Activity 1: My community of practice
This is my eleventh year in my current school. Over the course of the time I have been here I have had a number of roles. I have been a class teacher for a number of years. I have been a team Leader. I am now a specialist teacher and leader for EOTC and Health and Safety.
Wenger (2000) states "Participating in communities of practice is essential to our learning." I believe taking on different roles both within and outside of the school setting ensures we always continue to learn new ideas and ways of 'doing' things that widen the scope and view of everyone in our community.
I love what I do.
My community of practice
Wegner (2000) talks about community and boundaries. He discusses the need for experience and boundaries to not be too close , or learning doesn't happen. He states, " learning at boundaries is likely to be maximized when experience and competence are in close tension". he also discusses how boundaries can be a place that new perspectives and possibilities arise and unusual learning takes place.
I think that encompasses the purpose and practice our learning community. We are constantly taking our students to their boundaries and asking them to go further to to increase their learning.
My part in this community, especially in relation to my subject area and roles of responsibility, is to find where students, staff, parents, and whanau's boundaries are and encourage them to take a leap out of those boundaries and consider ideas, views and perspectives that are different to those they currently have.
In my class we are constantly looking at what we do, believe, understand and value and finding how new ideas and information fit or change these views.
The core values in our school.
School culture is one of the most complex and important concepts in education.
Schein (1985, p.6) considers the basic essence of an organisation’s culture to be:
the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously, and that define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organisation’s view of itself and its environment.
These are the heart of school culture and what makes it so hard to grasp and change.
Changes in our school population, size and the continual and extremely fast paced change in technology in the last five years have had huge impact on the culture in our school.
Our core school values reflect this.
Our values are referred to as the 3 R's
Respect for self
Respect for Others
Responsibility for your actions.
These values are an expectation for every member of the school community, students, teachers, support staff, parents. At first glance they seem very simple, however, when you dissect and reflect on these they are the foundations of holding our community together and keeping it running smoothly. Why?
Respect for self covers everything we do. How we engage with others, how we respond to others, how we approach a task or learning situation, and most importantly, the relationship and value we have with ourselves. If we have a new challenge how do we approach it? do we decide its too hard and we won't even attempt it, or do we strive to find strategies, people, actions that can help us accomplish anything
Respect for others involves not just the way we interact and treat others, but the values we hold for the beliefs, opinions and rights of other people.It encourages us all to have mutual respect, genuinely value diversity and difference, show mindfulness of other people, and be open to new ideas and experiences.
Responsibility for our actions involves owning what you do and how you do it. Mindfulness and mutual respect play an important role here as well. True understanding that everything we do has an effect - positive and negative- on other people.
These values underpin everything every member of staff does in their class and around the school. Regardless of which class you go into you can see that these values are the pillars under every action in the classroom
Purpose and function of my practice.
Wegner also states, " Knowing therefore is a matter of displaying competencies defined in social communities." For me this means continuing to develop knowledge and understanding around what needs to happen, when, and how. Reflecting on what is working well and what needs to be modified or changed, and who are the people who can action and follow through on that change.
In my teaching role in adolescent health my purpose and function is to open the students eyes to how they think, act, and respond to their own beliefs about themselves and how they form relationships and communicate with others
My current leadership roles are EOTC and health and safety.
In EOTC my role is to ensure that everyone is prepared and knows what they are doing and what is expected when taking students outside of the school. WE need to ensure we are prepared for and encompassing the differing needs of each student. Expect the best but prepare for the worst, knowing that should something go wrong, we have an appropriate and timely strategy to deal with it.
Health and Safety encompasses all of the above as well as making sure that everything we do is done with the well being of everyone as a priority.
As part of my role I have the opportunity to share new knowledge and understandings with staff and gain their feedback and ideas on new initiatives and expectations. Over the last two years this has enabled a huge amount of personal growth in how I interact with others and respond to other peoples' ideas and needs.
As part of my role I have the opportunity to share new knowledge and understandings with staff and gain their feedback and ideas on new initiatives and expectations. Over the last two years this has enabled a huge amount of personal growth in how I interact with others and respond to other peoples' ideas and needs.
References
Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture
Wenger, E (2002). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. Organisation Articles,
