Chapter 2 Response - Late

         Learning communities are beneficial because it allows the students and the teachers to learn and grow together.  Although it has never been popular for teachers to work together, it has been shown that when teachers work together, it allows the teachers to grow more and projects to be more in-depth.  And thanks to the growth of teachers, our students are able to grow collaboratively with their teachers and classmates.
         Learning communities are very beneficial to the teachers and the students.  For teachers, they are able to work together to determine the best practice to achieve a mission, bounce ideas off each other, plan large projects with a clear mission, allows different groups to work together, it commits teachers to always do their best, and allows teachers to be lifelong learners. Benefits for learning communities that function for several years include "decreased teacher isolation, increased commitment to the mission, shared responsibility, more powerful learning, and a higher likelihood of fundamental, systemic change.
       Learning communities affect teachers a lot, because like the book said, it has never been a habit for teachers to work together.  Even during practicums  I have noticed that teachers are reserved and do not like to share ideas or suggestions with co-teachers.  Teachers will have to learn how to work together collaboratively, and how to respect each others work and listen to ideas.  Teachers must have an open mind for learning communities to work.
        Learning communities also have a large affect on students because instead of just receiving an education from one teacher, the students are learning from all teachers since they share their ideas.  The teachers being put in groups and sharing ideas would change the types of lessons and projects students did.  Students will also need to learn how to work with each other to apply their knowledge to real life situations. The students also benefit from learning communities because the teachers are constantly learning and assessing how ideas work, and they are constantly working together to figure out how to best teach students.  Students also have the opportunity to work with classmates to design more in-depth projects and to think deeper through interaction.
      Many of the components that go into learning communities was already discussed earlier in the reflection.  But it is important to address their research-based components and make sure that everyone understands them.  Members of the community must "have a clear sense of the mission, share a vision of the conditions they must create to achieve the mission, work together in collaborative teams to determine best practice to achieve the mission, organize into groups headed by teacher-leaders, focus on student learning, are goal- and result- oriented, collaborate with each other, hold shared values and beliefs, commit themselves to continuous improvement, and see themselves as life-long learners."
      The concepts found in chapter two are very relevant to the project we are working on in teams.  Us, as teachers, are required to work together in planning and sharing ideas that we believe would work best to reach students.  During this, it is important that both "teachers" are respectful of the others ideas, we assess what works and what does not, and we have to find a mission and figure out what will be best to reach that vision.