DeborahsLearningReflection

“ A community of practice is a group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems, or interest in a topic and who come together to fulfill both individual and group goals” (Cambridge, Kaplan, & Suter, 2002, p.1.). What is my Practice? I have been teaching for 20 plus years, in the Primary Sector for most of that time, and mainly in year 5-8 area, however I did spend a few years in the Year 0 - 2 area and then to a Year 7 - 13 High School, where Year 9 and 10 were part of the teaching (and learning ) journey. During this time I have had the benefits of a multitude of different groups of people to learn from, develop with, interact professionally and socially, sometimes deliberately, at other times by attrition, all have a role in contributing to the "meaningful knowing" Wenger (2000) that shapes my practice today. What do I consider my Community of Learning (CoL)? Within my school I work within a MLE and the CoL of everyday practice is the ...

Collaboration has been the core behind this learning. As I look at the journey I reflect on the collaboration undertaken, the gems of wisdom shared to keep motivated and learning. What is needed to Collaborate. What ideas do others have? Would love to know what others would add to or remove from this list.  Collaboration is.... Trust Communication Common Goals Respect Working together Sharing Ideas Sharing Expertise Listening Risk Taking Think Tank Shared load. I am truly grateful to those sharing the load on this journey.

2016 Empty nest, new home, time  ( really) to look at new challenges, back teaching a level I had not been truly engaged with since 2013, and seeing changes in them arriving. MLE built, moved into, where to move professionally now with the students to match the forward plunge.       Enrolled in Mind Lab. Challenging, fast paced , F2F evenings, sharing with peers, and looking at new ways of engagement.  I downloaded a copy of Stand Firm by Sven Brinkmann, and  found some comments resonating within my mind. A Literacy focus of PLD and attendance at a course led by Murray Gadd, then  Jo Morris made me reflect on strong processes and strategies we have once used regularly then "thrown out in the bath water" as so much change is overwhelming us without often enough time to process, develop, reflect and then the next "new" system is picked up and run with. We are being asked to keep improving, change tack, and progress in a culture of accelerating to e...