Week 19 - Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics To My Communities Of Practice

For the purpose of this exercise, I will again use Jay and Johnson’s Reflective Model, as this covers all the aspects simply and effectively:

Community of practice is sometimes defined by three distinct elements: joint enterprise, mutual engagement and shared repertoire (wenger, 2000). 

• joint enterprise: is a shared domain which is the “collectively developed understanding of what the community is about”. 

• mutual engagement: the members engage through interactions within the community, building mutual trust in the relationships. 

• shared repertoire: is “the communal resources” that the community of practice produce (wenger, 2000, p.229) 

Descriptive

Potential Inquiry Topics:

I have chosen a topic from both the Leadership and Digital courses studied over the last 16 weeks, that I felt were inspiring:

- Leadership Theories, Styles and Attributes

- Implementing Technology Innovation in the Classroom

What is a community of practice?

According to the Introduction to Communities of Practice (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015) a community of practice can be defined as "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". These communities have three characteristics, domain, community, and practice.

The domain of my potential community of practice is teachers, as we have a shared expertise. The community is based around the relationships and interactions we already have, sharing our knowledge and learning from each other. These interactions could be online or in person. Our shared practice connects us through experience, and the way we deal with problems. Both of my potential topics relate to the structure of my CoP as they both align with the current drive from the Ministry of Education to implement the new digital curriculum.

As seventeen teachers at our school we could have student collaboration in their Teacher Inquiry goal, including me, this would fit all three elements (shared expertise, relationships, and shared practice). Leadership style is something we all use, but could tap into in a more constructive way for our Teacher Inquiries. This would also fit with the three elements.

Comparative:

The staff involved in the potential community of practice already work together in a community of practice for integrating digital technology at our school. There is also another smaller CoP group that have formed to be in charge of the digital curiculum. Some of us have more knowledge, particularly around leadership, but all are keen to learn. All the teachers regularly interact online and in person, so would continue to do so. The positives highlighted are the shared goals and solid relationships, and one of the negatives is time.

According to research, a significant issue for communities of practice is conflict. "Teachers can feel vulnerable for any number of reasons. They might struggle with conflicting views of effective teaching practice, ... or with the uncertainty associated with their own professional knowledge base" (Kelchtermans, 1996, cited in Dooner, Mandzuk & Clifton, 2008). I can understand this, as for me, it is difficult to confront/question the practice of colleagues with years of knowledge. I have also seen firsthand, that "teachers often deal with professional conflict by “avoiding interactions” and engaging in “superficial politeness” (Hargreaves, 2001, cited in Dooner, Mandzuk & Clifton, 2008).  It's interesting that as professionals, we regularly deal with conflict effectively in our classrooms, yet research suggests many of us don't deal with conflict well on a personal level. According to the Dooner et al research (2008), this conflict can lead to the demise or fragmentation of the community of practice.

Critical Reflection:

Considering the negatives aspects as highlighted by the potential members of the community of practice and available research, I believe that seventeen teachers could be too many. The research above, suggests that large communities of practice fragment into smaller communities during conflict, so perhaps the answer is to start small and build the community from a solid grounding. This would be easier to manage, and could reduce some of the time management issues. The focus on a shared goal is definitely a good basis for a community of practice, but in our school, the communities could be broken down into teams such as the junior school, year 3 and 4, year 5 and 6 and year 7 and 8 team or a core group of people who are identified as early adopters. Another factor to consider in the CoP is time, deadlines and colleague availability. To build the bigger community, we could use a shared online space to interact as required.

References

Dooner, A.-M., Mandzuk, D., & Clifton, R. A. (2008). Stages of collaboration and the realities of professional learning communities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(3), 564–574. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.TATE.2007.09.009

Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002). Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85. 

Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Week 18 - Change In Practice During My Mind Lab Journey

Week 18: 

Gibbs Model for Reflection

Description: 

I have begun to implement a Makerspace within our school context since starting my Mindab journey. Classes are timetabled to go through the Makerspace when I am releasing teachers to have their scheduled CRT twice a term. Students are given the choice of stations that they have an interest or passion in.

Feelings: 

Before this initiative was implemented I felt excited how being able to try something new and offer our students lots of various 21st century skills. The overwhelming feeling of making this venture necessary as a next step for our school as we embrace the new digital curriculum. I wanted to place the student at the centre of the learning, increase the use of digital tools and to develop student’s self-management, collaborative and perperserverance skills. I feel that the classes that have been through the Makerspace have reached some of these aims and I look forward to next Term as I really hit the ground running .

Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience?

Of the classes that have been through the Makerspace the majority of the students have reacted positively towards this new initiative as was indicated by the engagement throughout the sessions and perseverance on a task. On reflection I know that I had thought that this Term I would be fully into this space been operational and used fully but with quite a few new staff on board this year I have had to spent a considerable amount of time with new staff as they learn new systems and expectations in a new work place. I had to put the space on hold until really starting properly in Term 2. This has allowed me to do more research into what would be most effective in the Makerspace and I believe will allow me to have more success at a rapid rate. 

Analysis: What sense can you make of the situation?

The Makerspace approach is starting to change the learners’ and teachers’ roles across the school.“Changing the Script” theme in Bolstad, R., et al 2012 report. A knowledge-building learning environment is developing where roles and relationships are structured in a way that draws on the strengths and knowledge of both students and teacher in order to best support learning (Bolstad, R., et al, 2012). I now see myself as a facilitator for student knowledge building. The shift in practice is also developing student’s self-management skills in a supported environment.

The changes to my teaching practice were triggered and supported by the exposure to numerous theories and literature during my Mind Lab journey. I was influenced by Roach’s (2014) idea that benefits of this type of learning allow for “more one on one time with students, more opportunities for active and collaborative learning and self-paced learning” (Roach, 2014, P 75).

Conclusion: What else could you have done?

Although positives have been experienced with the implementation of the Makerspace it has been hindered with time constraints. On reflection, I think it was ambitious to have started this at the beginning of the year with so many new staff. Other issues are the lack of funding and having to think strategically about what we purchase and use in this space to get value for money. The time constraints to a degree have been a positive in regards to resourcing because it has allowed me the time to research what would be best to purchase as well as undertake some fundraising for this space. 

Action Plan: If it arose again what would you do?

By implementing this change initiative I learnt that it is worth taking a risk to change my teaching practice towards future-orientated learning. I will continue to work on my leadership of other teachers as early adopters. Continuing to highlight the qualities of relative advantage, compatibility with existing values and practices, and the simplicity of the initiative (Robinson, 2009) will hopefully help spread the change in practice. Ideally I would like everyone to spend some of their release time in the Makerspace with me so that each teacher values what is been done as well as upscaling themselves so that in the future this can be replicated in the classroom. I don’t wish to be seen as the font of all knowledge in regards to the Makerspace. I want our staff to be able to have this knowledge themselves so that if I left the school tomorrow this initiative would continue and thrive. 

References

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL paper, 52, 1-27.

Roach, T. (2014). Student perceptions toward flipped learning: New methods to increase interaction and active learning in economics. International Review of Economics Education, 17, 74-84.

Robinson, L. (2009). A summary of Diffusion of Innovations. Changeology. Retrieved from http://www.enablingchange.com.au/Summary_Diffusion…

Reflecting On Reflective Practice - Week 17

Reflections:

Step 1 (Descriptive stage): 

Reflection has changed over the years for me from when I was a beginning teacher where we are constantly expected to be reflective and there is a danger that this reflection could become ritualised without reference to context or outcomes. Boud and Walker (1998) decry the way that reflection can be turned into recipe-following “checklists which students work through in a mechanical fashion without regard to their own uncertainties, questions and meanings” (1998, p.193).

When I entered  the professional as a beginning teacher I was mentored which involved a great deal of reflective practice through various mediums such as oral and written. A large component was through written reflection.  I found myself after becoming fully registered that the expectation for written reflection was less expected. I was still being a reflective practitioner but preferred face to face reflection with colleagues rather than in the written form. Twenty years on I have found myself almost coming full circle as we have a bigger focus on our personal teaching practice as we inquire into that which requires written documentation through reflection and the inquiry process.

Step 2 (Comparative stage):

The survey we completed uses the word ‘criticise’ when thinking about reflection. I do not like this word as it has such negative connotations. I think a better phrase would be ‘critique’. I think this ability to ‘critique’ comes naturally to all teachers who want to improve their practice. I do this on a daily basis and feel completely comfortable sharing my thoughts with others at my school. I value their opinions. I believe reading current theory and research is important in terms of evaluating your practice and also to give you new ideas.

Having reviewed the data from the responses it appears that reflective practice is occurring mostly through face to face conversations, rather than through written forms like a diary. It is worth noting that more collaborative thinking is occurring through sharing of reflective practices. Despite the thoughts of Larrivee (2000) and Yang (2009) in my opinion most teachers that you talk to are extremely time poor with the amount of documentation required of them to fulfill their jobs. It is not to say that written reflection is not an important part of this process but one we do need to be mindful of. 

I think as educators we also need to be aware of the off the cuff reflections made through social media platforms such as twitter and facebook which can lead to implications on schools where derogatory comments may have been made and not thought out.

Step 3 (Critical reflection) 

I need to make the commitment to reflecting on my practice regularly and to move on from just my perspective, to more of a critical reflection and using theoretical work to influence this. I think about the inquiry I am doing, and how it can change my practice, however I need to start writing this down more and really looking at how this influences my practice.

I naturally tend to look at all the things I still need to do and improve on, rather than taking the time to acknowledge what I am doing well and what I have already achieved. One aspect of my reflective practice that I plan on improving is to begin to document more my reflective thinking when working on my current teaching as inquiry around Mathematics. It can also be shared with others, who can give me feedback and new aspects to consider. Larrivee (2000, p.295) says that unless teachers reflect on their practice they “stay trapped in unexamined judgements, interpretations, assumptions and expectations.” I believe that without honest self reflection and having others critique your practice and give you feedback you will not grow as a teacher. 

So where to next for me? More reading, more writing, more thinking and conversing.  More critical rather than descriptive, without losing the positive impacts I have already found.  

REFERENCES

Larrivee, B. (2000).Transforming teaching practice: becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293-307.

Yang, S., H. (2009). Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational Technology & Society, 12(2), 11-21.