Reading Reflection 2

Team building is important in many fields and needs to be in education as well.  Collaboration and brainstorming are beneficial to teachers and students and a larger global community.  Often teaching can feel isolating and stagnant.  Learning communities changes all that.  Students benefit in numerous ways, by seeing teamwork/collaboration modeled and by engaging numerous people in a process they see that the world does not operate in a small bubble of isolation.

I think this is sometimes an idealistic book.  The schools I've worked in always have a bit of a stressed feel to them (in Kalamazoo).  I also think the emphasis on shared goals, beliefs and values is important and finding the people you click with via blogs etc  is important.  I would also like to see more time allotted for teacher collaboration for PBL and not just during professional development or staff meetings, which happens A LOT in schools. 

I think as a teacher you have to be proactive in seeking out like minded colleagues that you could work on some grant funded or otherwise useful project. 

The authors discuss the formal/informal sides of beginning communities.  Some could be as simple as blogs or just meeting and talking.  Learning Communities should have a mission, teams, organization, a focus on student learning, oriented towards results, and be committed to self improvement and life long learning( Boss, Krauss). 

Learning Communities often begin PBL and can bridge geographical distance as well.  They emphasize how to learn together and to make time for it.  Teachers should be open minded and engaged in the process and become more intentional with their interactions with fellow teachers as well.