I’ve been considering Communities of Practice (CoP) in the classroom and thinking that when our class comes together to read a new picture story book and discuss our opinions, think about the message the author has for us and share that with our peers, when we listen to the insights of others and connect to a collective consensus to improve our repertoire of reading skills, then we truly are a CoP. I feel that I have been guilty of not making this connection explicit for the children and that has been such a missed opportunity. CoP enable many skills to be fostered but I think most importantly could be the establishing of a social presence. Social presence for an individual impacts in many ways, such as motivation to participate. As a teacher it is my role to manage this CoP. Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002) suggest actions that could be taken in order to cultivate communities of practice:
- Design the community to evolve naturally.
- Create opportunities for open dialogue.
- Welcome and allow different levels of participation.
- Develop both public and private community spaces.
- Focus on the value of the community.
- Combine familiarity and excitement.
- Find and nurture a regular rhythm for the community.
An excursion or incursion could be a perfect partner for developing CoP. The excursion creates multiple opportunities in a variety of ways to invite dialogue, participation and add some excitement as well as sensory stimulation, beyond what can be found in the classroom. It is my aim to not only manage a successful CoP, but to invite the children to be co-authors of this story as well and to see where the journey can take us.
Wegner, E. McDermott, R. Snyder, W.M. (2002). Cltivating Communities of Practice. Harvard business Press. Retrieved from: http://www.en.m.wikipedia.org
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Comments on: "I’m Guilty!" (3)
I really like the way you are thinking now, inviting the children to be “co-authors”. This concept is very appealing to me and is something I will consider and bring into my further studies and teaching. It is great to see a missed opportunity and to then make an effort to become a better teacher out of it, well done.
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Thank you for your comments, I’m really keen on exploring other ways of developing and maintaining CoP and have been thinking about different kinds of ‘clubs’ that could be run at lunch time that would foster CoP such as Infants arts group, anyway still thinking through implications. Terina
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Fantastic to see you pick up on using CoP in the classroom & to reflect on a missed opportunity. Also take note that CoP does not always need to be made explicit in every instance as the focus on the information, social connections & process can be just as rewarding. I also loved reading your ideas to foster CoP in other ways outside of the classroom – what a great idea!
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