Lave and Wagner make an interesting point about learning practices and how they are deeply integrated with the social world and practices surrounding them. They argue that the social context provides for legitimate peripheral participation, as group members learn from each other and exhibit to newcomers and others what is able to be learned. They talk about the idea of apprenticeship as an older traditional way of learning that is presently often overlooked int today’s society; although it provides a useful forum in which individuals can learn a skilled trade, it presented other problems such as separating the individual from the rest of the community and exploitation of the apprentice. It remains, however, that the greater purpose of the apprentice has to do with the role he will eventually play in the community, giving his position meaning. They argue that communities provide an excellent place for peripheral learning, as members can learn from each other and become integrated into a community in which they can then be accepted and continue to learn.
I think that Lave and Wagner’s ideas apply to literacy instruction in many ways. The first thing that comes to mind in relation to the social context in which people learn are themes from Delpit’s “The Skin We Speak”. In her book, memories are recalled by adults who remember their own literacy practices being a barrier to their ability to learn, or learn at the appropriate level, because their literacy instruction ignored the social context from which they came as a whole. Lave and Wagner argue that the ability of people to see things as a whole, and have available to them the knowledge of what knowledge could be obtained, is an important part in successful learning. Participation is also important, as through participation individuals can learn and be absorbed into a culture of practice. Literacy instruction and the idea of communities go hand in hand, as it is important to recognize the different literacies that exist within a community in order to have effective learning take place. I keep wanting to make the tie that Lave and Wagner are speaking about how learning it so intertwined with the social context and community that it is impossible to think you can ignore the different literacies that exist there, both in the classroom and out. Media and technology literacy is one thing, dialects another, and social language yet another. For these literacies that are practiced mostly outside the classroom, and provide the largest basis of communication in a community (notice the similarities between the two words), cannot be ignored and help to provide a place for peripheral learning to take place.
In terms of the idea of a community of practice, they talk about a learning curriculum and a teaching curriculum within such a community. The learning curriculum is for the learning of a new practice and is an everyday practice through which they can learn through observation, but it must be viewed from the perspective of learners. It is also characteristic of a community. In contrast, a teaching curriculum is for the benefit of the newcomers, and often evolves out of participation. Both exist with the goal of shared concern and understanding by the participants about what they are doing and what it means in their lives and communities. They are both necessary parts to a robust community that fosters learning, and it is important for the people filling both roles to be aware they are doing so, as well as accept the roles themselves.
Another aspect of communities of practice is anecdotal story telling. They point out that the telling of stories can influence people’s decisions and they can be a forum for learning. Learning goes so far beyond the classroom and encompasses so much more than the school curriculum assesses or includes that it seems rather ignorant to try and deny that the majority of learning in most people’s lives does not happen in the classroom. Lave and Wagner believe in the importance of the community, and collaboration as an obvious part of that community.
What am I wondering?
I am left wondering about the role of the apprentice in the classroom. What role does the teacher play? The master? The master scholar? I am also left wondering about the people who do not want to become part of a community, and if their ability to learn successfully will be completely stunted by their disassociation. It also leaves me thinking about the importance of the role a community will play where ever I eventually decide to teach.
