I have a blog already..http://raewynsblog.weebly.com/. its based on school and how I am making change - it doesn't really relate to Mindlab except to mention it a few times in passing... Im not sure it's appropriate for the purpose so am starting this one in accordance with the tasks on the website.
At the moment I am struggling with the brief for the last set of assignments. The Applied Practice and Community stage. But Im not alone - my friend and colleague Catherine Wooller is also struggling and so is another teacher - the 3 of us are in contact on Twitter and intending to go into Mindlab tomorrow after work and have a chat to someone. I have definitely learned that I am the kind of learner who needs regular reassurance, face to face contact with others and I have to be really strict with myself about prioritising work. Since school went back time has just run away on me... its mental. Its definitely tricky balancing both the study and the work. God knows how those with young families as well manage!
Ok so on to the tasks.
Etienne Wenger talks of the communities which we choose to engage with and those we dont. We can choose to identify with them and how far to engage with them. Ok so I know that. Those are choices we make every day.
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.
So.. my community/communities of practice revolve around the school and my colleagues there, and the Mindlab community I guess. The shared domains of interest further delineate my community of practice. There are the PRTs, the SLT, the classroom, my department, the e-learning group....The community - the day to day interactions with other teachers in pursuit of the same goals, the interactions in meetings working towards the same goals...our shared repertoire of resources brings about the practice. The meetings, the discussions, the sharing of resources and conversations.
So the activities - the questioning, comparing, advising, sharing, problem solving, discussion, visits and communication through Twitter and email all consititue the Community of Practice. Its a PLN a lot like my Twitter pln....I have a school PLN too.
But I do not belong to an EXCLUSIVE Community of Practice - I move between a number of them. Is this going to be a problem?
OK so thats Wenger
Now for Lave
She talks about the community approach to learning - remember schools are a relatively recent idea and originally education was a community event - learners learned from the wider community not just one person in a classroom.
Theories of situated experience - the learning world is culturally structured - (situated social practice)
Lave is hard work to understand but I think her point is that learning is inextricably tied to social situations.... logical. She uses apprenticeship models to support this. Oh and AA as a cultural system that noone is born into lol...and beliefs must be learned - reminds me of my time in Deaf Education.
In AA the personal story enables the community to form
So we are shaping newcomers to our community of learning - new teachers as they arrive are learning the mores and traditions (albeit recent) of the community of practice.
Lave says communties of practice in schools are mostly ad hoc but she is talking from the students' perspective rather than the teacher community... students cant be communities of practice because of standardisation and assessment - but surely teachers can...I guess she's talking about learners - but so am I - teachers as learners.
She asks what are the characteristics of communities of practice that make broad accessibility to the whole accessible to newcomers? I guess this applies to me
Wenger again video clip
How can we get people to share knowledge, develop trust - rather than discourse stuck at operational level - How can practitioners develop a forum so they can benefit
Tension between the vertical and horizontal structures within organisations.
At the moment I am struggling with the brief for the last set of assignments. The Applied Practice and Community stage. But Im not alone - my friend and colleague Catherine Wooller is also struggling and so is another teacher - the 3 of us are in contact on Twitter and intending to go into Mindlab tomorrow after work and have a chat to someone. I have definitely learned that I am the kind of learner who needs regular reassurance, face to face contact with others and I have to be really strict with myself about prioritising work. Since school went back time has just run away on me... its mental. Its definitely tricky balancing both the study and the work. God knows how those with young families as well manage!
Ok so on to the tasks.
Etienne Wenger talks of the communities which we choose to engage with and those we dont. We can choose to identify with them and how far to engage with them. Ok so I know that. Those are choices we make every day.
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.
So.. my community/communities of practice revolve around the school and my colleagues there, and the Mindlab community I guess. The shared domains of interest further delineate my community of practice. There are the PRTs, the SLT, the classroom, my department, the e-learning group....The community - the day to day interactions with other teachers in pursuit of the same goals, the interactions in meetings working towards the same goals...our shared repertoire of resources brings about the practice. The meetings, the discussions, the sharing of resources and conversations.
So the activities - the questioning, comparing, advising, sharing, problem solving, discussion, visits and communication through Twitter and email all consititue the Community of Practice. Its a PLN a lot like my Twitter pln....I have a school PLN too.
But I do not belong to an EXCLUSIVE Community of Practice - I move between a number of them. Is this going to be a problem?
OK so thats Wenger
Now for Lave
She talks about the community approach to learning - remember schools are a relatively recent idea and originally education was a community event - learners learned from the wider community not just one person in a classroom.
Theories of situated experience - the learning world is culturally structured - (situated social practice)
Lave is hard work to understand but I think her point is that learning is inextricably tied to social situations.... logical. She uses apprenticeship models to support this. Oh and AA as a cultural system that noone is born into lol...and beliefs must be learned - reminds me of my time in Deaf Education.
In AA the personal story enables the community to form
So we are shaping newcomers to our community of learning - new teachers as they arrive are learning the mores and traditions (albeit recent) of the community of practice.
Lave says communties of practice in schools are mostly ad hoc but she is talking from the students' perspective rather than the teacher community... students cant be communities of practice because of standardisation and assessment - but surely teachers can...I guess she's talking about learners - but so am I - teachers as learners.
She asks what are the characteristics of communities of practice that make broad accessibility to the whole accessible to newcomers? I guess this applies to me
Wenger again video clip
How can we get people to share knowledge, develop trust - rather than discourse stuck at operational level - How can practitioners develop a forum so they can benefit
Tension between the vertical and horizontal structures within organisations.