Recently a post has turned up on one of my favourite teacher blogs, "What Ed Said".
This time it's about "Communities of Practice".
After reading this you'll notice some familiarity with the way we have structured the Wodonga CRT Support Network. I'm going to reference my comments against the network because it is the practical application of our ideas on the subject of "Communities of Practice".
If you have a look at the accompanying picture, you'll notice a list of very important words.
Of course, all of us being CRTs there was always a common purpose. That part took care of itself.
I hope you all feel ownership of the Network and I feel that that is a very important part of the way we operate. While I "coordinate" the details, I hope you have noticed that I leave it very open to your input wherever possible. From discussing what sorts of PD workshops we need occasionally to setting topics for meetings but letting it go wherever you all think it needs to after that.
The bridging step to another topic, "Active Participation". We have no compulsory activities for a reason. This allows you to understand that you have ownership because your participation is always on your own terms. It also ensures that when you are there? You are always there to actively participate. Everyone is on the same page.
This lends itself to Mutual Trust. Because you know everyone who is there is there because they want to be, and want to actively participate, you can trust that everyone is there for 100% the right reasons.
Our monthly meetings give you an arena where we can flex the muscles of Collaboration and Collective Intelligence. Watching this unfold in the way it does is nothing short of amazing.
As time goes on? I don't know what you see but what I see is a growing and growing sense of Shared Vision and Shared Passion among our members. The more they realise what an effect this is having on their teaching, and how they are helping to improve the teaching of others, the more passionate you all become.
After this all we do is organize PD workshops/seminars and put links on a blog to stimulate the injection of new theories and new information into that atmosphere for all of you to think about and discuss.
What we do as organizers of this "Community of Practice" is important and I'm grateful every time someone shows appreciation.
But here's a short story for you.
I was pulled up the other day by someone from school hierarchy to talk about something and the subject changed to the Network. Out of this came some words about how the quality of the average CRT has improved remarkably in the past few years and how the Wodonga CRT Support Network is one of the things driving that improvement. How I needed to keep doing what I was doing.
While it was flattering, the hard part is done.
Here is the plain and simple truth. I don't do half as much as many of you think I do anymore. I book rooms, organize catering, book presenters, set topics for meetings, whack stuff up on the blog. Procedural "stuff". It's the members and the way they have taken to the community that I imagined when I first set out that is doing everyone so much good.
"Collegial Learning" and "Communities of Practice" genuinely work. They work because of the members, the input of members, the attitude of the members towards learning, the attitude of the members towards each other.
If you have the chance to participate in Collegial Learning or become part of a Community of practice, seize the opportunity. It's not one of those theories that is around the fringes and might work or might not, it's a rock solid opportunity to both gain new information for yourself and pass on your own personal insights to others.
As a side note;
Well done, each and every one of you! You all make me proud to be the Coordinator of the Wodonga CRT Support Network and a CRT.
Regards,
Mel.
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