Or is it
Challenging to keep on top of the learning with everything on top. I guess this is the same for everyone.
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Activity 3: Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice
Create a reflective entry where you critically reflect on how two potential and inspiring digital and/or collaborative learning related teacher inquiry topics would contribute to your Communities of Practice. Your reflection should be based on a reflective model of your choice.
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The inquiry topics I have chosen are;
1: Using gamification to engage students with kahoot
2: Using blogging inside the classroom
The community that will support the success of the inquiry involve the senior syndicate at New Brighton Catholic. This group of teachers have a desire to see improvement in the students writing and are innovative and keen to build on their tools to do this.
The domain is in this literacy are. An evident need to up-skill the students in writing based on assessment and students own identification of their needs. The wider shareholders have a desire to see this improvement un engagement and results and have shown commitment to these goals.
The practice is catered to with teachers new knowledge gained during the first 18 weeks of mind-lab and an ability to share what works and research new ideas. The tools available include laptops and iPads to varying degrees of usability as some are older which allows children to collaborate together on devices.
The use of gamification to engage children has proven a good tool. The children are engaged and it can be set in stages using a range of skills, such as;
Questioning - creating questions gives the children direct ownership of the game and allows them to have success when playing as it is their knowledge and understanding used to complete in the games.
Collaborating - a lack of devices has allowed the children to work in pairs or small groups when competing or compiling questions showing the ability to have success with others.
Ability to be patient - many of our school virtues are addressed with the limited resources but particularly being patient, waiting for turns and contributing as a group member.
Blogging has engaged in other ways;
Recognising audience - the children post for a wider group than previously considered, such as parents, peers, wider community.
Pride in work - children endeavour to reach success criteria so they can be happy with what they have posted.
Step 2:
Other members of the community of practice have a greater access to technological tools and have shown more success in children's results. Having one to one would be a huge improvement and really encourage those reluctant writers who are hampered by difficulties getting ideas on paper and challenged with surface features of writing.
Christopher Pappas explains in his 'Science and the benefits of gamification in eLearning' (https://elearningindustry.com/science-benefits-gamification-elearning) article that the engagement helps students absorb what they are learning and commit it to their long term memory. The students feel immersed in what they are doing and it is fun.
To improve the issues with involving the these innovations in my writing program I need to ensure that the tools are prepared and able to deliver what my intentions are. This will come with involving others in my community of practice, namely IT support, and include these supporters in what I am hoping to achieve and how I am intending to do this.
Step 3:
When the initiative is intrenched in the classroom routine the children will be engaged and confident to deliver to a person. They will understand what is expected and each be able to contribute to this. The upgrading and setting of devices to cater to my plan will ensure there is no lag in delivery and the children will be able to expect consistency in this. When this is all in place and concrete in the classroom I feel this initiative will show great improvement of the children's learning.
References
Bozarth, J. (2017). Nuts and Bolts: Communities of Practice. Retrieved from https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/2400/nuts-and-bolts-communities-of-practice
Cavage, C. (2016). Utilizing an Online COP: Family, Community, School. Retrieved from http://blog.tesol.org/utilizing-an-online-cop-family-community-school/
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.
Jurasaite-Harbison, E., & Rex, L. (2010). School Cultures as Contexts for Informal Teacher Learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(2), 267-277.
Knox, B.(2009, December 4). Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk
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