Week 25 - Community of Practice

Week 25 - Community of Practice - Mindlab

"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." (Wegner-Trayner, 2015)

I am personally involved in several communities of practice from within my own school, there are the staff, the leadership team, the students, the parents and agencies that interact with our school and school community.  I also participate in a geographical community of learning with the schools in my area and with the school and church associated with the my grandchildren and their secondary school.

3 elements outlined by Wegner-Trayner (2015), results in my community of practice being as such below:

Domain - My main community of practice are the teaching staff  at our school  We have a teaching team of 9 inclusive of myself who teaches formal English to 54 of our senior students, 9 years and over.  Our staff make a real effort to work together collaboratively which has been quite a challenge for some but what unites us most substantially is our overarching school vision "Ko te tamaiti te pūtake o ngā mea katoa - the child is at the heart of everything".  This in itself results in genuine and intrinsic relational trust and effective teacher student relationships that enhance student engagement and student achievement.

Community - Our community of teaching staff meet each morning at 8am and every Monday at 3pm to deal with everyday matters and wider strategic desires whilst addressing the needs of each of our participants to ensure this aspect of our community is strong, supported and vibrant. 

Practice - Our practice relies on us to all take responsibility of our own practice within the the shared context by ensuring none of us are left behind and for leading our own learning.  Our collective repertoire of knowledge and skills are generously shared.    

I have an innate sense of connectedness and belonging in my community of practice as a result of believing in and consistently aspiring to the shared vision.  This in itself provides for a sense of genuine respect amongst our community of practice.  We consistently review collaborative practice and work implicitly on attending to our relational trust via encouragement and support of one another.  I do feel valued and appreciated by my team which is evidenced by the way in which we interact, and give one another feedback.

As the principal of our school my role is that of leadership which I view as fundamental to growing more leadership capacity from within our team.  This requires me to inspire, delegate, share, model, facilitate and support.  Although being the acknowledged I see myself as an equal and active member of our team.  I believe all of our team members have areas of talent, expertise and interests that can benefit each of us and tapping into these can grow our capacity as a community of learning and practice.

I contribute extensively to my school community of practice as a visionary and an equal and active member.  Our community of practice strategise, collaborate, share and design learning as a team.  Some of this requires sharing, researching, brainstorming and sharing our practice to discover options to engage learning learning to find solutions or to generate new initiatives or ease the burden of mundane administrative requirements as a team.

References

Wenger-Trayner E. and B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice. Retrieved from

     http://www.tuitive.org/tuitive-blog/mindlab-community-of-practice