Ok - what makes a community? I think most would agree that a common purpose and a sense of working together make for a valuable community - but how can you create a community without sense of purpose and the value of each other or the attributes that we each bring to the table.
After attending my first English meeting in about three years (as a member of the team rather than an outsider coming in to present) I was positively shocked by the negative feelings prevelant (sp?) in the group - never spoken - but definately, quietly there. How can community develop in such an unsafe environment?
Our community of writers is in-process of developing - I think pretty strongly, because we come with a purpose, a sense of safety to risk, and a value for what we each bring to the table. I felt like last weeks (was it only last week?) group was very strong - is it that I felt more comfortable having written to a topic ;) or is it that our community has taken a year to establish - or was this just a good experience for me?
And - how does this understanding of community transfer to my classroom? Today I was quite stern with my class and felt frustrated with this group of bright questioning students - I didn't want them to question me...just do what I ask. (Some didn't see the value in asking them to write to a contest topic which I was not going to force them to enter - I don't force them - that is their call, I just support them in being able to enter if they want. And, I reward the risktakers who do enter.) Henry wasn't happy with me. My community was a little unhappy - me too.
Ramblings...
Ellen
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2 comments:
I've been thinking about your comment since Friday. My only thought is sharing a common space (or class) will not automatically create a community, unless everyone is there for a common purpose it's hard to create the sense of community. So often, it seems people are ambivalent about their place.
However, I have been in classes that created a sense of community. One was my reading cert. program. It was easier to create the environment because we were all there for a common purpose, we chose to be there and we were all of similar background. Similar background in that we were already teaching and dealing with a class load on top of our work duties.
My most interesting classroom community experience was in college. I was taking an upper division Sociology class. There were about 10 of us in the class. On one occasion our professor didn't show up for class. We were unsure why but after joking about how we could leave after 8 minutes we ended up carrying on the class without her. We talked about the reading assignment and went on as if she were there the whole time. I'm pretty sure that would never have happened in any other class I have ever taken, but our sense of community made it seem quite natural to do so. To this day I can't think of how that sense was created.
Don't give up on creating the learning community you want though...sometimes it takes a little time.
Mary
You are correct, Mary - part of my responsibility as the teacher is to help my students create a community. It should be one in which we can take a risk - share something that we have written or thought - and share that.
I feel, about some IB meetings, the same way that you did about your sociology class that you stayed for without the teacher...how cool, all these people stayed to talk with me about the IB.
Today, after a relatively good day - I am feeling positive about the Jefferson community. I had a really good meeting with the Eagle community about IB, and made some inroads to impacting instruction...I think.
I also ended the day with a wonderful Jefferson community experience. I took a group of 30 students to Cherrydale Nursing Home and could not be happier - it was hard...they were not easy people to interact with - but the community of children did a fantastic job.
Ellen
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