Communities of Practice

[Mark Hines]

our model of communities of practice is becoming an a significant movement in education. If you have interesting articles, resources, links, etc. please add them as a reply to this discussion so that we can build up a set of resources to support good ideas and practice for our community. the first resource I have attached, is a draft document regarding communities of practice from Kelsey Matsu - one of our grant team leaders.

[Melissa Handy]

Our school is creating a community of practice (COP), or professional learning community (PLC) to engage teachers in open dialogue about teaching and learning. Fear of evaluation is one of the biggest roadblocks that I anticipate meeting during our initial implementation stages. I think the administration has an important role in creating an atmosphere or culture that accepts exploration and rewards teachers who learn from mistakes. If teachers feel that trying new things will be frowned upon and even affect their job, they won't stretch themselves. Thank you for sharing the COP Overview. I think it will be helpful!

[Mark Hines]

HI Melissa - thanks - I have added it to my Diigo List I publish on the site as well. We need to give this resource a prominent place on the site!

[Phil Bossert]

Robert Witt recently published an excellent article in the Spring/2009 edition of Independent Schools magazine that provides an overview of the Schools of the Future and Change Leadership initiatives in Hawaii - see attached.

Phil

[Melissa Handy]

Follow this link to the National School Reform Faculty site's long list of protocols:

http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocols.html

At first glance it doesn't seem like you will find many protocols, but if you print these all out you can fill a two-in three-ring binder!

[Lisa Mireles]

Thank you for this amazing resource!

Aloha,

Lisa

[JoAnn Jacobs]

Here is a chapter on Developing Communities of Practice in Schools from the National Writing Project. It is lengthy but thorough and takes development step by step.

[Mark Hines]

Nice resource, JoAnn - very well detailed out...