Community of Practice

Firstly I want to define what a community of practice is.  Wegner states that it is where you belong to a community that is a learning partnership and can be assisted by tools like blogs, wikis, discussion.

My community of  practice can be defined as teaching staff, team members, job share partner, mind lab students and teachers in our cluster.

Purpose and function of my practice

The purpose and function of my practice is that I am a Year 7  Classroom teacher who  job shares with another teacher for three days. I am  sports co-ordinator and help run the Kapa Haka in the school.

The purpose of my practice is to ensure each student reaches their potential. I have evolved in my practice,  and after reflecting on my practice  by looking at what I could do to improve the student’s ability to succeed. In my class I have used a self directed programme in Mathematics for a number of years which has had an upgrade since the introduction of BYOD.

I believe each student is unique and that they will have different circumstances and background prior to stepping in my class. This is where learning should be a partnership.

I contribute to my community of practice by offering my ideas, problem solver and am flexible in my thinking. I show initiative and am a positive team member who knows who an effective team should work. In my wider school environment I contribute my expertise and share my knowledge.

Strengths

My strengths lie in forming relationships with children to ensure that they feel happy and safe in their learning environment. Fostering relationships by providing opportunities for the students to talk and discuss themselves, their interests and show genuine interest in them.  I will always remember when John Hattie said that he only hoped that his child was spoken to by the teacher in a day. This had a profound effect on me and made me reflect on my on interactions.

I have a background in community and family studies and completed a Diploma for Graduates in this, I was not sure if I wanted to be a teacher of a social worker. It turns out as a teacher you definitely play a social worker’s role at times.

Other strengths that I have are is that I have a strong passion for Te Reo and Tikanga Maori which I learnt  at University in the early 90’s. I am now challenging myself by completing this study. I wanted to upskill myself to be relevant in the classroom and keep up with the play.