On 27 November 2023, 12 people were hosted at the Don Bosco School Sint Pieters Leeuw in Flanders/Belgium for the 3rd COP. We talked about the attitude, motivation and IT competence of teachers and how COPs can help. Teachers exchanged on the use of Karaton and on how to best manage the class-space.  

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Who was there?

Twelve of us met in the Don Bosco primary school in Sint Pieters-Leeuw. Each school sent at least two delegates, mostly class teachers, but also special needs coordinators and one Director.

Our host: Don Bosco School

‍Director Luc Uylenbroeck welcomed all. Don Bosco is 14 km from Brussels and therefore houses many non-native speakers of Dutch. The school has 350 students and 40 teachers. The Don Bosco network counts 35 primary schools in Flanders. Don Bosco schools are present in 52 countries.

Communities of Practice, the what and why ….

Lave and Wenger devised this method in 1991. In Adapptive, we aim to get teachers and students to use and to keep using reading apps/games. The COP method allows us to learn in a context of social relationships. Our Community of Practice constructs the knowledge gained, which we all share.

Outcomes on attitude, motivation and IT competence of teachers

Dys centre Prague is measuring teacher’s attitudes towards the use of IT in class. First results were shared. All teachers are motivated for the COPs and learning on how to use IT better in the classroom.

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COP discussions

The teachers divided themselves into 4 groups to talk to teachers from other schools about the COP topics.

Here are the highlights:

Karaton

All COP teachers use  Karaton, we learned that both teachers and pupils loved working with Karaton. The COP was an opportunity to exchange on how they got on.

Bugs can disrupt practice, solutions were given by Happs. One of them was to watch Karaton's webinar for the professionals,  in  the 22nd minute, it explains how to start the exercises.

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Classroom Management

Classroommanagement tips were shared:

- Karaton works well with corner work with 4 activities, all reading can be bundled into those moments, alternatively others can do math games or other activities.

- Work with a timer….15 mins

- Work with 2 teachers or 1 teacher with an educator or a parent.