Wenger Trayner thoughts on communities of practice and the portrayal as landscapes led me

into contemplation on my communities of practice and the intensity of my involvement in various

communities.
As a teacher and member of the broad community of educators my goal is to facilitate learning
and relating it to possible pathways, so learning is meaningful.
In the pastoral (Deans) community of the school, my purpose is to ensure that all students from
refugee background have their academic and welfare needs met as much as possible and to
help each one create an individual career pathway for themselves. This is a challenging role as
students come in with big gaps in education, language barriers and with pre trauma conditions
that lead to increased settling in time in a new environment. This role demands necessary
connections with outside agencies such as Red Cross and very significant aspect is linking with
families who are also adapting to a new environment.
My professional responsibilities have linked me to various communities outside school too, such
as Careers and Transition Education Association (CATE) and the refugee coordination cluster
team to name a few.
One community Evidyaloka is a pure choice made by me wherein my purpose is to do my best
to give back to my motherland, India. Here I facilitate spoken English lessons to a class of
aborigines (adivasis) in the south of India through skype. This the work on an NGO Evidyaloka.
The challenge here is in creating an interactive classroom and facilitating pair and group work
to provide speaking / listening activities. In The problem of providing materials to a remote
school, miles and miles away, where resources for photocopying and providing class sets is an
issue. is an additional challenge. The motivation and enthusiasm in the students is the strength.
In the professional front the core values I uphold are: listening; reflection; collaboration;
recognizing the team; being a mentor. As a teacher, careers counsellor and dean, it is listening
that plays a major role. Students feel valued and this is an effective strategy for building a
rapport with students. Reflections is an ongoing practice-formal-informal- to improve my
understanding of a situation or my delivery of lessons. Collaboration with staff, communities
associated with and with parent community helps to bring a democratic set up, where the best is
brought out in terms of output by way of discussions. In the recent years, digital means of
collaboration with use of sources such as google apps, have improved connections and output.
One of the major changes happening in my professional community is technological
advancement. As a teacher this has been the most challenging aspect in the last few years.
The new generation of learners are well equipped information and with use of technology. This
has made it essential to redefine my role as a teacher, wherein my goal is to help students
learn to be life-long learners. There is a dire need for digital and collaborative lessons. This
can happen with more collaboration and team work among staff and professional development
provided, to help teachers cope with growth. It is important that teacher- training centres, also
review their course to ensure that the new teachers are prepare for 21 century learners. The
challenge facing education schools is not to do a better job at what they are already doing, but
to do a fundamentally different job. They are now in the business of preparing educators for a
new world.(Arthur Levine, 2006). For me personally, MIndlab has boosted my confidence by

giving me the opportunity to research and explore the possibilities available to ensure that the
new generation of is well facilitated.
Reference:
Levine, Arthur. Educating School Teachers. Washington, D.C.: Education Schools Project, 2006