I believe that as a teacher I have not just one community but many that at times sit alone and others times where they can be interlocking and connected. Throughout these communities I take on different roles and positions. I have my classroom community, my professional colleagues community, I am a tutor and associate teacher which all lead my practice in many different ways. I have also since joining Mindlab added a new community to my context including many teachers from many different schools, but more specifically the 5 other teachers at my school on the same postgraduate journey.
Meeting these people has also come in many different forms for example, the Google Plus community (which I had no idea about before this course), the Virtual Learning Network, face to face meetings with team members, PCT's, other associate teachers etc, and through email and research. The internet is an amazing thing and I think now is such a great time to be a teacher with all the support, resources and experiences of others at the tips of our fingers. Our ability to set up communities with other teachers of similar interests or on the same journey as a support system I think is a great asset to our profession!
As a primary school teacher we are often known as a 'Jack (or Jill) of all trades. We are expected to teach all curriculum areas in the 5 weekdays we have with the students. However if I were to think about my specialist areas - I can't get it down to just one. It would be literacy (with particular strengths/interests in writing) and The Arts. Through the Arts I participate in our school's Arts programme - which this year is the production Annie. This will lead to a to be made community which will involve like minded teachers, parents, students and hopefully give us access to our schools wider community. In a broader teaching context this links to strong teaching through the Key Competencies and is not only for our students but also ourselves. My role here is choreographer and assistant director which will have me interacting with my community here on a regular basis.
At this point is time our entire profession are facing big changes in the way we are teaching. Innovative Learning Environments are coming whether we are ready for them or not. Ministry of Education policy are leading all the way with this charge and are investing a large amount of money into the concept of flexible learning spaces which will prepare our students for their future. It is a great question - how would you or your community of practice address them? It seems to me that a lot of teaching professionals are doing it in a myriad of different ways. My community that are working with me through this journey are still trying to work out ways to address the changes that we find ourselves being faced with. We have taken the be prepared approach, which will mean that as soon as our ILE is built we will (hopefully) be ready for it. I am optimistic that we will be but how will we know until we get there! The nerve racking part for me is that we will have 240 students ready to learn who will need us to be ready! So far we have set up online sharing systems such as teacher dashboard, google sites, student blogs, blendspaces, shared pedagogys and expectations which seem to be taking us in the right direction, and I believe that if we keep an open mind and always find ourselves taking risks and trying new things we leave ourselves in pretty good stand to make the most of our ever changing profession!
I am quite happy to be the optimist.
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