Mindlab 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.


My two possible teacher inquiry topics
1. How can I use the digital technology I have to promote and support whanau engagement?


2. How can I use my Ipads more effectively to engage learning and not just be a time filler or a task in a rotation?


I have chosen these two inquiry topics as they are two areas I need more development in my practice. I feel that they both involve student agency and also relate to getting whanau more engaged in students learning so that they can be successful.


My first possible teacher inquiry topic I chose is about building whanau achievement. This is very important at our school as we would like for families to be more engaged and involved in their students learning. I currently have Ipads one to one in my classroom and have the Seesaw app set up.  But I have noticed that I don't have many families signed up to this as I would like. I have chosen this inquiry topic to investigate some other ways to engage whanau using digital technology.


My second possible teacher inquiry topic is finding ways that I can better use the Ipads in my classroom learning to engage students. I feel that at the moment I use them during rotations with learning but they are not personalising the learning for the student and they are often a time filler or just a task that needs to be completed. I would like for my students to be engaged and using 21st century skills when on the Ipads and for learning to be more personal.


Using the model identified by Wenger I have identified communities of practice that would support my teacher inquiry topics my principal, colleagues and students/whanau. I believe that both the principal and my colleagues would help as we often have informal conversations and daily reflections on learning (Jurasaite-Harbison & Rex, 2010). I regularly discuss with colleagues about how we can get whanau more engaged with students learning and we all agree that it is an area that our school would like to improve on.


I believe that getting students and whanau involved in the learning and part of the inquiry makes them feel more involved and is personalising learning. Having discussions informally with whanau makes them feel more relaxed and is more a joint enterprise where teachers and whanau can collectively develop a shared understanding about what the inquiry is about (Wenger, 2000).


I am currently also involved in other communities of practice that can be linked to both of these inquiry questions. Within my school we are involved in a CoL (community of learning) which focused on using data and raising student achievement. We are also involved in Manaiakalani which is using digital technology to enhance and engage students to be successful. Through studying with Mindlab I am also involved in another community of practice with the teachers that are also studying.


By being involved in different communities of practice they have helped me to become more informed about different viewpoints and helping me to analyse what I want from my inquiries and what I need change or do differently. I can change what I learn from each of them and reflect accordingly. "One makes a judgement or a choice among actions, or simply integrates what one has discovered into a new and better understanding of the problem." (Jay and Johnson, 2002, p.79). 


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

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.