Reading Reflection #2

            Chapter two, titled “Creating a Professional Learning Community”, focuses on the reasons why learning communities should be established and the importance/benefits of being a part of a learning community. Learning communities “create opportunities for teachers to work together and overcome the traditional isolation of the profession” (pg. 26). As one considers becoming part of a learning community, one should reconsider how they interact with other colleagues and other participants in the practice of teaching. A “learning organization” or learning community, as explained in the text, is a work team that engages in ongoing, collaborative problem solving. Many times, within the business of teaching, this ongoing, collaboration exists between the teacher and the students or between multiple teachers to explore and develop learning experiences.

            Being a part of a learning community can exude many benefits. Decreased teacher isolation, increased commitment to the mission, shared responsibility, more powerful learning, and a higher likelihood of fundamental, systematic change are some of the benefits that can arise from being a part of a learning community. In a learning community, teachers have the opportunity to work with colleagues, where they can give advice on lessons before or after, offer constructive criticism, offer and receive feedback, bounce ideas off of one another, and/or work together on a project. When students see their teachers working collaboratively and successfully in the learning community, they will more than likely want to follow on their teacher’s path.

            Learning communities affect the teacher in many positive ways. First, learning communities allow teachers to communicate more frequently and with clear goals/ideas in mind that can/should be shared. Teachers that participate in a learning community are able to receive and offer constructive criticism, elaborate on ideas together, brainstorm together, and encourage one another. “A team of [at least] two is better than no team at all” (pg. 35).

            Learning communities also affect the students in positive ways. Students in a learning community can work together, are able to explore and learn together, and gain the necessary tools to collaborate as a team to become successful at a task. Students work together to solve “real world” problems, learn to communicate effectively, and become more responsible for their learning through learning communities.

            The text describes many shared visions that make learning communities successful. Having a clear sense of mission, sharing a vision of the conditions that must be created to achieve the mission, working together to collaborative teams, organizing into groups headed by teacher-leaders, focusing on student learning, collaborating with each other, holding shared values and beliefs, committing oneself to continuous improvement, and seeing oneself as a life-long learner are the fundamental, most important shared visions that will make a learning community successful. When all of these things [mentioned above] are put into effect, a learning community can be created. Teachers that agree with the above terms, I believe, are committed to the learning community and the importance of the community in the learning environment.

            “Creating a Professional Learning Community” relates to our project because, I feel, this is how we as a group should work together. We now understand the importance of collaboration, and in reality we are creating our own, small learning community to finish the project/task at hand. For us, as a group, to create a successful end product, we must agree and work together to make the vision of a learning community happen.