1. Give an example of a "community of practice" in which you are currently participating in.
Becoming a culturally responsive teacher with peers who are also working with a host teacher.
2.Why is the term "community" better defined in relation to spaces rather than groups of people?
There are limits as to what makes you a member of a community. Spaces focus on how people interact with content and one another.
3. What is a "generator"? What is it's counterpart in school? Something that gives a space content. The textbook may be a generator for a classroom.
4. What is a "content organizer"? What is it's counterpart in school? A content organizer is a designer of how to communicate content. The teacher who rethinks the content based on student beliefs, actions, and interactions.
5. What is a "portal"? What is it's counterpart in school? It is anything that gives a person access to the content and to ways of interacting with the content. In school this could also be the textbook.
6. What do people have an "affinity" for in an "affinity space"? How does this inform your understanding of good teaching?
They are attracted to engaging in the sharing and gaining of knowledge of the content. It makes me want to find attractive ways to make my classroom an affinity space where everyone's voice is heard and everyone engages with the content in their own way.
7. How do "affinity spaces" support inclusive classrooms? Choose two characteristics below to make connections between "affinity spaces" and inclusive classrooms.
Affinity spaces support inclusive classrooms because they require everyone to find a portal to the content and engage in the sharing and learning of knowledge of that content. This is only obtainable if the classroom has a sense of community. Affinity spaces are also defined as a place were "newbies and masters and everyone else share common space, which is characteristic of a place where students have the opportunity to be problem solvers (as explained in the 7th characteristic of an inclusive classroom below.)
7. Students as Problem Solvers - Successful inclusive schools involve students as partners in the school community. As students are allowed a greater participation in the community, they become more responsible and effective in the inclusive process. Common among inclusive schools is the use of students as:
a. peer mediators - students trained to help resolve disputes among other students.
b. peer tutoring - students help other students learn and review material.
c. cross-age tutoring - older students helping younger students.
d. cooperative learning - teams of students problem solving and working together.
e. buddy systems - two children who agree to help each other; may be made up of any two children, regardless of educational status, who want to help each other.
The following describes a characteristic of inclusive classrooms:
1. A Sense of Community - An inclusive school is a school where every child is respected as part of the school community, and where each child is encouraged to learn and achieve as much as possible. In order to achieve that sense of belonging for each child, many schools have found that fostering a sense of community is of primary importance.
8. How are traditional classroom different from Affinity Spaces?
The major differences between traditional classrooms and affinity spaces are that in classrooms students are segregated by grade level and ability. Another difference is that in classrooms portals are rarely strong generators where students interact the content and modify it. Traditional classrooms students are also encouraged to gain the same knowledge across the board and excelling students are not allowed to teach the teacher or other students the knowledge they have gained above that limit.
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