Changes in my Practice

32 weeks ago I began my Mindlab journey, it was something I had seen several friends of mine complete, and I had been eager to join their ranks. To be honest, I saw it as an opportunity to get a formalised qualification to 'back up' all of the informal learning and experimenting I had been doing with regards to e-Learning since I first became a teacher back in 1993 and thought myself very innovative for running a Literacy unit based on the game "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" (Which to be fair, was a pretty cutting edge thing to be doing back then). I wasn't completely sure just how much value I'd get from my participation in the course, even my DP said, "Are you sure you won't be bored?". To be honest, no, I wasn't sure, but if nothing else, the promise of playing with robots (if I wasn't a teacher I think I'd love to be a robotics engineer) at some stage in the near future was a pretty big carrot.

PTC 4 " Fully registered teachers demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice." 

Well, I'm pleased to say I most certainly was not bored. Yes, there were some things I already knew about, or had been using for a while, but there were also many, many other things that were just as new to me as they were to everyone else. In the case of the former, this gave me an opportunity to help others grow their expertise - good practise for me in developing both my leadership and teaching skills as I had to help through asking the right questions instead of taking over and telling or just doing. When it came to the latter, however, then I have to say one of the biggest aspects was the theoretical and pedagogical knowledge that underpins effective teaching and leadership. Prior to Mindlab, I knew nothing about concepts such as Lean and Agile, beyond thinking maybe they were something related to a diet and exercise programme. These were just two of the many, many new ideas I was exposed to. To be fair, not all appealed, and there are some I need to continue to mull over, but my growth in both knowledge and professional practice has been immense.

PTC 1 "Fully registered teachers establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all ākonga."

My learners have benefitted from my Mindlab journey as well, at the simplest level they loved to see that Mrs McGhie also had homework, and it took a long time for one wee cherub to get his head around the fact that, "No, teachers don't actually know EVERYTHING, we are still learning and growing everyday, just like you." They have benefitted in other ways as well, whether it has been through me taking back some of the practical activities we did in class and letting them have an opportunity to explore "Mrs McGhie what did you learn this week?!"  - augmented reality being a particular hit - right down to the assignments, which through their very nature challenged me to change my practice and try new things within my classroom programme, and then ask the children for their thoughts on the impact of these changes. I think this reflects my commitment to and development of PTC 1 as I certainly used my new learning to engage with and collaborate with the learners in my class.

In terms of my future professional learning, I know that one of these days I want to complete my Masters, but that will be a dream that has to wait for a while, as I have some other things I need to conquer first. However, I know that I will certainly get there one day, and Mindlab has been an important step in achieving my goal.

References

Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/

My Interdisciplinary Connection Map

A Current Connection

When looking at the map above, which shows my interdisciplinary connections as they relate to my roles of classroom teacher and learning leader, it is quite eye-opening to note the number of connections there are, and those are just the ones I thought of as I am sure there are many others.

As a school, we are working with Mark Treadwell (one of my identified interdisciplinary connections) to develop and implement a competencies based curriculum, where we start with Mark's work as a base, but mould and shape it to fit the needs of our particular school community. Due to the nature of it's design, there is a lot of potential for we as educators to situate these competencies within an interdisciplinary outline. Barton and Smith (2007) talk about the notion of children having the opportunity to learn something “worth knowing”. They discuss the idea of an interdisciplinary outline, one that “...recognizes that effective planning is...a well-crafted set of resources and activities that can adapt to the emerging needs and interests of students.” One of the advantages of the approach to curriculum that we are taking is our ability to take the teachable moment, or run with what interests the particular students in our class at the time.

As the competencies, and their sub-set of concepts, are cross-disciplinary in nature, this provides us with the scope to look for opportunities to present a concept within an interdisciplinary context.  According to Mathison & Freeman (1997) “...an interdisciplinary approach always consciously combines two or more disciplines and keeps them distinct and in focus. It has clear objectives that include both critical-thinking skills and in-depth content, and is typically teacher directed but may welcome student input.”

In their presentation entitled “The Logic of Interdisciplinary Studies”, Mathison & Freeman (1997) discuss some of the concerns that need consideration when considering an approach such as this. They talk about the risk of it being little bits of lots of topics, without any real deep or unifying structure - and go on to discuss the importance of ensuring that important educational goals are met through the use of this form of curriculum design and delivery. This is worthy of consideration, especially when considered in relation to the competency based curriculum we are implementing. With each of the competencies being separated into between 15 - 19 interrelated concepts, and the expectation being that each concept should only need between 20 minutes and 2 hours to develop understanding, I often worry that there is a real risk of presenting a series of isolated pockets of ideas (that theoretically are integrative and cover big educational ideas).  What this certainly highlights for me is the importance of ensuring their is still something tying them all together into a logical and cohesive whole.

A Potential Future Connection

Looking at the diagram, there are a number of potential connections that could be well worth exploring, one that I think could be particularly worthwhile, is that of the local high school. One real limitation I have found when it comes to really exploring things that are worth my learners knowing, is the availability of suitable resources to really deeply explore some aspects of the curriculum.  A good example of what I am referring to would be the area of Science. At it's simplest level, this could mean me contacting a Science teacher/HOD at the school and getting their ideas and input into a lesson I am planning to present, or perhaps connecting with teachers at Albany Senior, where they are already exploring interdisciplinary teaching within their own context, and looking for suggestions on combining Science and Literacy, for example, in a meaningful way that will help promote deep learning.

On a more complex level, it could be taking my learners to one of the local high schools to explore a concept with more depth than I can provide at school, or alternatively, maybe it could take the form of students at one of those schools as part of their learning, preparing and presenting something to help my learners to develop their skills and knowledge, that builds the older students' knowledge at the same time.

In order for this to be truly successful, I think it would be very important to ensure that I am working collaboratively with the teachers and or their students, as at the end of the day, I am the one with the best knowledge of my students and their needs, so full collaboration would be the most important consideration.

References

Barton, K. C., & Smith, L. A. (2000). Themes or motifs? Aiming for coherence through interdisciplinary outlines. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 54-63.1.

Mathison,S.. & Freeman, M.(1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997.

Using Social Online Networks in Teaching and Professional Development

I have been a long time user of social online networks both for my own professional development and as a means of connecting my learners with others beyond the four walls of our classroom.

Early Years

My earliest forays into the world of social media began as far back as 1998, when I became a member of a US based teachers List Serve, an online forum, which I also was able to receive in digest format through my email.  It was through my membership in this forum that I became aware of different teaching methodologies such as Four Blocks Guided Reading, and my first introduction to Habits of Mind. I also enjoyed the interaction with other like-minded educators, as they fulfilled a need that wasn't being met by my peers within my school community. This aligns with Karen Melhuish's observations when she noted that "...this ability to share and leverage previously invisible or unreachable networks has brought a new dimension to what it means to be a lifelong professional learner." (2013, p181).

I was also able to see the potential advantages for my children and signed up my Y2/3 class (with permission from the boss and their parents) to participate in a Key Pals project with a class in New Jersey. In those days I had one computer in my classroom and it was not linked to the Internet, so I would have the children write their emails in their draft books and then take them all home to type up and send via my own computer. It was a valuable experience, with my Levin based students learning about how they were the same and different from children across the other side of the world.

From there, this morphed into a variety of online projects with other classes over the years including: hosting and sending several travel buddies, involvement in postcard exchanges, moving on into a Monster Exchange, and in more recent years, maintaining class blogs, Quadblogging and Pass the Blog activities, among many, many others.  The biggest benefits to my children have been in having real life opportunities to develop and perfect their Literacy skills - which aligns with findings by McDowell, (2010) whose research identified
"... that there are a number of affordances of ICTs and effective e-Learning environments that may help teachers provide the conditions needed for literacy learning to occur". (p61)
Social media also gave the children an awareness of the lives of others both nationally and internationally, and of course, improved digital citizenship as I was careful to ensure that the children's interactions online were grounded in key ideas of netiquette and digital safety.

U learn classroom connections from Kirstin Anderson-McGhie

The above is a link to one of my ULearn presentations exploring the different ways I've used social media to connect my learners.

Social Media and My Professional Growth

Professionally, it would appear that 2007 would be the next defining year in my social media journey. October 2007 was the year I attended ULearn in Auckland. Ewan McIntosh was the keynote and he kept talking about Twitter and Bloggers Cafe.  Intrigued I set out to find out more about these, and from there my teaching career was transformed! Literally overnight, I set up a Twitter account, set up this blog as a professional reflection blog, followed my first few kiwi tweeps - many of whom are still good friends of mine today, and I was off on my new path as a connected educator.  The biggest thing for me was discovering that there were others like me and that they were in New Zealand as well as overseas. I was always wanting to do things that were out of step with where my school was at in terms of pedagogy and digital literacy, and it was nice to know I wasn't the only maverick out there (or what Danielle Myberg describes as a lone nut).

 My Twitter feed

As a result of my online participation in these forums I have gone on to present several times at ULearn and other conferences, I have taken my online PD into face to face settings such as EduCamps, I have been exposed to new ideas, grown exponentially as a teacher and as an individual, I have met some amazing educators in person and have learnt from them, and most importantly, the children that have been in my classes have benefitted from my online participation.

For me, social media is a vital part of my professional development tool kit and one I would hate to be without.

References

McDowall, S., & Team, C. E. (2010). Literacy teaching and learning in e-learning contexts. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. 

http://missdtheteacher.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/how-do-you-know-if-you-are-fruit-loop.html

Legal and Ethical Contexts in My Digital Practice

According to Henderson,  Auld  & Johnson (2014) “Students will learn understandings about the law and morality from the actions teachers do and do not take associated with social media in the classroom” (p5). Whilst this statement is pertinent to a number of situations involving the use of social media in the classroom, in this particular instance I shall be exploring the ethical dilemma that arises with the use of online images, written content and music.

Photo Credit: K Anderson-McGhie

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The Dilemma

This is a particular ethical dilemma I have come up against on many occasions over the last few years, and for the most part it is one that stems from a lack of knowledge on the part of the various stakeholders - which can include students, parents and other teaching staff.  I am well known amongst other teachers at our school for my rigid adherence to copyright rules and laws, and will not hesitate to point out when something is in breach of copyright.

Earlier this year, consent was given and arrangements made for the children in my class to bring their own devices to school in order to create their own Weebly page about an area of interest to them.  These 'passion projects' as they were known, were the culmination of 2 terms worth of work facilitated by my classroom release teacher.  The children worked on their projects 1 day per week when I was away from the classroom fulfilling my team leader responsibilities.

In terms of the actual BYOD process and creation of individual websites, all appropriate permissions had been sought, arrangements had been made for the safe storage of the devices whilst at school.  In terms of the guidelines and policies laid out in the Ministry of Education (2015) Responsible Use document, everything was in place with regards to access and device & content ownership.

Once all the projects were finished, I had the opportunity to sit down with the students as they shared their work with me.  While I was impressed with the thought and effort that had gone into their web-pages, I became increasingly concerned at their use of music and images in particular which were in fact copyrighted.

Why Was This a Problem?

Part of the dilemma for me was that I was very concerned that the children had inadvertently broken the law. This had potential ramifications for the children, as according to NZ law they are the copyright holders of any work they produce, regardless of the ownership of the device it was produced on (Ministry of Education, 2015).  Secondly, there was the fact that the children, and potentially their parents, could be justifiably upset if I were to ask them to take their work down, both in terms of their owning the work and also the time involved in creating their sites. At the same time, parents could rightly express concern that their children were put in a position that potentially exposed them to legal action as a direct result of the task assigned by the school. The flip side being of course, that there was the potential for legal steps to be taken by the owners of the copyright.

Solving the Problem 

Ordinarily, before embarking on any online project, I take the time to educate children about copyright rules, and introduce them to creative commons licensing.  I also provide them with a list of sites where they can access creative commons licensed materials. I also tend to encourage the creation of their own images and music, and we talk about how they are the copyright holders of those. In this particular instance, what I ended up doing was talking to the children about what had happened and helping them to find images that were licensed for reuse.  There was some disappointment, as not all of the images available were as impressive as their original selections, but I was more comfortable with what they had online. Moving forward, I need to make sure that I check other teaching staff's understanding of copyright law and ensure that they have everything in place to enable the students to produce digital artefacts that are both legal and something they can be proud of.

References

Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014). Ethics of Teaching with Social Media. Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2014, Adelaide, SA.

Ministry of Education. (2015). Digital technology - Safe and responsible use in schools.

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in My Practice

In this post I have been asked to consider indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy, both from my own perspective and how it looks within the context of my school.  Within a New Zealand context, the impact of these on Māori learners and their whanau is a core focus, supported by such initiatives as Ka Hikitia; however, on a wider scale, it is also worth considering the implications when engaging with learners from other ethnicities, particularly in a school like mine where we have a very ethnically diverse student community.

Photo Credit: K Anderson-McGhie

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My Understanding

Having completed the survey using the Self Review Tool in Cultural Intelligence, it reinforced for me that in general I have developed a good understanding of different cultural beliefs and practices, and I make every effort to acknowledge different cultural perspectives within my classroom. I enjoy having opportunities to engage with and participate in different cultural practices, and take every opportunity to ask questions, try new things and grow my understanding of different cultures. Having completed my teacher training at the University of Waikato, and later on having the opportunity to teach in schools in both West Auckland and Levin, I have had many opportunities to explore the richness of Te Reo and Tikanga in particular, as well as Pasifika and Chinese cultures. According to the Ministry of Education document Ka Hikitia - Accelerating Success 2013 - 2017 Ako is a two way process where the teacher both teaches and learns from the student and the student is also both learner and teacher and during my 5 years in Levin in particular, I had regular opportunities to develop and refine my understanding of culturally responsive practices. One aspect that I identified on the survey tool as being an area of continued growth for me is that of the less visible hidden psychological features of culture, such as beliefs and values, among other aspects.

My School's Practice

Communication Methods: Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011) state that "New Zealand primary classes increasingly include students with diverse cultural, linguistic and experiential backgrounds.” (p2) This is certainly the case at our school, with some of our more dominant cultural groups being those of South African, Chinese and South Korean descent. In fact, Māori and Pasifika students make up less than 5% of our school population.

What we have done as a school to support communication is employing Mandarin speaking staff of Chinese decent on both our teaching and office staff, we also have a Korean teacher aide and a number of South African teachers (including some who speak Afrikans). This enables us to more easily facilitate home/school communication, and means we can translate signage and newsletters as appropriate. It also means we have staff available to act as interpreters for meetings between parents and teachers.

We also liaise closely with members of our Māori parent community, who share their expertise with us in matters of protocol and in supporting our Kapa Haka group. Children are able to share their learning with their parents in face to face meetings, but also through platforms such as blogging and SeeSaw where they can post various digital artefacts including video and audio recordings. Children are encouraged to use their home language to support their learning and understanding as well.

Learning Activities: Our principal has certainly been a driving force behind lifting the profile of Māori language and culture within our school, and ensuring that teachers have the necessary skills and knowledge to include them in our classroom programmes. An example of this being that all teachers are currently completing PD in Te Reo and Tikanga through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. The idea being that this is then taken through into our classroom programmes to upskill our learners, and acknowledge our Māori students. It is very much in it's early days and is happening with varying degrees of regularity across the school.

References

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative.

Ministry of Education. (2013). Ka Hikitia – Accelerating Success 2013-2017 Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

Exploring a Contemporary Issue or Trend: The Development and Ubiquity of New Technologies

There are many trends that are impacting on education. In this post I'm going to consider the development and ubiquity of new technologies

Photo Credit: K Anderson-McGhie

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Relevance to My Practice

As noted in the report produced by the OECD (2016), the internet has become very much a part of most people's lives, they expect instant answers to their questions, and are never far from it, especially with the growing uptake of various hand held devices. This is of particular interest to me, as over the 20 odd years since I first accessed the Internet, I have leveraged its potential as a tool to support my learners, as well as using it to grow both my professional capacity and my personal relationships. I am very much a self described "gadget girl" never far from one of my many devices. I am also a mother and a teacher, and over time have seen the potential for both harm and good that comes from a connected society. In my own classroom, I have children pleading for more time on our 9 devices as they explore different learning opportunities, and I also see the number of them who carry smart phones and iPods in their school bags. For me, my main focus, my main concern, is how to harness the power of this trend so that our children and their families can benefit from it.

Analysis

According to data presented in the OECD (2016) report,  in 2013 the average number of Internet users was around 85% of the population, with just over 50% of those accessing the Internet from mobile devices. Interestingly, this placed us in a fairly similar position to Australia, but significantly ahead of the USA (although admittedly, both of those countries have larger populations). This indicates quite a high uptake in New Zealand, and when you consider that this data is 3 years old, it would be interesting to see the results if a survey were to be conducted today.

This trend certainly has a significant impact on our education system. When looking at CORE Educations Ten Trends for 2016, they identify issues such as equitable access, they explore the rise of networked communities, and also discuss the need to develop computational thinking and digital fluency with our young people (and I would add, their teachers and whanau too). In fact, a scroll through past iterations of the Ten Trends presents an interesting picture of the change over time, while also illustrating the increasing prevalence of digital technology in our lives.  

In July of this year, the Minister of Education announced that digital technology would be formally included as part of the New Zealand Curriculum. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-curriculum-include-digital-technology  This means, whether teachers are ready or not, whether parents want it or not, New Zealand children will be expected to explore digital technology as part of their learning.

Responding to the Trend

The OECD (2016) report suggests that with people now having the potential to be accessing several different things at one through their devices, this "... gives rise to worries about decreasing attention spans among today's youth" (p103).  This means that as educators, we need to make sure that learners are made aware of when it is appropriate to skim and scan, and when a deeper focus may be needed - and equip them with the skills to do both.  

One thing we need to consider is the role of reading and writing versus the use of video - both to present and share new learning. Unfortunately I can’t find a written reference, but many times in our work with Mark Treadwell, he has challenged our staff with the provocation that reading and writing will be unnecessary in the future.  I’m not sure I’m completely convinced, but this does mean that as educators, we may need to consider teaching our learners more in the way of visual language skills - such as interpreting and presenting visual media. Certainly in my own classroom, with the introduction of SeeSaw as a way of curating and sharing their learning, my students have produced a significant amount of video footage, and for many it is the preferred way to share their learning.

References:
OECD (2016), Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en

Core Education's Ten Trends for 2016 Accessed from: http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends

NZ Curriculum to include digital technology Accessed from: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-curriculum-include-digital-technology

Current Issues in My Professional Context

According to Stoll (1998) "School culture is one of the most complex and important concepts in education" (p9).  When considered alongside the impact of the socioeconomic status of learners, particularly the research that supports the correlation between low socioeconomic status and poor education outcomes APA (2016), it quickly becomes apparent that these factors play a significant role in determining the educational outcomes and experiences of our learners.  At the same time, these factors can also shape the beliefs, practices and well being of the teaching staff working in a school.

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What Does This Look Like in My School Community?

A quick look at 2013 Census data held by Statistics New Zealand  shows that the area in which our school is situated is one where most of the population are European, with the next biggest ethnic group being Asian, and only a very small percentage of Maori or Pacific Island decent.  Almost half of the people living in our area were born overseas.  Just under one fifth of the community are aged 15 or under. These statistics are reflective of our school community, a Decile 9, with a broad range of ethnic groups. We have only a very small number of Maori and Pasifika students, and a growing population of students from Asia - particularly China and South Korea. Interestingly, despite only a small proportion of the wider community being aged under 15, we have a rapidly growing group of Year 1 students (5 year olds), plus our school community is increasing on an almost weekly basis due to a housing boom in our area.

As a school we are aiming for a culture where all feel welcome, included and accepted. Where we embrace cultural diversity and strive to remove barriers to learning. Embracing the indigenous culture of New Zealand is valued and actively encouraged. We are committed to supporting both our staff and our students to be life-long learners and have the capacity to reach their full potential. It is a place where teachers are supported and expected to continue to build their professional knowledge and engage in current best practice.  One of the key factors in everything we do is the question: "Does this benefit our students?"

To achieve this we do the following:

• Deliver a competency based curriculum
• Translate signs, newsletters, and announcements into Hangul (Korean) and Madarin
• Teachers and Senior Leadership are upskilling in Te Reo and Tikanga
• Senior Leadership participate in all PD that the staff participate in
• An active and growing Kapa Haka group
• Minimising costs to parents for things such as stationery and EOTC events
• Our Vision and Values are visible, living documents
• Parent groups for ELL families, among others
• And much, much more.

An Issue To Consider

Stoll and Fink (1996) as cited in Stoll (1998), identified a series of norms that can have an effect on school improvement.  In considering these 10 norms I certainly agree that these are all norms to which we aspire and, for the most part I'm pleased to say are evident in our school, particularly when considering the professional environment.  Having said that, I would argue that risk taking is something we continue to work on - we expect it from our students, but at times our teachers find this hard to do.  As a SL Team we have been considering this, and looking at ways in which we can support teachers to feel confident to do so. It is our culture of life-long learning and reaching your potential in an environment where you feel supported that is driving us as a team.  What we still need to reflect upon is - what is it that we are doing or not doing that is making this difficult for teachers? Furthermore, if we have teachers who are finding this a challenge, what does that mean for our learners?

References:

APA. (2016). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx

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

My Community of Practice

What is a Community of Practice

Wegner (2000) defines communities of practice as ones in which members "...share cultural practices reflecting their collective learning"(p229). He also goes on to explain how the members of each community define the specific competencies required of community members and how these are comprised of three elements: joint enterprise, mutuality and a shared repertoire of resources (Wegner, 2000). I will come back to these later in this post.

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Identifying My Community of Practice

The communities of practice I belong to include: global teachers; New Zealand teachers; a member of staff at my school; a member of the senior leadership team at my school; lead learner in my classroom community; an active and long term member of global and local networks of Twitter educators. There are others as well, but for the purposes of this reflection I have decided to explore my school environment as a community of practice.

The Three Elements

Joint Enterprise: Wegner (2000) talks about the importance of learning as a community being the focus, and highlights the need for effective communities to consider both the gaps in knowledge as well as new possibilities. In our school we have taken on board a competencies based curriculum - facilitated by Mark Treadwell, which is quite cutting edge as we are one of only a handful of New Zealand schools to implement this particular iteration. This has meant that all of us, from the principal right through to our first year PRT (Provisionally Registered Teacher), have been involved in inquiring into our practice, establishing shared understandings, building upon our prior knowledge and best practice, and establishing the way forward for our school.

Mutuality: In order to build our community and help us move forward, we have a number of structures in place to facilitate support and interaction within our community.  We run two vertical teams, each comprising of around 11 teachers that come from all levels of the school.  This means that each team has a diversity of year levels and teaching experience.  Each team is lead by a Learning Leader, of which I am one. Teams meet regularly, and at all times professional development and student outcomes are at the forefront. As a staff we meet weekly, again with PD and student outcomes highlighted.  Each member of the teaching staff participates in GROWTH Coaching, with most of us acting as coaches as well as coachees.

Shared Repertoire: We have a shared OneNote notebook where we share ideas and examples of lessons we have taught that link to our competency based curriculum. Furthermore, because of the competency based curriculum we have a shared language with our learners and each other.

Defining My Practice Within the Community

As a Learning Leader and an early adopter of the competency based curriculum, I have quite an active role within the community.  As a leader I am expected to model best practice as well as showing that I am open to and actively pursuing new learning. Being on the Leadership team means I get regular opportunities to interact with Mark, which means I can clarify new concepts for my team, and have some say in the direction we are heading. As we are all on this journey together I feel very connected to the community, we all learn together, it is new for all of us, and as a staff we tend to be supportive and open with each other. There are many occasions where I get to learn from others in the community as they share something they have tried or experienced. On other occasions, I have the opportunity to take the lead or share my new learning, so it is definitely a community that is based on the principle of a social learning system, with each part contributing to the whole.

Reference:

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