"Hi, all! As I was re-reading our readings for this week, I was
again impressed at how central this chapter is to our journey in TEAM. Our
"current reality" is often what we perceive as our reality, not
necessarily what it "really" is. That's the challenge - to find
a way to step outside the moments of our reality enough to see what they look
like from a different perspective (The Great Game of High School provides
a student perspective of some our colleague's work world). We like to see
TEAM as a "community of practice" (p. 377) where "the learning
that is most personally tranformative turns out to be the learning that involves
membership in these communities of practice."
Do we know just what and what kind of communities of practice our own learners
spend time in?
Before we meet on Wednesday, please look at Suzanne Bailey's Artifact Hunt
(p. 339-340) and do a mental "walk through" on your classroom. Envision
how your students would respond to each item. Even very young children could
address these items if they are clearly explained, so we each should be able
to see a way we might "step outside the moments of our reality"
to take a fresh look at something we spend so much time within.
Three of your colleagues joined us for Kyle Peck's look at the future of schooling
- they'll share on Wednesday we hope. For myself, I found the presentation
refreshing in ways that reinforced why I want to play a role in its evolution
for the better.
See you shortly!
Dr. B."