What is a Community of
Practice?
Wenger
(hyperlink) describes communities of practice as a way of locating yourself and
building a sense of identity. He uses the analogy of hills created by groups of
people who share a particular interest, whereby discussion and the construction
of shared understandings and artifacts lead to the formation of the hill.
In my
mind, I liken communities of practice to neurons:
· The dendrites represent the many ways in which I pursue my passion or interest
· The axons represent my connection to groups that share my interest
· The synaptic terminals represent my contributions to the communities of practice of which I am a member
Each
time I actively engage with my community of practice I am strengthening the myelin sheath; that is the knowledge and skills associated with my passion or
interest
However,
it is important to note that that, unlike neurons, communication and
transmission of ideas is bidirectional in communities of practice.
Image sourced from: http://readingroom.mindspec.org/?page_id=8852
My Communities of Practice:
As a
teacher, I belong to many communities of practice. Some are local, while –
thanks to advances in technology - others span the globe. All of the
communities of practice I belong to contribute to my personal and professional
development and afford me the opportunity of improving my teaching practice. Nonetheless,
there is something special about meeting with people face-to-face and sharing
the experience of discussing, problem solving, and learning together.
Masterton Future-Focused
Teaching and Learning Cluster:
One of
communities of practice that I most look forward to meeting with is the
Masterton Future-Focused Teaching and Learning cluster. The cluster meets once
each term and is open to every school in the Masterton district. Some schools
have permanent representatives who attend the meetings, whilst others share
this professional development opportunity with different people each time.
As the
permanent representative for my school, I feel very fortunate to belong to this
group. The group is still in its infancy, established at the beginning of 2016.
At our inaugural meeting, we began by developing a shared vision – namely, to develop
and sustain future-focused teaching and learning practices in Masterton.
Being part of the group from the very start has instilled a strong sense of
belonging and commitment to the group. Having attended every meeting, I have
access to all of the notes, emails, Google Docs, and readings that we have
generated. Furthermore, I have shared memories and experiences with core
members of the group who have also been members since the very start.
The
importance of these shared experiences cannot be underestimated. I developed a
heightened awareness of this at our last meeting, where a number of people were
attending for the first time. They described the experience as feeling like a
fish out of water – everyone else seemed so far ahead in terms of their pedagogy
and future-focused philosophy. Whilst this may be true for individual members
of the group, the understandings generated within the group do not always
translate back into schools once the meeting is over.
My primary
role within the future-focused teaching and learning group is ‘active participant’. Since I am the
only person from my school who attends these meetings, I have no choice but to
interact with teachers from other schools. This in itself is very useful as I
have an opportunity to gain insight into how other schools have tackled the
challenges associated with future-focused education. However, in order to
address the goals associated with the group’s shared vision I am also, what Wenger
describes, a broker.
As a broker,
I am accountable for reporting to my colleagues. The shared vision and goals of
the group – to develop and sustain future-focused teaching and learning
practices in Masterton - would be impossible to achieve without the process of
dissemination.
Whilst
there is no formal requirement to act on new learning, I have found that challenging
my colleagues to try out at least one new idea and provide feedback ahead of
the nest FFTL meeting is a useful way of transferring new knowledge and/or
practices from one setting to the other.
On
that note, my question to you is what strategies do find most useful in your
role as a community of practice broker?
References:
O. (2009, September 15). Etienne Wenger
talks about 'walking the landscape of practice' Retrieved June 16, 2017, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjw0YoqpEq8&feature=youtu.be&list=PLb5Ty6fTaPkWE
Wenger, E. (n.d.). Education. Communities
of Practice, 263-278. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511803932.022
Hey Vicky. I enjoyed reading your blog entry about communities of practice and thought that your comparison to neurons was super. I also liked the way you posed a question back to the reader at the end - continues the thinking.
ReplyDeleteHi Vicky. Your role as the “broker” between your Future-Focused Teaching and Learning Cluster and your school really got me thinking about the challenges we can face bringing new ideas into schools and how they can be received by others. As a student on the Mindlab course I find myself at times in the role of the broker also, sharing my learning from the course with school. Your question “what strategies do you find most useful in your role as a community of practice broker” got me thinking further. One of the ways Wenger (2000) describes brokering is done is through personal relationships between two people. My fellow pod teacher and I act together on my new learning from the Mindlab, generating new ideas and implementing them into our practice together. Some other colleagues have seen what we are doing and want to try these things for themselves. Others view it as “our thing” and are too busy to want any part of it. It is interesting how new knowledge in schools can unite colleagues in a common cause, or can separate them from their peers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback Belinda!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback Megan. Working in a team is certainly an advantage when it comes to trying out new ideas. This is one of the challenges of working in a small school where you are the only teacher of a composite class. Saying that, we have had one big success - this term we introduced the use of Seesaw to all classes. Each class uses it differently so we have been able to share ideas and work on developing the tool to meet our common needs.
ReplyDelete