I've been absent from my blog since February, instead posting in Google + in the Mind Lab Ed community, as part of a postgraduate qualification. From tonight I'm returning to my blog with a series of posts aligned to the paper:“Applied Practice in Context.”
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Etienne Wenger first coined the concept of “communities of practice”, which are defined as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion or about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis”
(Wenger, McDermott et al; Snyder, 2002, p.4 cited in Mind Lab class notes, Applied Practice in Context: Week 25).I'm Annemarie and for thirty three years I've been Mrs Hyde, by marriage and by professional choice in the schools where I have been employed. Since 2004, I've chosen to be “mrshyde” or “@mrs_hyde” online, because that’s what my students know me by - as do the online community I affiliate to.
My professional community of practice is the community of teachers, but as Wenger says, we also belong to sub-communities, and I can think of a few: the learning community of my school, the local association of assistant and deputy principals, Connected Rotorua, the Twitterati of the #edchatnz community and since November, the cohort of educators who are working together in Mind Lab on the post graduate certificate course.
Schools are interesting places. In fact, I've paused to ponder whether they fit Wenger’s definition. Yes, we meet on an ongoing basis, and yes we are getting better at interacting to improve pedagogy rather than just talking about who organised the buses for the field trip or whether the everyone is meeting their duty obligations. And yes, I think we are moving towards having that shared concern or passion for the learning of our students. But we can all think of individuals in our staff rooms who aren't in that conversation. We discuss fixed and growth mindsets because we experience this duality in our associates all the time.
I have to say, it feels good to hear teachers talking about maths ideas that make a difference, or teachers meeting to help each other out on the first day of the holidays, or sharing Google doc ideas any time of day or night. (It wasn't always like that where I am.)
It’s that word passion that pings out of Wenger’s definition. And the interacting on an ongoing basis. For me the community of practice that I primarily identify with are the folk I fondly call the Twitterati. I've written a post about them before. Not located in a particular place or time zone, these are the educators who swim in the Twitter stream. What they have in common, besides an online presence, is a deep concern and passion about education, which they discuss together on an ongoing basis, in formally organised chats or casually and ubiquitously as issues arise. It surprises me how much in common we have. For the most part they are the early adopters, the enthusiasts and sadly, the lone nuts. Or were. I've seen change as schools embrace cloud learning an innovative learning practice. Ideas seen as crazy and too hard suddenly make sense.
Fascinated by the possibilities of new technologies and how they could change my learning, I jumped into the stream at a conference in 2010, attracted by the back channel discussion about the ideas in the keynote. I never looked back. I've met and associate with a large number of these edutweeps nationally and internationally, because the learning and collegiality continues to meet my needs. I think I've learned more from these people and their retweets than in any other forum. I am a very active participant in the discussions, enjoying the debate and making long lasting connections.
Leadership fascinates me. As a deputy principal I experience the dichotomy of leading and managing people everyday, and I constantly reflect on how to lead more effectively. I share the concerns and ideas with other leaders in the local association and with those leaders I associate with in online forums, like #ldrchatnz tonight. Leadership is about sharing a vision, and in this profession, it should be about improving the lot for learners. Wenger talks about the necessity for communities of practice to engage, and to be able to imagine the place they want to be, in this case at a point where students - and teachers - are self regulated learners. I believe that the point of leadership is to facilitate this shared vision and create a desire to align practice so that the shared goal of student motivation and personal achievement is reached. I think too, that actually we all want to belong and feel part of a group with a common goal.
Wenger talks about organisations needing to design themselves as social learning systems. It’s about building that mutuality of vision and the sense of belonging. No more lone nuts? Hmm, but maybe we need them...
Finlay, L. (2009) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246
Very inspiring and an interesting read. Thank you for sharing your ideas around your community of practice. Gave me much to ponder over.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your blog. It is a pleasure to be part of your "community of practice". We are like minded. The statement you made about "point of leadership is to facilitate this shared vision and create a desire to align practice so that the shared goal of student motivation and personal achievement is reached" is so powerful. Look forward to reading more of your reflections. Cheers
ReplyDeleteSo true @mrs_hyde. Twitter rules!
ReplyDeleteI met you at the very first #edchatnz conference in Auckland and it was such a joy to put faces to the twitter handles I had been following for a few years. You were the one with the biggest smile - who loved to hug!
Twitter is the place where I get my best ideas. If you have carefully selected the people you follow so they are passionate about the same things you are focussed on, then you get the best book recommendations, F2F meet up times, ideas to try in the classroom and opportunity for discussion about the issues that really matter and links to great blog posts.
I find it hard to believe that some teachers see Twitter as a waste of time, while I see it as the window to my world of 'like minded' teachers who are always looking or ways to improve their practice. These teachers ask the hard questions and even if you just feel like a 'lurker' this is the place to have your finger on the pulse of current thinking within 'pro-active' classrooms.
However, I do think you have forgotten another important community that we are both involved with - the #educamp. I see evidence of your current participation in the previous blog post! While these amazing 'un-conferences' probably stem from within the Twitter community, they are a place where knowledge is shared, connections and challenges made. It is an opportunity to give back to the team with sharing but also to go away refreshed and challenged to try something new.
We are so lucky to be surrounded by a wealth of passionate and excellent teachers that Twitter draws into our personal learning community, even if they live all over New Zealand.
@kiwiallana
Hi Allana! And lovely to hear from you. Will you attend the next #edchatnz conference? Or ULearn?
DeleteI agree - the only reason I didn't mention Educamp was the word limit!
As you say, it is a f2f feature of the Twitterati; interesting that as techno geeks we do value the face to face interaction.
Thank you for the positive affirmation. I choose to make my reflections public - heart on a plate stuff - so the feedback is always appreciated. And that's why we love being part of the Twittef community.
I can really relate to 'being absent from my blog' - I have felt a little like I have neglected my blog as I have juggled end and start of year 'busyness' and Mindlab assignments! I am also very thankful for the people I participate with in the great twitter swimming pool of professional collaboration and professional development. I confess, I gain more professional stretch through debating, contributing and conversing with my online twitter colleagues than I do in most of the communities of practice I am a part of. I think it is the 'lone nut' aspect that draws me in - to connect with people from around the world who are passionate about the things that spin my wheels - or who are unafraid to challenge my thinking - is powerful. Sometimes, being a leader means others are going to be reluctant to challenge or question, as a perception of sanction may get in the way of being open.
ReplyDeleteFor the record - we need the 'lone nuts' - and more importantly we need to support and grow them, because often they hold the keys to innovation within their hands!
A very interesting read and some great reflections from others. I have found that PD and staff meetings offer a great opportunity for professional collaboration and I have implemented a lot from these formalized interactions into my classroom. However the best ideas I find have generally come from hanging out with colleagues while eating lunch in the staff room or having a yarn with a fellow teacher waiting to print out something from our frustratingly slow photocopier. These relaxed interactions seem to be very conducive to the development of good ideas which have benefited my students in their learning and behavior in class because they occur rather naturally. It's an informal community of practice to be sure but one that has greatly benefited my practice for sure.
ReplyDelete