Day 4: What is a community? (9/7/12)

Key Points:

• A community is not just a group of people. 
• A community is united by common interests, background, purpose or a sense of togetherness. 
• Any collection of people can be called a group, not all groups are communities. 
• Throughout history, groups have formed communities to increase their chances of survival/success. 

Task 1: Write your homework in the Agenda and complete the following DO NOW:

Yesterday we reviewed maps, and talked about the different kinds of maps. We talked about how political maps show the arbitrary lines that people have drawn into countries and states. People also organize themselves and others into groups and communities.

• Do you think this class is a group? Why or why not? 
• Do you think this class is a community? Why or not? 
• What is the difference between a group and a community? 

Task 2: Read the following definition of community, by Suzanne Goldsmith:

Communities are not built of friends, or of groups with similar styles and tastes, or even of people who like and understand each other. They are built of people who feel they are part of something that is bigger than themselves: a shared goal or enterprise, like righting a wrong, or building a road, or raising children, or living honorably, or worshipping a god. To build community requires only the ability to see value in other, to look at them and see a potential partner in one’s enterprise.

Task 3: Make a foldable to help us chunk the definition of community and rewrite it in our own words.

Task 4: Complete Four Corners activity, wherein students will identify with the following statements ("Strongly Agree", "Agree", "Strongly Disagree", "Disagree") and explain their opinion.

• Communities should only include people who are friends and who like each other. 
• Unlike Goldsmith, I believe that communities are sometimes made up of people who are not working toward a common goal. 
• Members of a community feel responsible to one another. 
• Communities are a kind of group. But not all groups are communities. 
• Our classroom is a community. 
• A community has certain rules about membership. Not everyone can belong; some people must be excluded in order for a community to exist.

 

Homework: On a separate piece of paper, in complete sentences, answer the following questions:

1. Write your own definition of community (at least 1 sentence)
2. Based on your definition, write a list of the communities to which you belong (a numbered list)
3. Pick two of these communities and answer the following questions for each:

• What do you have in common with other members of the community? (at least 1 sentence each) 
• What responsibilities does membership involve? (at least 1 sentence each) 
• Who is not part of the community? Why? (at least 1 sentence each)