WEEK 19 - Reflective blog.

ACTIVITY 3 : CONTRIBUTION OF TEACHER INQUIRY TOPICS TO MY COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

The two inquiry topics I will consider are:

• ·         Followership
• ·         Implementing Technology innovation in the classroom.

DESCRIPTIIVE

Wenger defines a community of practice as “a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion on about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott&Synder,2002,p4)

If we are to grow as teachers we need to be part of a community of practice. For me I am part of a department within my school which forms my strongest COP. I also work with other teachers in schools in the Bay of plenty who teach the same subject. This forms my second COP.

How these fit the three elements of COP:

• ·         Joint enterprise – We all work in the same subject area
• ·         Mutual engagement – We work together and meet formally of a regular basis.
• ·         Shared repertoire – We develop teaching resources that we all use.

The concept of followership is that we can all be leaders. Effective followers will challenge leaders and offer alternative solutions if they do not agree with leadership (Kelly 1998). Implementing Technology innovations in the classroom will allow many people with in the COP to display effective followership.

It is important for us as teachers to learn new technology innovations and constantly challenge ourselves to find interesting ways to incorporate these into our teaching practise.

COMPARATIVE

Introducing Technology innovation in the classroom is a challenging and often time consuming process. It is definitely a process that is better achieved through collaboration. This works well with the concept of followership.  When others in the COP understand the concept of followership I believe it empowers them to understand that anyone can be proactive in change. We should not always be looking to those in leadership roles to bring about change for us. By all working together within our department to trial different technology innovation and sharing our experiences we should make progress. This fits with the 3 elements of COP. Through joint enterprise we will work together. This is our mutual engagement and we will then share our outcomes.

Others in the COP know that introducing new technology into our teaching practise can be time consuming and challenging but they can see that these different methods do engage our students and it worth investing time and energy in developing new resources and learning new skills/knowledge in this area to share with our students.

CRITICAL REFLECTION

Although time consuming I belief that if we work together and understand and apply the concept of followership, together we can develop and trial new ways of using Technological innovation in the classroom.  I think it is important that we begin by having a mutual understanding of what new technologies we believe are important to explore and use effectively. By introducing the concept of followership as an effective form of leadership in change it will empower others in the COP to move forward in this area.

REFERENCES

Carsten, M. K., Uhl-Bien, M., West, B. J., Patera, J. L., & McGregor, R. (2010). Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study. The Leadership Quarterly, 21, 543–562.

Kelley, R. (1988). In praise of followers. Harvard Business Review, 66(6), 142–148

Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002). Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.

Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses. Retrieved fromhttp://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/