Sarah Hughey's Reading Reflection #2

1. Discussion on the focus of Learning Communities.

Learning Communities shift their focus away from the traditional focus on what is being taught to what the students learn.  As quoted from Reinventing Project-Based Learning, the three main goals that Learning Communities emphasize in order to focus on what students are learning are 1) "ensur[ing] that students learn", 2) "creat[ing] a culture of collaboration for school improvement", and 3) "focus[ing] on the results".  Within the PBL Learning Community, a single teacher cannot function as efficiently as they could with only their classroom and resources; a teacher must find others who are willing to collaborate with them in order to reach these goals. 

While I don't doubt that these goals are met through PBL and Learning Communities, it would be hard to convince me that other types of teaching do not also want to ensure students learn and have successful results and to have a culture of collaboration.  One could argue that the goal of collaboration is harder or near impossible to do in a traditional classroom setting, as this book has done, but for every example the book gave of a teacher not being able to collaborate in a classroom, I can come up with another example of a teacher meeting these goals without using PBL or the book's version of Learning Communities.  Again, I'm sure the book's method towards teaching meets the goals stated, but I'm still not convinced that it's the best way for every teacher no matter who the teacher is.  I'd also argue that there's a lot of overlap between what is being taught and what the students learn.  I understand the book's distinction between the two, but I don't think the distinction is as great as what the book makes it out to be.

2. Discussion on the benefits of Learning Communities.

Benefits for learners include students learning to work and learn together, developing group-working skills necessary for the workplace, doing projects similar to the ones done in the workplace and being familiar with what has to be done to achieve success, developing general communication, management, and motivation/persistence skills, and building bonds with their peers and having someone to share the ups and downs with during their projects.

Benefits for teachers include more connections to colleagues and less isolation, more dedication to the mission, more sharing the responsibilities with other teachers rather than carrying everything by oneself, better learning, and a better chance of changing the foundation and systems of the school rather than constantly having to fight a futile battle for a needed change.

3. Discussion on how Learning Communities affect teachers.

Beyond the benefits listed above for the teachers, I noticed that the book also stated that the programs Learning Communities use focus on "adding something new rather than improving what a teacher is already doing".  I actually do not agree with this philosophy at all.  New and changing ideas are great, but I would much rather be able to perfect something I'm doing before moving on to another idea rather than just changing ideas for the sake of adding new ideas.  Yes, I would immediately switch ideas if what I was doing was not working whatsoever or if there really is something out there that has benefits that I can't get with the current idea, but I don't agree that adding something new should be emphasized over improving what is being done.  Teachers should feel free to keep doing something that's working rather than pressured to keep changing for the sake of change.

4. Discussion on how Learning Communities affect students.

Many of the effects Learning Communities have on students were listed above under benefits.  To also link it to the last chapter, students will leave the classroom with strong memories of the work they did when teachers come together in Learning Communities and implement PBL in their classrooms.  With the quality teaching and learning that comes from these, it will be hard for students to forget the projects and items they worked on throughout the year.  Making school fun and memorable like this can motivate students to continue in their education, reduce drop-out rates, and increase the likelihood students will want to continue onto higher education after their K-12 years are over.

5. Discussion on the components for shared vision in Learning Communities.

In order to have a successful Learning Community, the members and overall community have to share certain components and qualities, otherwise it will not work or be as effective.  These include clearly knowing what the mission is and believing in it, agreeing with each other on what must be done to achieve the mission, working with each other in teams to figure out what the best way possible there is to achieve the mission, having these groups headed by teacher-leaders, a focus on student learning rather than what is being taught, being results/goal-oriented, working and collaborating with teach other, and a dedication to improvement and life-long learning.  I think that all of these goals are great not just for Learning Communities using PBL but also for schools everywhere. 

6. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

    

This chapter relates to our project in every way.  The three of us will have practice working as a "Learning Community" as we work on this project throughout the course, and we will work hard to apply the concepts from this chapter in our project.  I think that we will even receive some of the benefits teachers get from being a part of a Learning Community as we work together and prepare to become teachers; for example, teamwork will make us feel less isolated, will make us share responsibilities rather than feeling the whole weight of the project by ourselves, and will make us feel more dedicated to the work when we know others are depending on our collaboration and hard work.