Communities of Practice

My morning ritual consists of a cup of coffee and watching CBC News.  During the commercials I often  switch to watch CNN.  One morning this week each news channel reported stories dealing with education.  CNN (2012, Feb. 7) reported on a school in North Carolina where they had adopted a “no fail” policy for students from grades 3 to 8.  If students wrote a test and failed they were given an “I” for incomplete then given an opportunity to re-write the test.  The theory behind the “no fail” policy was that the students would be given the opportunity to master the material the teachers taught them.  The second story reported from CBC was about a student in Newfoundland who was removed from the class room by his teacher and sprayed with air freshener because he smelled of fish. (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC], 2012)    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/02/06/nl-student-teacher-febreze-206.html

In class professor Donovan discussed the book Situated Learning Legitimate Peripheral Participant by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991).  I learned how Communities of Practice can sometimes overlap boundaries and how we may use brokering or cultural sharing between communities of practice to gain a better understanding of each other.  Lave and Wanger (1991) define a community of practice as a

Set of relations among persons, activity, and work, over time and in relation with other tangential and overlapping communities of practice. A community of practice is an intrinsic condition for the existence of knowledge, not least because it provides the interpretive support necessary for making sense of its heritage. (page 98) 

After our class discussion I began thinking of the news stories regarding the education system and the different communities of practice within these stories.  I thought about the first story reported by CNN, which was the introduction of the “no fail” policy. At first I thought the idea a bit crazy. But then I started thinking about it in terms of my son who works as an apprentice electrician.  If he makes a mistake his boss shows him his error then shows him how to complete the task correctly.  His boss does not tell him “sorry, you failed.  You didn’t do it right so you can’t continue.”  His boss gives him an opportunity to do the task again so he can master the material. Is this teaching process within my son’s community of practice the same as retesting a student if they fail a test?  There is part of me that thinks yes. My thoughts were “what a great idea” give the student an opportunity to master the material.  However, my thoughts are from my own community of practice as a parent who does not want to see a child fail. The introduction of such a policy may have long standing implications for the students and the teaching community. For example, what happens to the students once they get to grade 9 and they can only write a test once, will the students know how to fail? I thought of the educators within my University cohort and wondered what they would think of the no fail policy.

In the second news report from CBC a teacher in Newfoundland made the student leave the classroom and stand out in the hallway because he smelled of fish.  After leaving the student in the hallway for one class period the teacher sprayed the student with air freshener attempting to remove the smell of fish.  As in the first story there are several communities of practice that overlap. These communities include   students, parents, teachers and administrators.  From our discussions in class it is my understanding that in each community of practice there is a peripheral boundary. There are also boundary objects that can be projected into the communities of practice from an outside source that may or may not elicit a response.  For example, in the story about the student who was sprayed with air freshener the first boundary overlapping was the student world overlapping with the parent world (child telling his parents), second the parental world overlapping with the teachers world.  The mother reacted immediately by demanding an apology from the teacher; however, the teacher refused to apologize. As a result, the mother went to the school board and media demanding the teacher be fired. Therefore, there was a third overlapping of teacher and the administration community of practice.    

Prior to our discussion in class I did not understand the dynamics and complexities involved with communities of practice. I also understand I have a lot to learn.  I read the book Situate Learning Legitimate Peripheral Participant but felt after our discussion in class that I hadn’t read it at all. My assessment of the book at first was more one dimensional and I thought of it in terms of my son, the apprentice, and his community of practice.    

Finally, for me the CBC news story about the teacher spraying the student is a good example of a community of practice overlapping or colliding.  As a parent, I understand why the mother would be upset with the teacher for spraying her son.  However, it is harder for me to understand what took place in the classroom because I am not part of the teacher’s community of practice. A teacher looking at this story may feel more compassion and understanding because he/she belongs to this community and understands the day to day practice of the community.  Although my insight may be simplistic in its explanation of communities of practice, it is insight I never had. 

References

Lave, J., Wenger, E. (1991). SITUATED LEARNING LEGITIMATE PERIPHERAL PARTICIPATION: Cambridge, New York, NY, Cambridge University Press.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2012, Feb. 7). Fishing smelling student sprayed down by teacher. CBC, para 1-10. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/02/06/nl-student-teacher-febreze-206.html