Week 25 - My Community of Practice

I am a Y3/4 teacher in Christchurch. I have been teaching for eight years and love what I do. Over the last six months I have been working towards a Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Practice (Digital and Collaborative Learning). Learning about digital tools to support learning and collaborative approaches has allowed me to explore and experiment within my practice. Part of this process has also allowed for the reading and discussion of research both old and new. This has encouraged debate, questions, knowledge sharing and collaborative study with like minded professionals. We have supported and engaged with one another along and with technology allowing for us as teachers to return to learning while doing. 

As part of our Applied Practice it is important to identify and define my professional and community of practice. 

What is a Community of Practice?

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of learners sharing their knowledge, experience and understanding. Wenger (2000) states that "by participating in these 'communities of practice' is essential to our learning. It is at the very core of what makes us human beings capable of meaningful knowing.' p.229

Being part of a CoP is participating, connecting and collaborating socially in our personal learning journey. We are passionate about education and willing to further our knowledge and build on our practice. Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002) defined communities of practice 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'. (p.4)

Who are my Community of Practice?

My CoP is my colleagues in our school, colleagues also studying this course and fellow teachers in online forums. Like-minded professionals passionate about providing the best opportunities in education for our life-long learners. 

Key Theorists that underpin my practice

Understanding what is important to my practice provides me with reminders of why I want to teach and how I want to teach. Sometimes daily practice becomes difficult with tight timetables, outside forces and general school business impacting on my philosophy creates friction. Making sure I follow my true belief's in a changing climate gives me hope for the future of our learners and my CoP feeds my passion to teach experientially. I feel a strong alliance to the four theorists outlined above and over the next twelve months I will have courage and follow my early philosophy and understanding rather than push myself to conform to the philosophy of others. 

References:

Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. "Organization 7.2 (2000): 225-246.

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press,