Community of Learners

What makes up a community of learners? Is it the same for everyone? How does it work? What is it? So many questions, which is surprising considering no matter what vocation you are in, no matter where you are in your life, you are in some way in a learning community.

So What is it? Etienne Wenger describes it as;

"Since the beginning of history, human beings have formed communities that

share cultural practices reflecting their collective learning: from a tribe around

a cave fire, to a medieval guild, to a group of nurses in a ward, to a 

community of engineers interested in brake design. Participating in these 

'communities of practice' is essential to our learning. It is at the very core of

what makes us human beings capable of meaningful knowledge.

So as I see it, a learning community is a group of people who have come together around a shared passion or purpose, joining their knowledge, skills and expertise to learn together as they strive towards a shared goal. These people work together, contributing what they can, teaching and learning at the same time or ako. At times one may have to stand out to guide, direct, or educate but the success is dependent on the whole. This has long been an established human practice, the key today is fostering these communities as the needs are ever changing.

So lets look at this in practice, we'll use my role as Literacy Leader within my school. Our shared passion or purpose is to raise achievement within our school. Our principal is very passionate about this and works alongside the Literacy team discussing data, strategies and possible support or resources. The literacy team works together sharing knowledge, leading PLD's and supporting workshops. We also crunch the data, identifying strengths and areas for improvements. We then take this back to our teachers in our syndicates and pool our ideas, share where we need support and resources. Our BOT they come together and look at the report and ask, "How can we help?" Then we have our parents who ask the same question, "How can we help?" So we hold a writing workshop and we show them whats happening in class and we show them what they can do at home, using their expertise and knowledge. We hold another for reading.

All of these people, all of these actions form a community of learning. Each person is valued, each holds a piece of the puzzle, each shares the same passion for the shared purpose. They will contribute towards the purpose to the fullest of their capacity, "People adopt and adapt practices that they see used and valued by those closest to them, and they make these practices part of their own identity and expertise." (Ministry of Education, 2007)

As a mother, a daughter, a teacher or a student my community of learning changes and fluctuates. In some i may be an expert, in others I am learning seeking to link my understanding to that shared by others, therein building my expertise. Adapting to these changing roles and learning to listen and ask for help when i need it, helps me get the most out of my communities.

Who belongs to your community of learning? Are you fostering your communities to get the most from them?

Ministry of Education (2007) New Zealand Curriculum . Learning Media

Wenger,E. (2000) Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. Volume7(2): 225-246

Reflections are the key to growth

Kia ora and welcome to take three of this blogging escapade. Of all these papers I think this may be my most challenging as it requires regular written reflections. After reading and watching videos about reflections I realised I wasn't completely reflecting on my practice, I was leaving out the important WHY I did what I did.  I have introduced reflective writing to my year 8 class, and they noted up until then they had been more descriptive than reflective so it's been time for me to reflect. I realised they reflected the way I asked them them to, and without expecting more I got what I got. I guess I didn't have the full understanding until I pulled it apart, and I realised if you don't know the WHY of what you do you can never truly address it or bring about sustainable change.
As a reflective practitioner I want to be the best, learn from my mistakes and continually grow my pedagogy and knowledge so that I can best provide for my learners, growing them also as reflective learners. So here we go, after much procrastination and learning to breathe underwater or drown under the workload I begin my blogging journey.......again

It's been a while but my have things changed!

Wow!!! I't been a while! I have thoroughly enjoyed the last few weeks and surprised myself by problem solving my way through the assignment and creating a movie (still hate the sound of my voice) I have learnt sooo much but what is more exciting is the integration of the new knowledge into my practice.
The theory has been great, and i constantly find myself reflecting on my practice and considering my impact on my students. I have started using digital resources to target student mindset and self regulation. It's exciting and my students are excited, a win win situation.
Learning to use google classroom, EDpuzzle, and youtube to start creating a blended classroom. It's a whirlwind of new and old knowledge but it has me viewing my class as 21st century learners and planning how to best prepare them. It is a class developing, taking chances, shared learners and the locus of control is shared.

Second week in

So here I am again, i have taken a few days before i completed this post as i needed time to process a few things. There is my personal journey into undertaking a postgraduate, and there is my learning journey.
Lets start with the learning, and is always the way it will probably criss cross into the personal. When I signed up for this I was so excited! I loved the idea of learning new knowledge and skills that i could incorporate into my practice to not only improve me but also to better cater to my students needs now and into the future. As it is becoming abundantly clear our world is changing and evolving at an ever increasing pace. What we teach today may well be redundant in 5 or 10 years. We are receiving students who are technologically more aware than a lot of us, a clear signal of changing times. We need and must meet their learning needs, and even more so it is not the transference of knowledge. Bring in Key competencies, and now the 21st century learning. We are now developing lifelong students. Students who can seek and evaluate new knowledge, assimilate and transfer skills across curricula, who are resilient, innovative and real world problem solvers. They, and we are forging into unknown waters and we need to prepare them and ourselves. What was once science fiction is now reality, impossible now possible exciting right?
How do we prepare? We ourselves must step out into that uncomfortable zone of change and evolve, become learners, challenging ourselves, beliefs and ideologies. We must become the instigators of change and innovation, the lighter of flames for a fellow peers and indeed collaborators of an ever evolving curriculum.
For me personally this was not a task undertaken lightly and I have watched and mulled over the last 2 weeks, and it has not been easy. Lets face it we are all highly, academically intelligent people, teachers who have degrees and some who already hold postgraduates in other areas, we all knew what we were getting into. For me, I rarely ask for help and I was taken aback when i expressed how I was feeling and that i was struggling to understand our first assignment, I was advised if I wanted to drop out I needed to do so soon or I would have to repay money. I was offended! I do not quit, I fight and try my hardest to the bitter end. I find the delivery of this paper hard as I am slightly hearing impaired so I miss a lot in the conversation, but I know I am not the only one who feels like this. I watch and I hope this is not 21st century teaching, catering to the quick and able and the slower ones floundering behind. I hate not knowing, I hate feeling a burden on anyone so I will fight on, maybe get more vocal in my struggle to understand, and just do more study on my own, revisiting class work. I suspect I will also be learning to ask for help more often on the Google+ thingy (love that techy talk) So if anyone else is feeling the same chin up your not alone, we can do this! We are teachers, creators of change :)
Sorry for the long ramble 

Hi! This is my reflective blog and in and of itself was foray into collaborative learning. My students knew more about this than I so they taught and led the way. When it comes to techy stuff I'm ok and will learn what I need to learn. 
I am both excited and terrified by this journey, but love learning so I know I will love this.
I will do a proper reflection later.