hub,
and 120 across our team.
Are these a
community of practice? I have always belonged, or felt I belonged, to a range
of groups, leadership, community or collegial. These are groups that come
together for a purpose on a regular basis. Meeting times are planned, and there
is mostly an agenda to guide the discussion or meeting purpose. The main
purpose of these meetings is to carry out the shared vision of our school to
support the development, and retention, of our culture of teaching and
learning. Any person can be present in these communities but there needs to be
the interaction to become a part of them. Does this then classify the group as
a Community of Practice?
Wenger-Trayner, 2015, suggest that not
everything called a community is a community of practice. They give the example
of how a neighbourhood is called a community, but is not usually a community of
practice. “Communities
of practice 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.”
(Wenger-Traynor, 2015). They continue with defining three characteristics that
are essential:
- The domain – a developed identity with a commitment to the domain
- The community – the building of relationships and sharing with each other. Having the same job or the same role does not make for a community of practice unless members are interacting and learning together
- The Practice – a good conversation with someone is not a community of Practice, but a conversation built on a joint understanding with learning could develop into one.
All three are
needed to develop an effective, working community of practice and, as much as I
question my involvement, regular discussions with colleagues related to
students and teaching and learning does qualify as a CoP. As team leader, I am involved daily with a CoP
through my work and connections with the members of my team. Our students are our domain and we are all
committed to providing the best learning opportunities for our group. We have
weekly meetings, but can discuss any topic on a daily basis. I like to
facilitate discussion that is beneficial to us all. We have established methods of communicating
beyond meetings, such as google classroom and a shared working and planning
site.
We continue to
build on what we do to make these more effective. Issues wil.l and do, emerge
that need to be evident to all involved in a community. Power, trust, size of
groups, are issues discussed in an article by J Roberts (2006). There has to be
learning, collaboration, sharing, in a safe environment, developed over time.
Recognising this, I work hard to develop the trust and mutual interest needed
to grow our CoP into something that outshines and out performs our organised
meetings with agendas where sharing and learning can be restricted.
References:
Wenger-Traynor,
Etienne and Beverley (2015). Introduction to communities of practice – A brief
overview of the concept and its uses.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joanne_Roberts5/publication/4913908_Limits_to_Communities_of_Practice/links/559d291d08ae04e365084dc4.pdf Retrieved from: Journal of management studies 43:3 May 2006.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225256730_Wenger_E_1998_Communities_of_practice_Learning_meaning_and_identity
Retrieved from Wenger,
E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity
Hi Raewyn
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how our understanding of what a community of practice is grows and how you need time to relate what you read to the beliefs you hold and only then when you clarify what it is you actually do on a regular basis in these communities where we work, can we than refine how effective our communities of practice are. And to ensure that these communities are robust and sustainable this is not a process which can be hurried- nor should it be. it is exciting though and a huge leap forward in comparison to the single cell classroom of the past where the door was shut and each individual teacher clung to their own way of doing things and their own resources.
I have to say, I much prefer the collaborative approach, where ideas and thinking is shared and we all do the work together.
Thank you for your comment. Not only am I excited as it is my first one, but it is great to hear your thoughts. I still have my reservations about teaching in the open spaces as I feel it does affect the concentration of some students, which in turn can affect their learning. I do enjoy working collaboratively and after a difficult start through the initial stages, we are working well together and appreciating each others strengths. (and weaknesses)
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