Communities of Interest

Yesterday I emailed Grant Lichtman. I became acquainted with Grant’s blog, The Learning Pond, http://learningpond.wordpress.com/grant-lichtman/ from someone’s tweet several months ago.  I don’t remember who tweeted about Grant; it could have been one of many folks who I follow on Twitter who are interested in improving learning.  Five years ago I never would have emailed Grant to engage with him on trends in education, as I never would have known he existed.  

Although I was equally interested in improving learning five years ago,  I was limited to talking to colleagues at my school who shared similar interests, reading in journals and books, and attending a conference once a year.  I did those things, but my progress was slow, and I didn’t have the momentum and support to feel like I was making much of a difference.  Today, through Twitter and blogs, I belong to a community of people who share the same interest in improving learning.  Access to this community has been free and simple.  I feel empowered to work on a daily basis because I know there are many within my community who are working to do the same thing.  We share ideas and practices, we inspire, we support, we tell jokes -- in short, we do all the things that people do when they belong to a community -- except that most of us don’t even know what the others look like or where they live.  We have formed a community of interest.

We are shifting from participating in communities of place to communities of interest.  Hundreds of years ago, most of our communities were based on location.  Travel was limited and exchange of ideas was slow.  As new technologies that facilitated communication were introduced, it became easier for people to form communities of interest.  Paper, pen, printing press, telephone, and television all made it easier for people who share similar interests to connect with each other. (Collins and Halverson, 11-13)  Today’s everyday technological tools have dramatically accelerated the shift toward communities of interest.  Blogs like this one, hashtags in Twitter, and online gaming have created a world where communities don’t have anything to do with place, unless the place referred to is our planet.

Schools must give students the opportunity to participate in communities of interest so they can learn the skills necessary to be successful in these environments.  Students should have their own blogs and Twitter accounts, and schools should help students to use these in productive and appropriate ways.  Students need ways and opportunities to connect with broad and narrow communities of interest by providing networking opportunities with other schools around the globe.  NAIS’s Challenge 20/20 is an example of a way that schools can help create and model a community of interest for students.

Schools can and should also model communities of interest within the school walls.  At the Middle School at CDS, we offer students an opportunity to spend time with students and faculty members who share similar interests in a course called exploratory.  Exploratory choices look similar to after-school clubs, but we know that it is so important for middle school students to connect and build relationships that we have moved the club time into our school day.  Exploratory groups change three times a year and the offerings are always diverse:  songwriting, cooking on a griddle, watching and discussing Hitchcock movies, yoga, creating mandalas, designing apps, etc.  As a result of students choosing exploratories by interest, we end up with mixed-grade, mixed-gender, mixed-social groups within our exploratories.  

It is a powerful thing to connect with others by sharing passions and interests.  I wonder what Grant Licthman has to say about this topic.  I bet I’ll find out soon.

Collins, Allan, and Richard Halverson. Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America . New York, London: Teachers College Press, 2009.