Module 6

I see the world becoming more homogenized over the years. It seems that all parts of the world are becoming similar through the influence of media and big business. A sense of uniqueness from one community to the next is dwindling. When people said that they were from a particular region of the United States there was a general idea of who their family is and what there culture is like. Nowadays, we all seem too familiar and too "general," without the characteristics that separated our community's culture from another. The lack of culture differences and separation from our roots stems from a lack of community involvement propelled by increased reliance and use on technology. Not that new technologies are a bad thing, but we have relinquished our uniqueness that was defined by our community ties and replaced it with the electrical entertainment and stimulation at our fingertips. There is a need for a resurgence and connection with our local community.

Teacher leaders can play a large role in community education experiences. Incorporating the vast knowledge and experience of community leaders and field experts into our classrooms is a major step towards maintaining community ties and keeping communities strong willed and alive. At my school, the HCALC, there is an English teacher who brings in folklorists and historians to keep the old tales alive and show the students that there is much to b proud of in West Virginia and Harrison County and that we don't need to leave our community to seek adventure or well-paid jobs. There is a science classroom that brings in coal miners, gas drillers, governmental officials, small business owners, and self-employed community members into the classroom to hold discussions and presentations on the benefits and satisfaction of maintaining strong community ties and making a good living at the same time.

I remember going home with assignments requiring me to seek out and interview my extended family members on my family history, their occupations, and why an education is important for me to obtain. These lessons opened my eyes to the larger community in my family and the town I grew up in. Teacher leaders do not need to be the ones providing direct instruction about community events and jobs, but they certainly can gather the resources needed to bring in an experienced community member to bring the lesson to the students. Mainstreaming our students is not the best practice. Yes, we need to prepare our students to leave the schools with the knowledge needed to succeed in many fields or to continue their training at a collegiate level or in a vocational school. But, we should also open the eyes of our students to the wider world around them in their own community; we can do this by holding seminars, job fairs, inviting community members in to talk with our students, partnering with businesses to have field trips to the places that perform services for and help run our communities. Many cities and towns have fallen to the wayside, because of the 21st-century teachings of individualism without the focus of the community.

There is a saying that goes, "It takes a village to raise a child." We see this through socialized public services, but we often fail to teach our students to give back to the community and leave them to individual capitalism of the self. Teacher leaders can provide the resources and experiences (of which there are many and most are at no cost) needed to rejuvenate the stagnate state of our communities. One easy method is to invite the students' own parents, grandparents, and uncles/aunts to the classroom to share their stories and jobs, to show the students that family relationships do matter and that without good, strong family ties the community will fall apart. This fall from grace is evident in some of our once thriving big cities in which family values have fallen away to gang violence, where the infrastructure (both physical and societal) and community disintegrates.

Knowledge of our students' experiences and their impact of their family's culture on their opinions towards education need to be taken into account. It is desirable to include many cultures and ethnicities into our teachings if our students are ethnically diverse. Teacher leaders must show the inter-connectivity of ethnic groups and how these connections benefit the community for these lessons to be relevant to all students. Parenting is another very broken role on our society, but I know of no resources that can be brought into the schools to help with this problem without causing problems between bad parents and our schools. The benefits of strong tie between the schools and the community cannot be underestimated. To do so, would undereducate the future of our communities.

Some resources I found that I would like to share:

A good report on a case study of community based education.

An educational site touting the importance of community in education and education in the community.