Week 25: Communities of Practice

I have put a lot of thought into this week’s homework as having moved to a new school I am only just becoming familiar with the new community of practice that I find myself in. Please see my previous post ‘Who am I?’ for an overview of my domain, community and practice as defined by Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002). Over the past few days I have been considering the professional communities that I interact with that support my teaching practice and allow me to “develop a shared repertoire of resources” (Wenger et al., 2002). See the diagram below. The amount of time and effort that I put into these areas varies as I try to balance my teaching load with family responsibilities and the Mind Lab course. The online interaction has been the most challenging aspect of this course as I often only get to it after all my marking and lesson planning is done and my children are tucked up in bed. It is the thing that I can most easily ‘drop’ but at the same time these posts and discussions are forcing me to take the time to reflect on my practice.

1.      What is the purpose and function of your practice? In what ways do you contribute to the community of your practice?

As a teacher of science from Y9 –Y11 and senior chemistry. I feel it is my responsibility to nurture and develop students’ curiosity about the world around them and help them to engage with that world as much as possible. Through the Nature of Science Strand I try to teach my students about how scientists explore scientific ideas, carry out investigations, communicate, evaluate and participate in the community (Bull, Joyce, Spiller, Hipkins, 2010). I also try to support my colleagues both within my school community and in the cluster groups that I attend by sharing resources, ideas and moderating assessment tasks.

In the diagram above I outlined some of my communities of practice. Three are three main areas that I am currently contributing to my professional community.

Within my school:

Within my school I work collaboratively with the teaching staff in my faculty, reflecting on schemes of work, creating lesson plans, using assessment and student voice to adjust schemes of work, moderating assessment and discussing professional development initiatives. There are also opportunities discussion and collaboration across faculties and as staff as a whole with professional develop sessions and ICE time. More and more as my own teaching practice shifts from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’ (King, 1993) I have come to find that my students often over the most value insights and feedback into my teaching practice. As a result of this I am becoming interested in different ways of effectively collecting student voice and the validity of using student voice to inform your teaching practice.

Beyond my school:

There are two main initiatives beyond the school gates that I am involved with the Science Teachers cluster and Mindlab:

TAI Science Cluster

The Teaching as Inquiry Cluster group that I am involved with. Run with the support of UC Plus Education this has given me a new community of science teachers to interact with and learn from, from a range of diverse schools. This groups’ focus is on ensuring our priority learners are ‘confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners’ (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.8) and we collaborate and share our learning as we carry out an inquiry into our teaching practice at our respective schools.

Mind Lab

The Mindlab postgraduate programme has also extended my community of practice. I have thoroughly enjoy the hands on nature of the course and meeting like-minded teachers who are ready for a challenge and to try something new in their classes.  I have found the last assignment that had a focus on contributing to the google plus community has provided that final push I needed to take the first steps towards regularly contributing to an online community. While I belong to a number of communities in which I shared resources I haven’t joined in discussions or debate. Part of me still wonders were people find the time to balance family commitments, school and all its co-curricular activities and study and online communities. However, several of the posts in the RCP community have given me a different point of view or perceptive and caused me to re-think and reflect on prior learning which is invaluable. In replying I have had to clarify my thoughts and take a position on point of view. Wenger’s definition of social learning is “an interplay between social competence and personal experience’ (2000, p.227). I feel the google plus community is a good example of this.

2.      What is your specialist area of practice? How does your specialist area of practice relate to the broader professional context?

My specialist area of practice is Science and senior Chemistry. I am passionate about science education and the opportunities to share and collaborate with students’ and colleagues to inspire curiosity about the world we live in. Dweck (2008) wrote “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” This concept supports my own endeavours to continue to develop in my professional practice.  My students are also taught some of Dweck’s strategies for developing a growth mindset through our school curriculum. Through Mind Lab I have become particularly interested in the concept of 21st Century skills. I believe that the four C’s (communication, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration) developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (2011, p.1) map onto to the Key Competencies from the NZ Curriculum as well as the Science Capabilities. I have been exploring this concept through my studies at Mind Lab how these skills can be best supported with technology.

Through my involvement in my Science Teaching as Inquiry Cluster group I am carrying out an inquiry into my teaching practice.  Our group is using Timperley’s version of the inquiry cycle which is an iterative process involving moving through cycles of inquiry and knowledge building. Timperley’s view of professional learning is that it is an internal process that requires active cognitive, emotional and practical engagement as teachers create professional knowledge in a way that challenges previous assumptions and creates new meanings” (Timperley, 2011a, p. xi).

Timperley Inquiry Cycle (2011)

I am at the ‘focusing inquiry’ stage and am using the Thinking with Evidence Test to assess the students understanding of the Nature of Science Strand and the science capabilities. I hope to combine the idea of blended learning with teaching strategies that support the science capabilities. The students are likely to need to support in the Engage with Science strand. This might be well supported by an environmental so any ideas please share!!!

References

Bull, A,, Joyce, C., Spiller, L., Hipkins, R. (2010). Kick-Starting the Nature of Science. NZCER Press. ISBN 978-1-877398-58-2.

Dweck, C.S. (2008) Mindset: The Psychology of Success. New York: Random House

King, A. (1993). Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. College Teaching, Vol. 41, 1993 pp30-35

The Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum Document.

Retrieved from: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum

Partnership for 21st Learning. (n.d). ‘Preparing Students for a Global Society’ An Educators guide to the “Four C”s.  Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf

Timperley, H. (2011b). Realizing the Power of Professional Learning. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Timperley, H. (2011a). A background paper to inform the development of an Australian professional development framework for teachers and school leaders. Retrieved from: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/background_paper_inform_the_development_of_national_professional_development_framework_for_teachers_and_school_leaders

Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.