We all exist within our context. It is the relationships and interactions we form that make us who we are, do we judge our relationships based on that?
Here’s a video that got me thinking:
In order to survive, and more recently to cause best effect, humans have gathered together. Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner (2015) define these groups as communities of practice, groups formed to “engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour” and as such this grouping can include students getting together to socialise right through to hunters in the jungle.
My community of practice exists within a specific domain. It is formed of teachers and support staff who choose to create learning experiences for students. We form a sense of identity through the many needs our students bring with them, and a pride in producing the best solutions we can for them to learn.
Our natural groupings, in my context, is within discrete learning areas; such as science or art. People feel noticeably more confident sharing opinions in this forum, based on consultation done with staff where department meetings generate much more complex and thought through work than full staff meetings. However, there is a distinct sense of community across all of the staff, and successes of the school and students are shared by all.
Our practice does occur, for the most part, in isolation with only minimal observations from colleagues. However, we tend to steer conversations at breaktimes towards the students in our classes and the problems we are having. These conversations I personally find invaluable and are a naturally occuring way in which the members of this community develop as a collective.
What are the core values that underpin your profession? Evaluate your practice with regard to these values.
Values are an interesting concept to explore within our community of practice. We have explicit values that are dictated by the Ministry of Education, and also values that are explicitly stated by the school. However these are more aspirational in their nature and as a profession I personally believe that an unstated value we all share is service. In conversations with non-teachers, they often exclaim there is no way they would want my job. The aspect of putting students’ needs before your own is a hallmark of the teachers that really make a difference for their students, and they are ones that are celebrated on TEDtalks and in movies. Honestly, my dedication to this value has waxed and waned. In particular the circumstances in my personal life have dramatically affected the energy I can contribute to serving others, for instance when my chlidren were born at times it was all I could do to simply be present in the classroom.
What are the challenges that you face in your practice? How would you or your community of practice address them?
In my practice I often find difficulty walking the balance between best serving the needs of the learner, and acknowledging that there are mandated external summative assessments that they must complete and are judged for. Currently as a community, we know that results are stringently analysed by the media and the public, and we will do more than we should to ensure that results look good. Students will recive multiple attempts, coaching and extra credits offered during holidays. At some point I hope that as a community we can actually coach students that failling happens and can be dealt with; but we have considerable baggage to shed in regards to taking responsibility for our students grades.
What changes are occurring in the context of your profession? How do you think you or your community of practice should address them?
There is a distinct move in education to flexible learning. All new school builds feature classrooms that are different in intent to the 30 student room we have been building for quite some time. What will then follow will require all members of my community to alter their practice. In some cases the change required will be drastic! As a community we should look to personally look at how the changes will challenge us, and then in our community build support that will best assist each other with these changes.
Reference List
Wenger-Trayner, E., Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf
Jackman, A. (2016). Wait almost over: NCEA results released to students on Wednesday. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/75823492/Wait-almost-over-NCEA-results-released-to-students-on-Wednesday
Links
David Lenson (mentioned in the video)
Murmurs 