Wenger’s notions of identity and community intertwine when I think of my experiences as a new teacher. When I was a first-year teacher, I remember the difficulties of entering my new school’s community. Tension existed between the “veterans” and the “rookies.” On page 157, Wenger discussions the concerns a newcomer has when entering a new community and the challenges that both the established and the entering members have as membership in the community changes. Wenger says that, “They (old-timers or veterans) might thus welcome the new potentials afforded by new generations who are less hostage to the past,” but they also can frown upon the extreme energy, perceived lack of competence, and naivety that rookies bring to the job. This interaction shapes identities of both parties, but I also want to throw in another term from our course (dare I say the “d” word) design. This tension has design implications for schools and more particularly building principals who are charged with building community (of practice) with their staff members. How does (or should) a principal recognize the complex interplay of community and identity when crafting (designing) the interactions necessary to create the desired community (of practice)?
ELISEBETH CONNOLLY BOYER says
Can anyone design interaction to create community and broker identity formation? I think that Wenger argues that even if a community has the most well crafted orientation program, identities will still be negotiated individually. That it is not the reifications of a community which broker membership but rather the paradigm trajectories of participants; novices are either taken under the wing of insiders or they are not. No matter what the design I do not think this can me mandated?
REBECCA WEST BURNS says
I agree with your thoughts. I wasn’t thinking mandate perhaps, but I see how that message came across. To clarify my thinking, I think I’m trying to say establish an environment conducive to building a community. It seems like identities will be negotiated individually, but even as a classroom teacher, the environment (including tone) must be established to promote the possibility of a community.
When I think about it, Cole and McEd designed this class to include Pligg, which is creating an online community component to our class. They have asked us to engage in some of the technologies (i.e. Twitter), and while not all of us are talking together, mini communities are being created over time. Without this design in place, I doubt that we would have found each other on Twitter or Pligg for that matter.
ELISEBETH CONNOLLY BOYER says
I was thinking about just this same thing last night as I checked Twitter. In other classes we have had to do group work and it was fine but I guess I never really felt like a group or perhaps a COP (if that makes sense?) By using twitter, I feel connected to the group in a more personal way. We have things to talk about outside of class topics which aren’t artificial like, “… so … uh … what didya do last night?”
In schools it seems essential to have informal gatherings for teachers to interact, maybe dinners or a walking group or something. We get so wrapped up in talking about students and work that we often forget we are people too and probably have great things in common. At the school I taught at a couple of the verteran teachers were very dedicated to welcoming newcomers and they had a kayaking group that met every week. We would go on a local pond, float, chat, laugh and have a very good time. We ranged in ages from 26 – 68 and found A LOT in common!