Senge's Five Disciplines/Schools that Learn
Personal Mastery
This was the first discipline that I became familiar with. I found personal mastery to be significant to me as a teacher. It is said to be a way to show the learner where they are going and how they will get there. There is a need to instill this into the children in order for them to succeed. I know see myself wanting to help the students set thier goals, see if they can reach them, and see how their reaction is after they meet them. Personal mastery helps to keeps the students dreams alive and know that they can have those dreams come true.
Mental Models
Mental models, or the way we think are very important to the learner. This has to do with interpretation, or how you see something and understand it. For example, someone could explain what a wedding is in one way, while someone else might describe it in another way, very different from the first. The two are looking into different details. They were both at the same wedding, but were looking at different aspects. The core explaination of a mental model, is to bring all of these descriptions together and look at all of the differences.
Shared Vision
The study of shared vision is to take all of the tools and techniques needed to learn and find a common ground. When you are building shared vision, you are taking a group of people to build a sense of commitment together along with setting the same goals and having the same achievements.
Team Learning
A good example of Team learning for me is my collaboration group. Team learning is a discipline of practices designed over time to get the people of a team thinking and acting together. In my collaboration group, we were a team. We needed to have our own ideas, but we also needed to be on the same page and know how to put them together. In education, the core of the team are those who return to the classroom day after day, the teachers and the students.
Systems Thinking
The discipline of systems thinking provides a different way of looking at problems and goals, not as isolated events but as components of larger structures. An example of systems thinking is an administrator of the schools and how there are set rules and tools that have been used for many years that the administrator needs to abide by.
Costa & Kallick's 16 Habits of Mind
Throught my time in TEAM, I have come across many of the 16 Habits of Mind. The first one, Finding humor (HM12) was used from me in the beginning of class. I did not know everyone in class and I did not know what to think about the course before it started. So knowing me, I used some humor techniques to make me feel welcomed and begin my time in TEAM in a positive way. Over the two years in TEAM, I have created, imaged, and innovated (HM6) by working on my collaboration group, my portfolios, and my technology tools. Also, thinking about thinking (metacognition) (HM9) was used by me very often. Mostly in my reflections and logs. Striving for accuracy (HM11) was used by me when assessing. One example of this is my flash quiz on my collaboration site that I made as an assessment tool. And lastly, Remaining open to continuous learning (HM16). This will be used for me still after TEAM is over. I will continue to learning about new technology tools and I will continue to work on my wellness site to better improve the quality of it and to keep it updated.