Activity One - Communities of Practice
Identifying my Community of Practice
Communities of Practice have been around for centuries, we just didn't know that's what we had or hadn't thought to put a name to it. We have always got together to discuss problems, enable solutions and figure out the way forward. Wenger-Trayner (2015) discuss Communities of Practice as being one where groups of people who are like minded and share concerns get together regularly to do things better.
There are of course, many Communities, but Wenger (2000) reports that the three crucial elements that define a Community of Practice are: joint enterprise, mutual engagement and shared repertoire.
I identify with a variety of Communities of Practice,
- Mind Lab - March Intake 2017
- Mahora School Management Team
- Mahora School Leadership Team
- Mahora School Team 3 (Seniors)
- Ngā Hau e Wha Kahui Ako PaCT (Progress and Consistency Tool) Team
For the purpose of this reflection I am going to reflect on my practice within the Kahui Ako PaCT team.
The Joint Enterprise or the Shared Domain of our Kahui Ako, Ngā Hau e Wha, is an area identified to be consistently below National Standards - Writing. It was decided that a tool was needed that allowed for some consistency across schools and so PaCT was chosen. I immediately put my hand up to lead it along with another teacher in our school. In regards to the PaCT took, we have varying degrees of experience. Some, like myself, have never had any exposure to the tool, while some have seen it, and two of the schools started to use it in 2016.
Our foci or the learning outcomes are to, use the frameworks to strengthen teachers’ subject and pedagogical knowledge in writing. We used the word frameworks because we were taking multiple frameworks into consideration e.g. learning progressions, NZ Curriculum, PaCT and schools own writing frameworks.
We started out having weekly meetings, taking turns to share the venue. Whilst, not the reason for it, this gives all teachers a chance to observe other School Communities and their practice. I love it! Other teachers are such a great resource, however, going to other schools has helped our Kahui Ako PaCT team build solid relationships, which can only be a good thing for our children and whānau in our wider Communities. Our meetings are less often now, down to 3 times a term. They are no less 'full on', we have just reached a different area on the map of our Community of Practice.
Defining My Role Within the Community of Practice
I started at my current school in January 2017. My role within the school is Assistant Principal and Classroom Teacher. My Role within the PaCT Community of Practice started out as being that of a Learner. I needed to know all about the tool - what it was, how to implement it and most of all how beneficial it would be to not only our school but to the other schools in the CoL. The very frank discussions and problem solving we did, helped to define and develop the next part of my role within this Community of Practice - that is PaCT leader (along with another teacher) in my school. We have introduced the tool to the rest of the Senior School Teachers and worked hard at engaging and reassuring them that, although using PaCT will absolutely create more work to begin with, the judgements generated from the reporting cycle will give us more confidence and a clearer picture of 'where to next' for each child - helped hugely by the fact that at this stage, we were only asking them to use the PaCT tool on their 'writing target children'...
Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.
References:
Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.
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