Similar to Valerie, when I listened to the video about
Communities of Practice, one of my initial thoughts was that a community of
practice is similar to a Professional Learning Community, but as I process the
information, I am coming to understand that
a community of practice is so much more.
A Community of Practice can influence a Professional Learning Community
and I look at a Community of Practice as a community of professionals learning
together, then reflecting, and ultimately affecting one's practice. The
reflection is when the true learning takes place. As a Community of Practice expands, the
members of that community can influence their Professional Learning Communities
through bringing their own reflections and learning.
The short video about why do people blog had a significant
impact on my thinking. I am impacted the
most by the statement that blogging is for yourself to force oneself to be
reflective, to be concise and to become part of the conversation.
One of my Communities of Practice has recently changed due
to a new position within the workplace.
Both my colleague and I are new to the position and the opportunity to
collaborate face-to-face with other people in the same position is
limited. What an opportunity! So off I go to search the web for a Community
of Practice for people that are in roles to support new educators! As I share with my colleague about this, the
real power is in the discussion, learning and new practices that result from
this collaboration. And of course, my
Community of Practice also consists of educators that seek educational justice
and equity.
The use of technology as a springboard for reflection and
learning should be part of one’s routine.
Personally, the tools that I enjoy the most, and therefore find most
useful are blogs that relate to educational practices. In this fast-paced world, Tweets move too
fast for me, but I do believe that I need to give Twitter another try.
