Bridging the Gaps with Communities of Practice

One thing we could all benefit from right now is a good support system. With the increasing demand on educators, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is extremely important for us to surround ourselves with individuals that share similar passions and a commitment to education with the goal of making learning a better experience for students. Some challenges that educators are dealing with right now include student attendance, a decrease in student engagement, disconnectivity throughout the virtual learning process, and more outside stressors due to the pandemic. The landscape of education has been changing rapidly as these problems increase, and with that comes additional development and adapting for educators. That is why Communities of Practice are so vital to the growth and success of those with an educational background. The power of Communities of Practice is to support the transformation of mindsets.

What is a “Community of Practice?”

A Community of Practice is a group of professionals, practitioners or experts who share learning opportunities, exchange vital information, build relationships based on similarities in goals, and provide strategies for professional development.

In 1998, educational theorist Etienne Wenger was one of the first people to lead studies based on communities of practice. Through this method of collaboration individuals ultimately learn how to excel in their common professions as they interact with each other more. This research guides U-Bridge’s approach to supporting leaders and teacher leaders in facilitating learning and collaboration for adults. Communities of practice provide five critical functions. They are to:

1. Educate
2. Support
3. Cultivate
4. Encourage
5. Integrate

U-Bridge believes they also serve to transform and liberate. Over time we have learned that communities develop their practice through a number of activities. With each activity they prompt the act of asking powerful, probing questions of the members of the group. For example:

• Problem solving: “Can we brainstorm some ideas? I’m not sure what to do next.” or “What about this dilemma disturbs you most?”
• Requests for information: “Where can I find the answer to these questions about this particular subject?” or “As a new teacher, how do you know what you know? How do you know what you need to learn?”
• Seeking experience: “Have you ever dealt with a student that has been through this?”

When it comes to schools, adult learning in communities of practice should be focused in ways that support them to address student needs in the classroom, make connections to their lived experiences in the community, and prepare students to address future community-based problems. By engaging in inquiry-centered protocols educators collaborate to answer:

• How do you organize educational experiences inside the classroom that ground school learning in practice through participation in communities around subject matters?
• Externally, how do you connect the experience of the students to actual practice through forms of participation in broader communities beyond the schools?
• How do you serve the lifelong learning needs of students by organizing communities of practice focused on topics of continuing interest to students beyond their years of being in the classroom?

Now, more than ever, teachers need the support of their colleagues to bridge gaps that many students may have experienced over the last school year. The focus right now is targeted towards student academic learning loss.

However, what we are faced with in schools is deeper and more complex than academic learning. Our charge is to also bridge gaps in relationship building, social-emotional connection, and the presence of school cultures conducive for healing from traumatic experiences.

The Bridging the Gaps Institute is designed for leaders and teacher leaders who facilitate professional learning and need support in designing, implementing, and supporting collaborative adult learning that results in sustainable school change. During this two-day experience, we will use tools and strategies that are equity-centered and trauma-informed to support leaders with engaging in critical, courageous discourse that challenges conscious and unconscious beliefs and assumptions about leading, teaching, and learning and enables them to develop new mindsets and practices.

During the institute, leaders will:

• Become familiar with frameworks to understand how adults learn and collaborate best
• Engage in collaborative examination of their work, and their school culture and academic data
• Explore ways to successfully manage school community dilemmas
• Examine school systems and structures needed to create cultures that foster deeper dialogue and adult collaboration
  Gain tools to create a multi-year Communities of Practice implementation or redesign plan

The conference will take place through Zoom on January 15 and January 22, 2022 from 9 a.m. and noon (central time). The cost is $175 ($125 for groups of three or more).

For more information on the U-Bridge Project, go to ubridgeproject.com.