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8 CoP's, the Reason, the Resource
8 CoP's, the Reason, the Resource
The community of practice or CoPs as they are referred to means a community of areas you can receive information from people who have the same ranges of expertise or subject matter excellence as yourself. It is a place you can go to receive important information, ask questions and get HELP! The construct of the community of practice is grounded in socio-cultural theories of learning and development that contend that all human development is founded upon social interaction in cultural/historical practices that are mediated by the use of cultural artifacts, tools, and signs. (Cole, 1996). Listed below are some resources that will help support educators on their journey through technology and the impact it is having on our education system.
Educators need support groups that they can identify with for help in all areas of education. The many CoPs available for specific areas of needs or educational progress are available throughout the internet and successfully assist educators in finding answers, developing conversations, creating and implementing strategic and critical thinking, and even curriculum and lesson planning.
With technology being instituted into the classroom environment it is important that educators have a myriad of support systems. Although one can conceive of technology supporting either the community, or the shared practice, or both, typically scholars have investigated technology’s role in supporting the community (i.e., communication) rather than the practice itself. For example, an online discussion board might be used to support hobbyist quilters worldwide (Hoadley, 2005). Educators can and should learn to form a community of practices geared towards their specific needs if they cannot find the answer. Creating a blog, or discussion board in the wiki and posting to one of the sites below can open up a whole new world of learning and development for teaching and learning with technology.
1. http://www.teachingonthenet.org -A great site for educators to meet and share information. Get up to date resources and find resolves for both classroom environment and class curriculum.
2. http://TeachersFirst.com- This CoP’s focuses on the teacher with lots of great portals for support. This site has a calendar posted each week of the various holidays a teacher can create her lesson plans around i.e.First day of School, Postive Thinking Day, Constitution Day and more. There are daily, and weekly blogs for educators to give incite and receive support for some real-time classroom issues.
3. http://crayola..com -What a great classroom tool and way for teachers to get support in their lesson planning and other areas of educational development. There is a dedicated area specifically geared towards educators.
4. http://simplek12.com/- This site has everything educators need from support to online educator interaction in real time. Great site for group discussion, webinars and curriculum planning. SimpleK12 has free Google training that is advertised each week via email; these sites support educators learning how to use Google tools in the classroom both online and traditional F2F classes.
5. http://understood.org/ - This CoPs ability to support educators, especially for those who work with learners with disabilities can find a large source of information, blogs, webinars and lesson planning. Success stories to support educators with specific needs.
6. https://sharemylesson.com -great site to share your information with other educators around the world. Sharemylesson has the bragging rites to over 900,000 members and has a wide selection of resources for the educator.
7. http://www.adaptedmind.com- this site focuses on lesson planning for math and reading. It has a tri-monthly blog posting with articles that support the educator and the learning environment. Great ideas on the blog.
8. http://www.hatchearlylearning.com -This is a fully supportive CoP for educators, with webinars, blogs, and research material. This site gives the educator the opportunity to share their success stories to support other educators through their journey in education.
References
Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Creative Commons and AFT. 2017. Retrieved from sharemylesson.com
Hoadley, C., & Kilner, P. G. (2005). Using technology to transform communities of practice into knowledge-building communities. SIGGROUP Bulletin
http://www.hatchearlylearning.com
http://www.teachingonthenet.org
Google Sites
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