AVReading

  For as much as a sense of community is needed for a rich, transformative educational environment, I am aware that there will always be resisters.  These are students who, despite our best efforts, simply refuse to join the community.  There may be many different reasons for their resistance.  And the truth is, discovering the reason is not always necessary or important.  And despite our own wishes to have everyone included, community does not happen when it is forced upon people.  On a certain level, I understand the nature of a classroom will always include a type of involuntary participation in community and that it will always feel a little contrived, maybe even forced.  Yet there is a distinction between a classroom where conditions are created for students to more willingly join into community, and one where students are coerced into group action.             For those who resist, careful ...