Thursday, February 19, 2009

Module 3: Key Questions

1. Develop a definition of community. Who is included within that definition? Who is excluded? If you are so inclined, you might want to consider a visual metaphor or some kind of graphical representation or symbol to define and describe a community.
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4 comments:

  1. RobskcaMarch 1, 2009 at 4:00 PM

    My understanding of community is closely aligned with that of Mark K. Smith's idea of a community (Smith, M. K., 2001). In his work he described the community as being identified in three definite manners; place, interest, and communion.

    The place often identifies the community because those members of the community may begin their affiliation based on their proximity to one another. A small town where I first taught had an extremely strong sense of community in almost all aspects. Within the town there were many locations such as curling rinks, post office, recreational centre, grocery store, and service clubs which strongly relied on the their identification with the town and its unique place in the area surrounding it. The various groups had their own sub-community nature but together they comprised the overall community of this rural town.

    The interests shared by members of any community can draw people together and strengthen those interests as people work together in a club or organization. Whether this be a traditional service organization, or a an ad hoc group that has formed to tackle an acute problem or situation, these people can begin to form a community which works toward the solution of whatever problem they face.

    Finally the communion that a group of people experience may be the thing that draws their community together. A church often will form its own community with members coming together on a regular basis. Their reasons for coming together may be simply to experience their faith in a group setting. This experience is further enhanced by being with people of like minds and like spirits. Sharing their faith in the community of the church serves to strength their attachment to each other and to their faith.

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  2. RobskcaMarch 1, 2009 at 4:14 PM

    While teaching in the small town I tried unsuccessfully to become part of a small community within the town's sports community. While I was growing up in the city, I had an opportunity once to play community hockey. It was a short-lived experience but through the years it served to give me a sense that I could play hockey, if I were just given the opportunity. My skating was fluid and strong and my skills were slightly better than average (with the possible exception of circling to the right behind the net, my right turns were weaker than my left turns-funny when I think about it now).

    When I arrived in the small town, I gradually became more and more convinced that I would like to try playing on the fun men's team called the Dirty 30's. What had really gotten me thinking of doing this was that we had a Teachers vs. Students game in which I had held my own, I may even, in fact, have scored a goal! Students later said, "Mr. C., you almost looked like a real hockey player out there!!"

    I was heart-broken, however, when I was told quite emphatically that I was too young to play on the team! I had come to the point where I felt I finally had something I could offer to the hockey community, such as it was, when I had the door slammed in my face. It was the spring of the year that I turned 30 that I applied for and was hired for a position in the larger city where I continued the rest of my career. Being excluded at that point of my life denied an experience that may possibly have taken my life in a completely different direction.

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  3. RobskcaMarch 1, 2009 at 5:54 PM

    "Community implies those inside are similar to each other and different from others. It creates a bond between some people and excludes others. Thus community implies and creates a boundary between us and them, inside group and outside group." (Hughes, I., (1996))

    In my hockey anecdote, Hughes definitely hit the mark. Being part of that hockey community would have let me into a group of people in the town who lived within a network of people with common interests and aspirations. Being in a town that was extremely sports oriented would have given me credibility and opened a door to this aspect of the community.

    The boundary that existed in that town was involvement in the sporting world there. Had I been included through the Dirty 30s team, my outlook toward staying in the town might have changed.

    Years later, when I visited the town and friends who lived there, I was talking to someone at the local grocery store when I mentioned that I had lived there in the 80s. They said, "Really? For how long?" I replied, "Six years." The person was dumbfounded and wondered how I could live in that community for that many years and they would have no recollection of me being there. Granted their kids were already grown and not in school through the years I was teaching there. In the eyes of that community member I had not broken through the barrier sufficiently to make myself known to more than just the educational community in that school division.

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  4. RobskcaMarch 1, 2009 at 6:13 PM

    "A social, religious, occupational, educational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists." (Dictionary.com, downloaded March 1, 2009)

    Finally, this definition was adapted from the Dictionary.com site and makes sense to me.

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