Experiencing Community

Discovery• Freewrite on “community.” Write whatever

comes to your mind when you hear the word.

• Share what you have written with a small group of 2 to 3 people.

• Identify the similarities and differences in your responses, and ask one group member to report them to the class.

Relating your discoveries to “Stages of Community Making”

• How do your experiences of “community” differ from that which is discussed in the reading?

• Explain author Scott Peck’s rule: “Community building first, problem-solving second.”

My Communities• List the communities you have been a

member of, now and in the past.

• Share your list with one other person.

• Identify the community that has had the greatest influence on you and share that information with your partner. Explain why and how this particular community membership has been influential.

Explore the following topic: how my membership in a particular community (the one just identified) has shaped my identity.

Freewriting

Ideas to Consider• The values of that particular community

and how they have influenced you

• The significance of the relationships between members and how they have influenced you

• The activities of the community and how they have influenced you

• The setting of the community and its effect on members

Essay

How Community Has Contributed to My Identity

Schedule

• Wednesday-a: Read and discuss “Stages of Community Making”; freewriting

• Wednesday-b: Construct thesis and make informal outline; mini-conferences

• Monday-a: Rough draft due; peer response (Bring a typewritten copy—at least three typed pages—to class.)

• Monday-b: Peer edit• Wednesday: Essay due

Organizing your thoughts using an informal outline . . .• Thesis

• Supporting ideas 1) 2) 3) 4) . . .

The topic is a general area that you wish to explore, within a broad subject area.

Example: Community (subject)

Example: How community has contributed to my identity (topic)

The thesis of your paper is a complete sentence (sometimes more than one sentence) that states an opinion about the topic and that often maps the paper's main supporting ideas.

Thesis Tips --Avoid these errors:

• Don't state a fact or state the obvious; make an assertion about the topic.

• Poor: A community involves more than one person.

• Better: A community’s health depends on the willingness of its members to acknowledge their interdependence while respecting each person’s autonomy.

Thesis Tips --Avoid these errors:• Don’t "announce" the topic; state a position

related to the topic. • Poor: In this paper, I will explore the ways that

community has contributed to the development of my identity.

• Better: The respect for individuality and sense of responsibility for others that I absorbed in the working class neighborhood where I grew up have contributed to my becoming an affirmative and strongly principled adult.

Thesis Tips --Avoid these errors:

• Don't stop when you have come up with a broad thesis; narrow it until you can support it effectively in your paper.

• Poor: The communities I belonged to as a youth made me the person I am today.

• Better: The exposure to diverse viewpoints that I gained while participating in my high school’s multicultural club inspired me to pursue a career that involves travel and working with people from many different countries.

Thesis Tips --Avoid these errors:

• Don't use general terms or vague language; be precise.

• Poor: Our experiences in a community can have a positive or negative effect on our identity.

• Better: Being a valued member of my scout troop while growing up gave me the confidence to take a leadership role in the workplace.

How can you support your thesis?

• Facts: statements that an be proved objectively to be true

• Statistics: interpretation of numerical data

• Examples and anecdotes: specific instances and brief narratives

• Reference to authority: opinion of experts

• Logical reasoning: inductive and deductive reasoning

How can you organize your essay?

• An INTRODUCTION (attention getter or “hook” followed by background information on the topic and your thesis)

• SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS that show the reader how your membership in a particular community has contributed to making you the person you are today

• A CONCLUSION that ties your essay together and provides a sense of closure