Activity 1: Communities of Practice

My teaching practice:

My practice involves following aspects:

1.      Clarity of learning intentions -Informing students around the learning objectives of a unit is vital to generate student interest (Hattie, 2012), this helps students to link learning to the real world.

2.      Co-operative learning -Students learn from each other by setting common goals within the group, supporting each other and learning to collaborate. Thus enhancing not only the motivation but also making them feel responsible for one another's achievements, to engage in cognitive processes which enhance learning(Slavin, 2014).

3.      Formative assessments -As per Hattie’s recommendations I strongly believe that teachers spend the same amount of time on formative evaluation as they do on summative assessment. My senior physics class usually have one question test before I start next subtopic within a unit.

4.      Building self-regulation -This has been my key focus from couple of years to make my students autonomous learner to prepare them for the challenges of 21^st century world.

5.      Collaborating with colleagues -You cannot work in isolation, which is why having professional conversation with colleagues are essential.

6.      Reflective practice -After reading Larrivee, (2000)’s article on transforming teaching practice critically reflective teacher, my style of reflections has changed. As suggested I emphasise on these three things. Making time for solitary reflection, maximum fifteen minutes each week per class then note it on a google keep, identifying the problem and challenge my status quo then finally analyse to put strategies in place. Plus writing reflection on weekly basis on teacher inquiry on one note.

 My communities

Myself a science teacher and my regular community with whom my learning journey get influenced are:

1.      Personal life -My personal life which involves my family of my ever supporting husband, two lovely kids, extended family and my personal space. This personal space consists of my spiritual time and reflection. As devoting some time here in my personal space revitalise my emotional and physical well-being and empowers my practice (Gu & Day 2013). 

2.      Professional life:

Students:

At my professional level my teaching practice involves following community involves, first and for most my students. My students are integral part of my community of practice. Student voice has huge impact on my practice and it also support in student’s growth (Mitra, 2008).

"Consider the words of Felipe, a senior who struggled at Whitman, particularly in English class. Recalling his positive experiences in the reading research group, he commented, One day the teacher made everybody [in the working group] stop and said to me, “What were you going to say?” I said it. I felt good. Somebody was listening, you know? "(Mitra, 2008).

          Professional learning communities:

“A learning community is a group of organisations or individuals that operate as a collaborative network. Some are face to face but many are connected via the Internet. A learning community provides opportunities for educators to connect with others, share ideas and resources, reflect critically on their practice, and create new knowledge about teaching and learning”( TKI, 2014)

Professional conversation in my community with colleagues helps me to learn from other practitioners’ experience this also provide me a way to share my successful strategies with other colleagues. These interactions with staff mostly happens during professional learning time every week, during staff meetings and the most valuable one's are with a critical buddy during teacher inquiry discussions. 

Here I have 2 groups one face to face, my colleagues in college and the other group are online professional who I interact through G+, Facebook and blogging. This professional community helps me to keep my moral high as at times I need to remind myself I am not alone in this teaching and learning journey. This form of interaction provide professional development that engages teachers in instructional inquiry over an extended time through collaborative professional learning communities (PLCs) is effective in improving instruction and student achievement(McConnell, 2013).

Whanau:
Important to mention role of whanau not only for the benefit to the child and the family as suggested by Murray, et.al., (2013), but also I personally see lot of benefits to the teachers. One of those benefit I had shared this with my year 11 science class is " reason I enjoy meeting parents on parent night is that this reminds me that a particular student I might at some stage start visualizing as number 16 or 30 in my class, however, in their home they are always number one and this child is integral part of someone's life, therefore I must value this individual in my class, despite of what they bring to my classroom". 

It is well established that parental school involvement has a positive influence on school-related outcomes for children. Studies have demonstrated an association between higher levels of parental school involvement and greater academic success for children and adolescents (Hill & Taylor, 2004).

Also in my role at college as Pasifika Liaison teacher I get to interact quite often with Pasifika families. We organise once each term Talanoa night to share our values and experiences to empower pasifika learner in an culturally appropriate context. These interactions with community are linked with successful outcomes include teacher and parent efficacy; enhanced student achievement outcomes and the development of complementary knowledge, skills, and understanding (Gorinski, 2005).

Resources:

Lastly my community of practice does include the new resources that I come across through my regular learning journey it could be my subject specific or a specific teaching strategy. These include books, journals, internet, mind lab or professional development training. 

Mind lab peers:

Since November 2015 my new buddies from mind lab course are my latest inclusion in my community of practice. This definitely includes interaction on G+ community and working with my group through Facebook interactions and hangouts. 

References: 

1. Gorinski, R. (2005). Pacific Island School Community Parent Liaison Project Case Study. Wellington: Ministry of Education. 
2. Gu, Q., & Day, C. (2013). Challenges to teacher resilience: Conditions count. British Educational Research Journal, 39(1), 22-44.
3. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge.
4. Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2004). Parental school involvement and children's academic achievement pragmatics and issues. Current directions in psychological science, 13(4), 161-164.
5. Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming teaching practice: Becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective practice, 1(3), 293-307.
6. McConnell, T. J., Parker, J. M., Eberhardt, J., Koehler, M. J., & Lundeberg, M. A. (2013). Virtual professional learning communities: Teachers’ perceptions of virtual versus face-to-face professional development. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 22(3), 267-277
7. Mitra, D. L. (2008). Amplifying student voice. Educational Leadership, 66(3), 20-25
8.  
9. Ministry of Education(2014). Professional learning communities, link: http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Learning-communities 
10. Murray, M. M., Handyside, L. M., Straka, L. A., & Arton-Titus, T. V. (2013). Parent empowerment: Connecting with preservice special education teachers. School Community Journal, 23(1), 145. 
11. Slavin, R. E. (2014). Cooperative Learning and Academic Achievement: Why Does Group work Work?. Anales de Psicología/Annals of Psychology, 30(3), 785-791.