Each author points out the importance of creating learning communities that are safe for engagement and participation while learners develop, shape, and re-shape their identities throughout the learning process. Wenger (1999) talks about the balance that a community of practice must find between participation and reification in the development and negotiation of meaning. He explains that communities of practice come to agree upon meaning through joint social action as they work to develop meanings (through participation) and to re-negotiate meanings (reifications) as time passes and things change. What is understood among the participants in the community has been shared and passed along to its members through cultural and social learning that shapes and influences each individual who is part of the community. Together they contribute individual capacities that form a joint enterprise where individuals learn, grow, share, bond, and collaborate with one another. As a community, they share a history of learning and a history of their own established meanings and reifications that have been possible because of their mutual care, respect, co-operation, and connection.
Ambrose (2010) also highlights how learning environments foster connections among learners while social and emotional dynamics are formed in the classroom. Depending on the topics being discussed in the classroom, learners may be challenged in new ways as they come together to share openly and discover themselves and others. Students cycle through various emotions as they develop intellectually and socially through their exchanges with others. In many ways, the learning shared among the class members helps to shape or re-shape identities (Chickering’s theory refers to this stage as “Establishing Identity”, p. 161) and affects who they become after the post secondary experience. Ambrose explains that students “grapple with ideas and experiences that challenge their existing values and assumptions” (p.159) which often forces learners to confront their beliefs and to develop new understandings and meanings. For some students, new learning can lead to new perspectives and awareness while others may remain more closed; however, all students will be impacted in some way from the experiences they shared together. The shared learning experiences occurring in the classroom can contribute to student’s overall development as they establish competence, integrity, purpose, autonomy, interpersonal relationships, identity, and emotional regulation (Ambrose, 2010).
For personal growth and development to occur, educators must be able to foster safe and engaging classrooms that can support a community of learners in their pursuit of personal and academic growth. The challenge for educators is how to develop learning spaces that are safe, respectful and engaging so that all learners can participate and develop in meaningful ways. This is where hooks and Ambrose both offer insightful suggestions that can support educators as they work to foster positive classroom climates.
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope (2003) is a book written by bell hooks that offers pedagogical practices to help create community in our classrooms. It is about bringing students together to share with one another in ways that lead to enhanced interpersonal skills, openness, growth and learning. Hooks talks extensively about the role educators must play to establish safe learning environments that engage students in dialogue and democratic practices so they can learn and grow together. The focus of building community in our classrooms is to foster social justice and to help students use their voice to make social change. Hooks views education as a liberating process that is a fight to end oppression because “students in the progressive classroom learn how to think critically and open their minds” (2003, p.8). The opportunity to mutually share ideas and experiences with others is how community is established and connections are made.
Because we have all read the teaching practices suggested in the Ambrose chapter, I will not recite those here, but rather, I will point out those that align closely with suggestions offered by hooks. These include: the importance of empowering students to use their own voice and share openly; to help students connect and establish respect (perhaps through the use of ground rules); to accept that students enter and leave college at various stages therefore community cannot be forced; building community is not always pleasant and positive because true growth often arises from challenge and discomfort; educators must challenge worldviews so as to move students forward; we must understand students holistically and recognize the tensions that may occur in order to be proactive and progressive; we must offer sensitivity, support and validation.
Lastly, I wanted to point out how the practice of establishing classroom ground rules (suggested by Ambrose) demonstrates similarity among the three author’s works. Developing a set of classroom ground rules is a collaborative practice that involves the participation of everyone in the community (Wenger). When the rules are agreed upon and accepted, these rules have then been reified (they are the outcome of the negotiation among the members). If, collectively, the members decide to change the rules later, they will then participate once again in a discussion to determine what reifications will be made. In this process, the classroom is acting as a democratic and engaged community (hooks) as they share, collaborate, and develop together.
If you are interested in the bell hooks book, you can find it at the following link...
http://www.amazon.ca/Teaching-Community-A-Pedagogy-Hope/dp/0415968186
No comments:
Post a Comment