Semester 4 Reflection: Learning in Community
I have grown within the learning in community strand as I have worked closely with my accountability partner. We have supported each other through this program, specifically through the action research process which included writing a professional paper and creating a presentation to share with others. I learned how to make time for that person, and I put their needs on my list of to dos as I offered suggestions and help. I received that same help and support back. It was a mutually rewarding relationship, and I learned a great deal from this experience. I continued my involvement on D2L as I posted, responded, and learned through this hybrid community format. This year I have learned more about Professional Learning Communities at my school, and how to be a part of an effective one. My team meets weekly for Student of Concern meetings and advisory meetings. We established norms our team will follow. I believe I will continue growing as I will learn more about PLCs next year as we will have time built into our schedule to meet as a Professional Learning Community. I continued working on establishing community with my students as I incorporated the developmental designs approach into my classrooms. We have worked on building community through the greetings, activities, and energizers we use daily. Learning in community is not something that can be crossed off my list, as it is a continuous process. We work everyday to make and keep our learning community strong.
Reflection: I have learned within our online community by actively participating in D2L by completing assignments, sharing ideas, asking questions, and responding to others. I have worked on building a sense of community in my everyday advisory and in my math classrooms. I have used many energizers, activities, and community builders that have helped students get to know each other, improved their teamwork, trust, and problem solving skills. I have become more aware of the varying personality characteristics identified within the Essential Enneagram within my co-workers and team members. Knowing what are their strengths, values, and stressors are better helps me understand them and be able to work with them. I have a better idea of how to make them feel important and appreciated in their own way. I also am working at keeping the spirit of Ubuntu alive within our team and school.
Reflection:
This year we have grown as a learning community in our advisory. Each Monday we greet each other, do an energetic activity, and take on a specific theme to explore and learn more about. We usually talk about our activity ahead of time, plan how to best implement it, and then reflect after the activity as to what went well, what could we do to improve the activity, and what did we learn. My group has gotten closer throughout the year. It is a time where students enjoy coming to class because we have fun each meeting. They each are acknowledged by their classmates, and it is a time where each of them has an equal opportunity to have their voice heard. I think learning how to function in a learning community is a valuable skill for sixth graders or any aged person to accomplish. If someone can learn how to include, acknowledge, respect, and empathize with others, not just their best friends, he/she will be more successful working with others during group work or for their job. While some teachers feel our advisory program or our mini learning communities are just filler or fluff, I believe they can strongly and positively impact the overall success of students in school and down the road in their futures.
I also feel as though I have grown within our math department learning community. We have met periodically as a department throughout the year. We have looked at the lexiles of our textbooks and handouts. We have discussed our WKCE results and MAPS tests. We have brainstormed possibilities of things we can do differently to potentially have a positive impact on our students' test scores. I think just taking time to talk professionally with others in our content field has made us a stronger group. We have come to respect each other more, and therefore help and support each other. Sometimes someone might just need to vent his/her struggle that day, but it is so helpful to discuss the matter with people who face a similar battle to you. We usually find a way to laugh as well, which makes the struggle not as bad as first perceived. We will continue our work as a math learning community as we meet through the summer for the Math Academy.
I have also grown within our Professional Learning Community through UW-L. I have learned how to establish professional relationships and network with other colleagues from around the state. I have also learned strategies as how to keep these relationships connected since this is a hybrid community. D2L has been very helpful in this process as well as google docs. While the technology connection is great, and I learn so much about each member through each of his/her posts, I feel our weekend time is where our community flourishes and becomes stronger. It is that face to face contact where emotions can be seen, heard, and felt that makes our community closer. The energizers help break the ice and make others feel comfortable to open up and share personal thoughts and ideas so we can really learn as educators. Overall, I feel I have grown as a member within Learning in Community.
Personal Baseline:
Our district values learning in a community. Everyone is part of a team, by grade level or encore subjects. Our school has implemented Developmental Designs building wide. Every teacher has an advisory group of thirteen students he/she meets with weekly. There are nine individuals who meet with a sixth grade advisory, and we meet weekly as well to plan our advisory so everyone is on the same page. We are doing our best so our students can experience learning in community. Besides advisory, our staff participates in department meetings and data analysis days. As a group of math teachers we look at and study our WKCE test scores and MAPS scores. I feel stronger when we meet as a department and are provided time to meet with a math specialist. Working together improves our community and makes learning more enjoyable.
Question:
How else can my students experience learning in community?
