reading reflection 2

            An increasing trend in educational practice of teachers is the push for learning communities.  Learning communities are smaller groups of teachers searching for ways to intergrade technology with other studies to increase students’ interest, knowledge, and the knowledge that someone is taking an interest in their education.  There has been an increase focus because of its benefits for students.  With learning communities, more time is delegated to collaboration and support of educators in the same school building, district, or around the world.  With learning communities, it is a way for teachers, future and present, to exchange their own learning experiences.  This is also a way to push each other in the communities to try and come up with a better end product, to strive for the best.   Through Learning communities, teachers will be able to share responsibility of each students as they pass from grade to grade and teacher to teacher.  Brainstorming bigger and better idea for daily lessons and disciplinary concerns are also perks of the Learning community. 

            The idea of introducing smaller schools, academies, would be a push for smaller class sizes with more teacher interaction with bother students and faculty.  “Through collaboration, teachers see the type and quality of work that students can produce in different setting with different teachers, a practice that almost always results in a greater appreciation of students’ talents and raised expectations of even the lowest-performing students” (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2005).  With the need for a higher understanding of technology, especially in the classrooms, by teachers collaborating student and teacher performance expectations will be raised and more chance of being achieved. 

            Important components of a successful learning community are having teammates that share a passion for improving students’ and their own performance.  As a team, their job is to work to improve their understand of technology and how to integrate it into the classrooms through Project-Based Learning.   I have learned that working as a group, all members must share similar goals and put forth equal amounts of effort.  Having a great team is having people to push each other and strive for the best.  I look forward to the many ideas my team and I will come up with in regards to kitchens in the classroom.  We will work together to produce ways of combining what comes from the kitchen in the area of science, math, social studies, and language arts and combine technology to build successful project-based lessons.