We are all teachers, we are all learners. This is the philosophy I have carried with me throughout my teaching career. I carry it with me in the Community of Practices (CoP) which I have been a part of or am a part of. Each have shaped me into the person that I am today.
Like Knox (2009) I see that the most successful CoP that I have belonged to have emerged through interaction rather than design. Through personal interaction we think and discover learning together.
I am privileged to work with a fabulous group of educators. This group make up my CoP. Between us we have knowledge galore in regards to blind, low vision and deaf/blind learners, 0-21 years. There is history in this group, this group was born of interest and a desire to learn more.
On the one hand we are employed as Resource Teacher Vision (RTV) but this is not the only mandate which holds us together as a CoP. The underlying CoP is less formal and roles in it continually change. Overall we support each other in practice and over time have developed relationships which have grown in social circumstances and has seen the sharing of resource.
Wenger-Trayner (2015) write of the importance of:
Domain: the area of shared inquiry and similar issues.
Community: the relationships which have been fostered over time and a sense of belonging.
Practice: The body of knowledge, methods, stories, resources, tools and documents which are brought together and shared.
On reflection of the above, I have developed my place in this CoP over time. I remember when I was new in my job. I was in awe of the knowledge my colleagues had. I was the beginner.
I realise that I have learnt most from my informal CoP. We learn by doing, discussing, disagreeing, and sometimes out of adversity. We value each others input and we are problem solvers. The most successful interactions have happened informally in our CoP.
Our roles are not defined, sometimes I am the observer, leader, listener, problem-solver, problem or facilitator. People are at the centre of this group. We share our learning and resource to improve practice. We use each other as sounding boards to solve issues we may be facing in our practice. We are a CoP which has evolved out of common interest and need... and working in the background at National level (our school is nationwide.) we have a management who are orchestrating opportunities for RTV to connect through Regional days, Conferences and Immersion courses, not to mention the wealth of opportunity in Professional-Development at local level. Together we have collective competence, value and learn from each other (Wenger, 2009)
Being a diverse range of people leads at times to conflict within our CoP. Wenger (2009) says this is normal and can in fact be good. Being too harmonious may mean there is too much "group think" or do people feel silenced? I wonder, do we at times become too comfortable within our practice?
These things can all impact a CoP. "Success depends upon the energy that the community generates" Knox (2009).
Times are changing in education. We are facing recurring issues which aren't so easy to solve. Technology, modern learning environments are now integral parts of learning. We have differing comfort levels within our CoP. Boundaries are being challenged...
Here enters my new CoP: The Mindlab, my group who are sitting here reading my first blog (!) This is the CoP which is taking me to the edge of my learning, adding disruption to comfort.
I am valuing the learning I am gaining from this group. We are bonding through Domain and Practice and slowly become CoP as we interact with each other online, face-to-face and at times under adversity as we grapple with assessment.
But what about my other CoP? Wenger (2009) comments that a new element added into a practice may be accepted or rejected. I wonder will my new learning be accepted or will I be the crazy dancing man waiting for his first follower?
My Question: How do I infiltrate this new knowledge of learning into my practice and workplace? Will it be accepted?
References
Knox, B. (2009) Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow. (Video File). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk&feature=youtu.be
Sivers, D. (2010) First Follower: Leadership Lessons from a Dancing Guy. https://sivers.org/ff
Wenger, E. (2009). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/09-10-27-CoPs-and-systems-v2.01.pdf
Wenger- Trayner, E & T. (2015). Introduction to Communities of Practice: A brief overview of concept and its uses. http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
Monday, 30 January 2017
Saturday, 23 July 2016
21 v 20c skills
14/07
Second session , still coming to terms with the online aspect of blogging and reflection....I think this is an area which I need to get into. I really enjoyed the aspect of the flipped class, doing your pre reading and watching before the session. I think this would work very well for our blind/ low vision students as they can then do it at their own pace and come to class ready for discussion.
I must say that I wasn't sure why we re watched the videos. I thought we would have gone onto having more discussion.
21 c v 20 c teaching style.
For my low vision students I feel we try to take them into 21 c but somehow get stuck in the lower levels of the rubric. I wonder whether it is in part because they never quite get enough time to master the learning of their devises before using & then don't always have the support when needed.
Skills
collaboration: Students tend to get a bit behind the others so try to keep up and also miss the visual aspect of the finer social skills required. Many of our students end up working independently or with a TA.
knowledge construction need to think more on this but I am thinking it is more skills based from what I see in most classes I visit.
self-regulation: another big one to take students on further. Control of learning, Decision making on when to use a certain piece of tech from tool box, plus the all important work. Sometimes they just need more time but more homework isn't the answer because of the real issue of visual fatigue. Also a need to advocate needs in a positive non victim way to peers, teacher etc. Student based learning not assessment based.
real-world problem-solving and innovation: yes all real world needs, but how do we take LV student further? Reflect on my practice. Im the one who gives the teacher summary of needs based on assessment which the ophthamologist gives me and my assessment. Thinking I need to hand the reigns more over to the students and become the facilitator of real world issues but not the giver of solutions all the time.... Usually, i think because i am not always available to the school & teachers they don't always contact me when issues come up. I get forgotten for advise when things like cross country comes up or field trip. Student doesn't advocate, just accepts what is.... And then may not be able to participate as fully as they otherwise would.
the use of ICT for learning: need to learn skills which are different to other learners as well as skills for what is being used in class. Chrome books not good for most of our LV students. Google/ Moodle not in accessible format. I think that we may sit more at a level of substitution eg: the technology used is a replacement for what can't be seen or done with pen and pencil.
skilled communication : 80% learning is visual so a low vision student may need to be taught verbally what skilled communication looks like and practice skills as they haven't picked up what others do intuitively and have picked up over a life time. Doing this through digital maybe an advantage as the visual barrier are left. To be part of communication and discussion though the student needs to have a depth of understanding and concept of a topic. Eg: a task given in class was to take a sheet out of an old novel and write a poem using the words.... Others were discussing and reading the words. LV student had to do the task differently and relied upon RTV to adapt. With a little pre planning for the student this may have been avoided
Second session , still coming to terms with the online aspect of blogging and reflection....I think this is an area which I need to get into. I really enjoyed the aspect of the flipped class, doing your pre reading and watching before the session. I think this would work very well for our blind/ low vision students as they can then do it at their own pace and come to class ready for discussion.
I must say that I wasn't sure why we re watched the videos. I thought we would have gone onto having more discussion.
21 c v 20 c teaching style.
For my low vision students I feel we try to take them into 21 c but somehow get stuck in the lower levels of the rubric. I wonder whether it is in part because they never quite get enough time to master the learning of their devises before using & then don't always have the support when needed.
Skills
collaboration: Students tend to get a bit behind the others so try to keep up and also miss the visual aspect of the finer social skills required. Many of our students end up working independently or with a TA.
knowledge construction need to think more on this but I am thinking it is more skills based from what I see in most classes I visit.
self-regulation: another big one to take students on further. Control of learning, Decision making on when to use a certain piece of tech from tool box, plus the all important work. Sometimes they just need more time but more homework isn't the answer because of the real issue of visual fatigue. Also a need to advocate needs in a positive non victim way to peers, teacher etc. Student based learning not assessment based.
real-world problem-solving and innovation: yes all real world needs, but how do we take LV student further? Reflect on my practice. Im the one who gives the teacher summary of needs based on assessment which the ophthamologist gives me and my assessment. Thinking I need to hand the reigns more over to the students and become the facilitator of real world issues but not the giver of solutions all the time.... Usually, i think because i am not always available to the school & teachers they don't always contact me when issues come up. I get forgotten for advise when things like cross country comes up or field trip. Student doesn't advocate, just accepts what is.... And then may not be able to participate as fully as they otherwise would.
the use of ICT for learning: need to learn skills which are different to other learners as well as skills for what is being used in class. Chrome books not good for most of our LV students. Google/ Moodle not in accessible format. I think that we may sit more at a level of substitution eg: the technology used is a replacement for what can't be seen or done with pen and pencil.
skilled communication : 80% learning is visual so a low vision student may need to be taught verbally what skilled communication looks like and practice skills as they haven't picked up what others do intuitively and have picked up over a life time. Doing this through digital maybe an advantage as the visual barrier are left. To be part of communication and discussion though the student needs to have a depth of understanding and concept of a topic. Eg: a task given in class was to take a sheet out of an old novel and write a poem using the words.... Others were discussing and reading the words. LV student had to do the task differently and relied upon RTV to adapt. With a little pre planning for the student this may have been avoided
Thursday, 21 July 2016
Virtual and augmented reality
felt a bit overwhelmed in class this evening esp the first bit . We had to create a plan with Gooigle maps, earth or Tourmaker .... Immediately my RTV hat went on. Maps can be one of the hardest things for our students to access. Low contrast and very detailed. I didn't really have a satisfactory solution although google Earth could be enlarged quite a bit.... We shared using google Docs the info and plan we created and that was really good to do as we could all write on the same document..
Went onto Augamented reality and Virtual reality ... Really enjoyed the impact of such. I wonder about whether students with no binocular vision could do but if they can I think it could be a really good way of working doing virtual tours of places... So much fun.
Aurasma, excellent, I might just encrypt some photos for reports with some information the student has spoken.
Leadership: so much reading. I am still a bit confused re things like SAMR and TPACK and how they all fit together. Add in Blooms and all other ways of planning meaningful activities for students.
Hadn't uploaded my problem video and worked with Tracey to share the problems.... Ummm, took a while to get started Tracey couldn't find her video she had uploaded. How many times does that happen in a class esp with our students? So time got wasted. I just read my 21c problem but will aim to get it up on Friuday. That is if I can remember how to do it =)
Went onto Augamented reality and Virtual reality ... Really enjoyed the impact of such. I wonder about whether students with no binocular vision could do but if they can I think it could be a really good way of working doing virtual tours of places... So much fun.
Aurasma, excellent, I might just encrypt some photos for reports with some information the student has spoken.
Leadership: so much reading. I am still a bit confused re things like SAMR and TPACK and how they all fit together. Add in Blooms and all other ways of planning meaningful activities for students.
Hadn't uploaded my problem video and worked with Tracey to share the problems.... Ummm, took a while to get started Tracey couldn't find her video she had uploaded. How many times does that happen in a class esp with our students? So time got wasted. I just read my 21c problem but will aim to get it up on Friuday. That is if I can remember how to do it =)
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