In trying to identify the Communities of Practice (Cop) that I belong to I referred to Wegner-Traynor (2015) who state that "communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." I realised that I belong to several varied Cop that all have similar or common domains, however, there are two Communities of Practice that stand out for me.
My initial thoughts were of my colleagues at school. I am, as
Wenger (2000, p.227) defines, a “newcomer” or someone who wants to align my
experience with their competence. This
is my immediate Cop and it is an Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) we teach
in. It is a new school and a new learning environment for me. I have taught in a single cell classroom for
the past ten years and moving into an ILE has required a shift in my thinking
and challenged my practice. In our ILE we
need to work very collaboratively in our shared space and ensure that we all
have the same vision, goals and high expectations for our students. I feel privileged to be a part of this new
community because of the supportive culture that had already been established
prior to me arriving. We meet each week
to discuss the triumphs and successes of our students and to plan how we can
further these and help those who have not yet achieved. Along with the chocolate box, we share our
knowledge, experiences, resources, strategies used with our class. There is a mutual respect for each other and each
of our unique characteristics are celebrated.
Our teaching strengths are utilised and we gain support in areas we are
not so confident in, which in turn benefits our students who get the best of
all their teachers.
The other Cop is a group of former colleagues and friends that I meet
with on a regular basis. We discuss our
practice, new initiatives and how we can improve our teaching and outcomes for
our students. This is an informal and a
very open format meeting – sometimes enticed with food. As we are now all in very different positions
and our roles are varied the knowledge shared is invaluable. We encourage each to persevere and offer each
other new ideas or innovations to trial.
This Community of Practice is a safe place where there is no
judgement. These colleagues offer a
listening ear to the never-ending juggling act that we all take on board when
becoming an educator. How do we become
the best teacher we can and help all our students be successful, while making
time for family, study, exercise, and extra-curricular activities?
While both these Communities of Practice are very different, the common
domain or passion for both is improving student learning and success. I am lucky to be a part of both and hope that
my contributions help my colleagues as much as theirs have helped me.
References
Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems.
Organization, 7(2), 225-246.
Wenger-Traynor, E. & Wenger-Traynor, B. (2015). Introduction to
communities of practice. A brief overview of the concept and its uses.
Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-
practice/
