Chapter Two Reading Reflection

After reading chapter two I found a lot of areas in the text where I could relate to.  I originally went to a community college and then transferred to Western Michigan University where I joined the Special Education Program and in the two years of being in the program a big focus of it has been creating learning communities when we are in our practicum settings and when we are in classroom.  I feel as though because we have had this experience and have had time to work with the idea it will be easier to implement in the classroom.  I really liked how on page 30 the idea of needing trust, and respect to make the community work.  I also like how Peter Senge said “a learning organization can be any business work team, big or small, that engages in ongoing, collaborative problem solving focused on making the business better” (page 30) because I feel as though it sums it all up and really states that it is possible to use and can work with all groups because it is not a “one size fits all” or a “cookie cutter” idea where it only works in one way.  Within the SPED department our cohort has grown to learn to learn how to learn together and to work together to strengthen our ideas. Learning communities affect teachers because it gives them an opportunity for teachers to work together, brainstorm, and grow as educators.  Learning communities focus on three main things to make it more student-centered, first is ensuring that students are learning, second is creating a culture full of collaboration for school improvement, and lastly a focus on the results.  For both students and teachers learning communities are great things and affect both because it learning is relevant, both are learning to learn together,  developing skills for the real world, build bonds, and much more.  Benefits of professional learning communities include the following which came from page 33 “decreased teacher isolation, increased commitment to the mission, shared responsibility, more powerful learning, and a higher likelihood of fundamental, systemic change (Hord, 1997)”.  I think a big part to this is if students see teachers using and implementing it then they will start to work more a community because students look up to their teachers.  When teachers use learning communities they have a shared vision because they are working together and can get feedback from each other which allow them to grow as teachers and to truly get the best feedback and support there is.  I think all of this relates to our group project and topic because it shows us the importance of working together, listening to others ideas and accepting feedback so that we can grow as not only learners but also as a group.  We as a group are doing just what Peter Senge said in the chapter, as we are taking our small group and are collaborating to allow us to problem solve to make our project better.  This chapter was interesting to read and it was nice being able to make personal connections to the text because I am in the special education program and we have learned last semester to use learning communities which allowed us the hands on learning experience and knowledge that will only benefit us later on in life when we have classrooms of our own and from experience outside of the program.