Fostering+communities+that+learn

Senge, P., N. Cambron-McCabe, T. Lucas, B. Smith, J. Dutton and A. Kleiner (2000). "Fostering communities that learn," in __Schools That Learn__. New York: Currency,459-465.

Summary Notes by Tara Tetzlaff

=** __Introduction__ **= - article starts by asking what the role and responsibility of a school is to its students and their parents - then asks the larger question people need communities to be “Communities always exist, at least in part, because children need them as a place to learn to be adults.”

- there are many examples of school breaking the barrier between school and the rest of a child’s life because both the school community has an invested interest and priority in learn and recognizes that learning takes place beyond just the classroom

- in 1997 the Partnership for Children in Kansas made the “Is it good for our children?” campaign so that whenever a business, government, individual or other type of decision was going to be made the first consideration was “Is it good for our children?” - “By asking ‘is it good for the children?’ people essentially ask, ‘will this add civility tolerance, and nurturance into the fabric of life here?’” - give grants and tax waivers to plans that are “good for our children”

- Kentucky legislator established “family resource centers” as part of a “comprehensive school reform initiative”; brings the community into the schools

- Oregon program brings the schools into the communities by offering “service learning opportunities” where students use what they learn to serve others in the community

- article claims that learning in the classroom and learning in the community is “a vision that can never fully be realized”, but we can still work towards that goal

=** __Community__ **= - is not a group of people with a certain relationship but “a place, rooted in the biosphere, rife with activity, mutual respect, and the recognition that everyone in that place is responsible for and accountable to one another, because the lives of all are interdependent.” - a community should always be a “caring container wrapped around the school and the development of children”

3 types of actives a community uses to develop its future: __1. identity__: attitudes of community members of their boundaries and responsibilities to each other - needs of schools transcend those boundaries - ambiguity exists between where the school stops and the community begins - teachers are excepted to commit themselves to the needs of the students and school, but the community needs to support teachers in that commitment (ex: except teachers to chaperon school dances, but don’t want to reimburse them for time and expense) - “defining identity is a practice of building a shared vision for the community, with the school system as an active and valued player but hardly the only player.”

__2. building (something- illegible in document)__ - community members have many demands on their time making it difficult to build regular connections; however, these connection are important to “establishing a pattern of learning in a community” - schools and other organizations need to see each other as important assets in developing community - “making connections can amplify the disciplines of mental models and team learning and institutionalize those disciplines at a broad level.”

__3. sustainability__: involves awareness, “akin to the awareness in systems thinking,” of the long-term implications of our actions - sustainable communities understand “that the evolution of each young child depends on the individual attention he or she receives” - people therefore invest time with children to help them develop and model adult behavior

Jeremy Szteiter May 4, 2008 -the process of exploring the reach of the responsibility of schools may help us to understand community learning -schools have the opportunity to serve students both by what happens inside the school and by how the schools connect students to other elements of the community that are outside of the school -benefit to children might serve as a reference guide for making the right community decisions -child learning and family learning are closely related, reflective of each other, and dependent upon each other -a community might be thought of as a partnership involving individuals, schools, institutions, and government that supports the thriving of all -the nature of the school has far-reaching influences on the community, including the geographical layout and space, the opportunities for making contact with others, and the attitudes and values of residents -sustaining community is only possible when long-term effects of current decisions are weighed **New insights:** -"building community" is more than nurturing relationships that exist between community members, it also involves taking away the influences that isolate community members from each other and provide opportunities for familiarity -teachers might need help and encouragement to appreciate their role and connectivity to the community -develop relationships early, before they are "needed" **Remaining questions:** -why is there not more attention paid to the community resources that are present in a community's senior population? -what opportunities are most effective at dismantling the isolating factors in an existing community? **Applications to own project:** -play is a common and universal language that might connect people that otherwise have nothing in common -community centers as a place for dialogue, mutual understanding, and neutral territory for defining collaboration
 * Main themes:**

-reciprocal give and take are important to the success of the school-community relationship - connections between students and community through the efforts of the school lead to opportunities for students for their own benefit as well as the chance to offer their own abilities and efforts back to the community and the school -"patterns of learning" seems important - how can we recognize patterns and distinguish ones that work well from ones that don't?
 * Reactions to the notes of others posted here:**

May 4, 2008 **Thoughts on article:** -It is refreshing to hear MORE about children. They're quite easily left out in many "power lunch" planning, curriculum development, grant writing, business ventures, etc. Although a lot of "well-intentioned" visible projects include them, they are quite easily forgotten when the going gets tough. In light of the surge in violence in the Boston area lately, I can't help but wonder (worry) about the dangers that await children no different from the young boy found sitting on the steps.
 * __Andy Reyes__**


 * Something that might be connected:**

-Gary Clabaugh in Can Every Child Learn? (2002) in //Educational Horizons// critiques the slogan that "every child can learn." He clarifies issues related to contemporary rhetoric on the question he addresses. The slogan conceals the failure of many schools. He argues that the slogan is clearly false. He says:

Despite definitive research that points to nonschool factors as keys to school success, those embracing this motto (Every child can learn) implicitly dismiss the idea that "schooling failures" are really symptoms of social failures. They seem to believe that positive thinking can cancel out the educational consequences of the 20 percent poverty rate among U.S. children. They must believe that positive thinking can defeat our inner city infant mortality rate, which outstrips that of the Third World. They must imagine that positive thinking can help hundreds of thousands of U.S. youngsters who literally have no home where they can do homework.

According to Clabaugh, many children face a harsh reality today, especially those who live in households where there is abuse and drugs. He says:

...Yes, most (but not all) children can learn to stay away from Mom when she's high or to keep out of the way of Mom's boyfriend when he's looking for someone to abuse. Sure, most (but not all) children can learn to wait until Mom is just high enough to say "yes" before asking her for food money. But few children can learn to do algebra, appreciate Shakespeare, or balance chemical equations if they are abused, scared, sick, hungry, or bereft of love and security. Under those circumstances, one can't even learn to read. They're too busy trying to survive.


 * __Application to my research/teaching context__**:

Gather more readings---for my students---around the subject of children, education, social problems, community, and "heroism," etc. I sometimes worry about the "naivete" that many of my students, in their quest for the "big dream," forget to shed. I can engage them in DIALOGUE about some of these relevant issues.