How it all began...
I began my teaching degree in Christchurch the day before
the February 22nd 2011 earthquake. So, one and a half days into my
first residential school (I was a distance student), the University literally
fell down around me. Tutors were locked out of their offices, and resources at
this time were non-existent.
This was potentially an isolating situation, as I had only
met my cohort the day before, and we were living in various locations around
New Zealand. So began my first professional Community of Practice, as a
facebook group was set up for us all to join and collaborate within, to pool
resources and knowledge, and most importantly support each other as we
navigated our way through this situation.
This community of practice became invaluable over the next
three years, and the shared domain grew in strength (Wenger, 2000). The joint
enterprise aspect developed as we collectively understood what this community
was about and utilized it with questions, queries, communication. Vital when
not physically able to meet face to face.
The online interactions built mutual trust (Wenger, 2000) as
relationships between members strengthened over time. We had all bonded in a
traumatic event, and were all in the same situation of shared challenges and
successes as we worked our way through our degrees while the University
rebuilt.
I could not have got through this without the shared
repertoire of communal resources (Wenger, 2000). People’s strengths and advice
helped to support all members. This was a communal place we could share
resources to, have questions answered, problems solved. This community of
practice became so strong and innovative through a forced situation that over
the three year period the University asked for some of our resources, and
collectively we instigated changes in practice that the University adopted for
future students.
How this has helped me today
Having this experience has set me up with previous experience
as I begin the online part of this Mindlab course. I know the value of
community of practice to support and help progress members. Who else has such
an inside understanding as the members going through the experience?
I am fortunate that my school has a high number of teachers
involved in this course, so my need to collaborate online has not been as
necessary, as we meet face to face regularly to support each other and work collaboratively
on assignments. We still follow the same practice of understanding the joint
enterprise purpose for the community, and building mutual trust as the
enterprise progresses. Most definitely we share resources and knowledge. My own
practice has been able to grow exponentially through this shared interaction.
Questions for Inquiry
My current areas of interest and topics for inquiry are
based on questions that have arisen through the growth of my own practice
relating to what I have been opened to in Mindlab. These questions are based on
the implementation of Must Do/Can Do activities in my classroom practice:
How do I reflect on the learning not the activity ie: How to
explain it?
How could implementing flexible timetables lead to more
coverage of curriculum? (versus the interruptions to static timetables)
Sharing these questions in a shared domain will inevitably
lead to answers and problem solving in a future focused learning area still in
the early days of educational change. Mutually, we can begin to identify what is
successful practice in this learning style. What are the pitfalls, barriers,
challenges to overcome? What are the successes and shortcuts, what works well
and how can we support each other to avoid making the same mistakes so we can
move forward collaboratively and build more effective classroom practice?
Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.
