Panel OverviewIn this panel discussion, participants will first share their experiences from a jointly led after-school program where teaching strategies were collaboratively developed, tested, and reflected upon. Following this, participants will describe how these ideas and strategies have been applied and adapted within their own teaching contexts and communities.Theoretical and Pedagogical BackgroundA Community of Practice is a group of people who share a common passion or professional domain and who deepen their understanding and expertise by working together over time. This social learning construct, first articulated by Lave and Wenger (1991) and expanded by Wenger (1998), emphasizes that learning is socially situated and that identity formation occurs through participation in a community.Three defining dimensions for this practice include the:Domain - the shared area of concern, inquiry, or professional practice that provides a sense of joint enterprise and collective purpose. For our group, this domain centers on singing and learning with adolescent singers.Community - the relational dimension, through which members build trust, exchange ideas, and engage in mutual learning. In this study, the community consists of graduate students who are also active music educators although serving professionally in different contexts.Practice - the repertoire of shared resources, stories, tools, and strategies that members co-construct over time. These collective practices are central to the ongoing reflection and development of our teaching.This framework suggests that knowledge is co-constructed through participation in social and cultural contexts. Thus, communities of practice serve as sites for professional development, ways for identity discovery, and contexts for new pedagogical ideas and strategies. Therefore, our community of practice is about our shared learning by doing (leading rehearsals) and post-rehearsal reflecting. For our singing community, this model provided a meaningful lens through which to examine and sustain collaborative professional growth.Aim and FocusThe purpose of this work is to use reflective journaling to collect qualitative data exploring how engagement in a collaborative community of practice impacts participants’ learning, identity development, and pedagogical practice—and how this collaborative approach may serve as a model for students’ own learning experiences.Method / Modes of InquiryParticipants (n = 6) maintained weekly reflective journals over two ten-week terms. Journaling prompts included:What did you feel you contributed to rehearsal this session?What did you feel a colleague contributed to rehearsal this session that you learned from?What moment(s) from rehearsal surprised you or made you think/reflect?Any additional thoughts?Thematic analysis (Saldana, 2016) will be conducted inductively, allowing categories and themes to emerge from the data itself rather than from pre-determined hypotheses. This ongoing study will continue for ten weeks in the fall term with an additional ten weeks in the spring term (2025-2026).Preliminary Insights and ImplicationsEmerging reflections suggest that this context has offered participants opportunities to view teaching and learning through multiple lenses, deepening both self-awareness and responsiveness to students. As one participant noted:“The community of practice allows me to view the classroom through lenses other than my own. It gives us the space and resources to be more responsive to our students’ needs. Teaching music alone can feel like an out-of-body, performative experience; being able to step back while someone else teaches helps me stay present and observant in the learning environment.”Another participant emphasized the dual perspective of teacher and learner:“Working together as a community of educators allows me to learn from colleagues as both observer and participant. Engaging in activities alongside the workshop singers lets me experience each other’s pedagogy through the lens of a student.”A third reflection highlighted the connection between collaboration and professional growth:“Our community of practice informs my teaching by encouraging reflective, evidence-driven approaches to vocal music teaching. The group’s collaborative inquiry continually shapes how I design rehearsals that balance technical development with personal exploration.”Session StructurePresentation from Workshop Facilitator and Faculty member in a graduate program detailing the study and participants.Presentations from three K-12 teachers exploring the evolving impact of the Community of Practice framework in their own classrooms and schools.Presentations from two applied studio teachers in higher education discussing how participation in the ensemble Community of Practice has informed their one-to-one and group teaching practices. As one higher-education participant shared:“The ensemble’s community of practice has helped me expand my teaching beyond the one-to-one studio. Learning from colleagues in K-12 and ensemble contexts has strengthened my skills in classroom management, pacing, and differentiated instruction—making my teaching more adaptive and responsive.”ConclusionThis work illustrates how an intentionally cultivated community of practice fosters reflective, collaborative, and reflective teaching across diverse educational contexts. By engaging together in shared practice, we as educators enhance our learning but also model the principles of social learning that we aim to develop with students.