Affinity Spaces

1.         One community of practice that I participate in is teaching. Another is crocheting as well as cooking.
2.         “Community” is better defined as a space because community is related to how interconnected people are. This makes who is in the group and their degree of involvement the focus of an investigation about a certain community. With a space, the focus is on how people interact and use the space. This allows for more of a emphasis on group dynamics instead of group membership.
3.         A “generator” is something that gives the space content. In schools this could be the teacher, textbooks, or various class materials.
4.         A “content organizer” is how the content is organized. In a school this would most closely relate to a teacher’s lesson plans or maybe the textbook.
5.         A “portal” is something that gives access to a space and its content. In schools, portals could be textbooks, lectures, teachers, course materials (such as workbooks or notes), or websites.
6.         In an affinity space, the participants have an affinity for the generator of the space. In the classroom the generator is the subject matter. This means that good teachers need to help their students to develop a love for their subject.
7.          Affinity spaces support inclusive classrooms in several ways. One way is that an affinity space is held together by the common affinity that all members hold for the generator. This facilitates a sense of community that extends beyond just the physical space its-self. Another is that fact that leadership is porous. Teachers aren't the only ones that solve problems. Students are also responsible for teaching and helping to solve problems with in the classroom.
8.         Traditional classrooms differ from Affinity Spaces in several ways. One is that the teacher is the primary leader and source of information in a traditional classroom. In an affinity space, the leadership is porous and there are many different sources of information and learning. Also in an affinity space some of the portals are also strong generators. This is rarely seen or seen only to lesser degrees in traditional classrooms.  In many traditional classrooms, the teacher is less than encouraging of gathering information from outside sources, where as in affinity spaces, this is strongly advocated. In affinity spaces, there are a variety of ways to gain status, but in the classroom the routes to status are limited, generally to achieving good grades.