Reading Reflection 2-Ch 2

Learning communities seem to be all about the greater good of the team, whether that be the teachers, the students, or both. Learning communities allow for not only just collaboration between teachers, but brainstorming, peer review, shared responsibility, extra knowledge, and overall more powerful learning. It baffles me that learning communities are not more utilized within the education system for the simple fact that education is constantly changing and evolving. Learning communities seem to allow educators to stay up to date with their trade as well as help other educators do the same. These “teams” formed within schools allow teachers to come outside of their own classroom isolation and to communicate with the people who are in the same shoes as them. Learning communities allow teachers to refresh and rejuvenate their ideas and lessons that may be out dated or need a little bit of tweaking. Learning communities are not only great for the teachers, but the students as well. When teachers in a school are working together towards a common goal, it gives them a stake in the process to the goal. Students learning will not only be fresh and up to date, it will have been “tested” on other teachers therefore hopefully making it the best delivery possible. In a perfect world, educators would have hours to perfect their craft, perfect their lessons and their ideas, but it is not realistic for that to happen in every school. That being said, learning communities can be done in any sort of fashion and it still seems that it will be extremely beneficial to all parties involved. Shared vision is an important part of the idea of learning communities because everyone is working towards the same goal rather then whatever goal they personally have set. A shared vision allows all teachers involved to learn together and utilize problem solving, communication, project management, motivation and persistence to work towards a common goal. Concepts in this chapter relate to our project because in order to come together and create the best possible project that we can, we must work in a professional learning community. If as a group, we can effectively communicate, brainstorm, and utilize each other’s prior knowledge, the possibilities of success are endless. Profession learning communities allow for so many positive experiences and should absolutely be utilized within education more than ever.