Mapping your social network
Last update: 15/02/2024
- Theme: Backpacking activities
- Media:Document
This learning activity is designed to map your social network and helps you to build a powerful network. Collaboration and having a powerful network are important when you want to be able to teach all learners. When building a powerful network, it is important to proceed thoughtfully and purposefully: with whom and in what way do you want to cooperate? Is there enough diversity in your network? What do you need as a teacher (e.g. a listening ear, new teaching materials, etc.) and can you find this in your network? By reflecting on these questions and then shaping your collaboration in a targeted way, you can build a powerful network.
Description
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Exploring your social network focuses on three questions:
- To whom do I usually ask for support to be able to teach all learners OR to make the learning environment powerful and accessible for all learners?
- What types of interprofessional collaboration do we have?
- How can I use this collaboration to achieve my goal?
Steps
1. Everyone visualises their social network for themselves.
Write down on post-its the names of people you usually ask support from to teach all learners. This could be colleagues within the school, learners and families, but also partners outside the school (from your local community, youth care, health organisations,…).
Stick the post-its around a post-it with your name. You can also affix the names to small dolls, cubes, sugar cubes or other items representing the people. The people you most often ask support from are placed more towards the middle. Those to whom you ask this support least often, place them more to the outside.
Reflect individually or exchange in duo/trio using the following guiding questions:
- What do you notice? Do you have many or few people in your network? How diverse are these people? Are they especially close to you or rather distant from you?
- As a teacher, what do you need to realise inclusive practices? Is this for instance emotional support, information, didactic material or just an extra pair of hands in the classroom? Can you find what you need effectively in your network? Who could you ask for that kind of support? How could you approach this?
- Which collaboration do you feel has effectively helped you to realize inclusive practices? What makes that precisely this collaboration have had this effect? What can you learn from this towards other collaborative practices?
- What does your ideal network look like? What would you like to see different? What do you need to make it happen?
Social capital
The idea of a powerful network ties in with the 'social capital perspective'.
Social capital refers to the social relationships a person has and the resources (information, material, etc.) and benefits these relationships can bring.
To explore and use your social capital, it helps to understand your own network and its potential, to appreciate and use the opportunities and strengths it offers in terms of diversity, connecting with others and teaching all learners. However, 'network thinking' is still quite new in education.
An important step is to become aware of how you use your social network as a function of dealing with diversity in the classroom and what the strengths and weaknesses of your network are. How do you do this now and how would you like to do this? Do not only consider the number of people you work with, but also the quality of the collaboration and the diversity in your network. After all, working together with more people is not always better... Diversity can be about differences in age, experience, vision and function of the people in your network, but also about differences in the form of support you ask these people for. A diverse network proves important to come up with new ideas. To tackle more complex issues, it proves valuable to sit with partners you often work with or have worked with for a long time. After all, they know you, the learners and the situation. Partners you usually don't work with (often) or don't know well (yet) can in turn provide a fresh perspective or a new idea. Reflecting on previous network characteristics can help you discover strengths and weaknesses of your network. Also always remember that mapping your social network is a snapshot in time. Over time, your network may look very different.
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