Discourse Communities Paper Introduction: The first question that you get when you meet someone new

w in college is What's your major ! There ha"e #een a couple of times where people ha"e responded to the fact that I am a Pre$education major with Why do you want to #e a teacher They don't "ene get paid enough ! orTeachers jo#s are easy and must #e so fun%! &ssumptions that teachers jo#s are so easy and that they don't wor' hard or as long as other professionals are not new( The constant changes to the curriculum and the comple)ity of the laws and le)is teachers must follow signify that there is a comple)ity and s'ill that goes unnoticed #y the general pu#lic and e"en *orth Carolina Department of Pu#lic Instruction( +"er the past fi"e to se"en years there has #een an e)treme decline in those who graduate college with an ,ducation degree( Categori-ing teaching as a low$s'ill! or undesira#le! has had a negati"e effect for pu#lic schools including increased class si-es and ineffecti"e teachers( .uch of the general pu#lic fail to reali-e that without teachers/ there will #e no education( 0ecause of this/ many uni"ersities ha"e created ,ducation 1earning Communities to quic'ly gra# those who want to #ecome teachers and equip them with the 'nowledge and s'ills to ma'e them effecti"e and qualified educators( Define the term discourse community! What is a discourse community &ccording to 2ohn 3wales/ a respected written communication analyst/ a discourse community is descri#ed as a group of people that ha"e the same goals or purposes/ and use communication to achie"e these goals( In addition/ & discourse operates within con"entions defined #y communities/ #e they academic disciplines or social groups! 43wales/ 5567( In determining whether or not a group is a discourse community/ there are se"eral certain rules/ rather than a list of criteria/ in which the certain community must comply with in order to #e esta#lished as a discourse community( Tal' a#out the T,1C The people I decided to o#ser"e were the mem#ers of the T,1C/ one of the 58 learning communities that li"e in 1ynch 9all( 3ince I am a mem#er of this group/ you could call me an insider! and that is the main reason why I decided this people to analy-e I would reword this Three ama-ing educators head the T,1C/ Dr( .isty 9athcoc' is the director of the teaching fellows and the T,1C/ .ic'i Crowder is the program director and &licia Da"is is our graduate assistant The T,1C is comprised of twenty$si) girls/ twenty$four are Caucasian and two are &frican &merican( What ma'es this group unique is that we ha"e girls who want to teach different areas: including ,lementary/ .iddle/ 9igh 3chool/ 3pecial *eeds and e"en .usic ,ducation( If you ha"e conducted an inter"iew this is where I would put it(

Touch on the speciali-ed language/ te)ts/ what #rings the team together ,ach wee' our director/ .isty/ sends out a ;acts sheet detailing the e"ents and acti"ities that are coming up for that particular wee'( +n the fact sheet/ she always includes a teaching quote and a character trait of the wee' to remem#er to e)hi#it these traits since we are going to #e teachers one day "ery soon(

,ach Thursday 5<:=8 to 5:>?/ all of the T,1C girls go to seminar together( ,ach wee' the seminar focuses on different topics( To prepare the T,1C/ to #ecome more mar'eta#le and prepared we are #ecoming more and more acquainted with specific terms we will encounter once we #ecome a teacher( +ne of the requirements for #eing a art of this community is that we ha"e to ta'e ,ducation <588 which is the #asic introduction to education( ,ach wee' we get a list of "oca#ulary words that we need to 'now: some of the words included are I,Ps/ retention and social promotion/ 9orace .ann/ 0rown "s( 0+,/ tenure/ *C 3tate ,thics/ 3i) 3tandards of *C ,"aluation and ,(C((

Common @eading ,)perience T,1C mem#ers were required to participate in the Common @eading ,)perience( This program was designed to pro"ide a shared academic e)perience which ser"es to assist all first$year students in their transition to A*C Charlotte( The @eading e)perience included reading Wine to Water/ attending the author 'eynote/ and participating in #oo' tal's( Wine to Water features the story of an ordinary #artender whoBs changing the world through clean water( In <88>/ Doc 9endley C a small$town *C #artender C launched wine$tasting e"ents to raise funds for clean$water projects and to #ring awareness to the worldBs freshwater crisis( 9e planned to donate the proceeds to other well esta#lished organi-ations/ #ut instead found himself tra"eling to one of the worldBs most dangerous hot spots: Darfur/ 3udan( During our #oo' tal'/ it was interesting to how each person related to the #oo'( ,"en though we ha"e #een in college for almost three months/ I noticed that almost e"eryone still sits with their roommates( We all come loo'ing comforta#le and wearing sweatshirts/ sweatpants/ t$shirts/ and flip flops( .any of the girls are coming from class and ha"e class after seminar so they were snac'ing and studying for tests( I would @elate this more to your community( I don't quite understand as the reader how this follows in with the community( This is a great #oo' and I thin' you could use it if you applied more to how it effected you and your discourse community for you journey #ecoming educators( &re you using this as the artifact If not I would pro#a#ly ta'e this section out and use it for your artifact(

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Paragraph +ne: What ma'es the T,1C a discourse community What #rings them together The mediocre teacher tells( The good teacher e)plains( The superior teacher demonstrates( The great teacher inspires(! D William &rthur Ward Personally/ for me/ I ha"e 'nown I wanted to #e a teacher since I was a#out se"en years old( I was the child who lo"ed to play school with the #oys and girls in my neigh#orhood on the wee'ends outside of my house( I remem#er the e)act moment in which I reali-ed I wanted to #e a teacher( I was in the .rs( Curries first grade class and she sent home a letter to my mom saying she wanted to ha"e me tested for the &IE 4&cademically Intellectually Eifted7 program for my school( I was reading on a fourth grade reading le"el and I e)celled at all of my school wor'( I was tested and I passed which placed me in that program( I was inspired

#y the fact that she was a#le to spot out something special in me and saw that I needed to #e challenged more( 3he wanted me to continue to e)cel and to #e with other 'ids who were just as smart as I was( It was then that I reali-ed I wanted to do the same thing she did: I wanted to inspire and encourage children to #e the #est person that they can #e( Throughout the community/ there are similar stories of how girls reali-ed they wanted to #ecome a teacher( I saw one of the #oys in my class ha"ing difficulty reading so is at down to read the #oo' with him/ the same way I had seen my mom do at home with my little sister( The assistant teacher in my class told my main teacher/ .rs( Eunether a#out what I had done and told me that I should consider #ecoming a teacher( 3he had inspired me% That's when I 'new for sure this was the jo# for me(! .ay#e reference 3wales idea that discourse communities are #rought together #y a common goal( Within the T,1C/ we ha"e a set of common goals that are #oth formally written and implied( We ha"e a sylla#us and course outline that told us our requirements for #eign a#le to stay in the learning community( 0ut it is implied that if we do not follow them/ we will not gain access into the College of ,ducation and we will #e 'ic'ed out of our lo"ely li"ing quarters( I would use swales idea and some how relate it #ut I wouldn't tal' a#out it in the paper( 3how instead of tell I thin' was one of the questions we chose F7 9ow do you #ecome part of this discourse community To #ecome a mem#er of this ama-ing group of future teachers/ one must fill out an application separate from the main A*CC housing application( There are two essay questions/ Why do you want to #e a mem#er of the Teacher ,ducation 1earning Community ! and What can you contri#ute to the Teacher ,ducation 1earning Community ! to e"en #e considered( The purpose of these questions are so that the directors can see how you would fit into the group and do you ha"e the character traits that a great teacher must poses( +nce accepted/ I reali-ed how #eneficial #eing a part of this community of girls would #e( 0eing a mem#er of the T,1C gi"es us an ad"antage o"er the other Pre$education majors( We get special one$on$one interactions with the 3enior and 2unior Teaching fellows/ Teacher Tool#o) Tuesday strategies/ outside field trip e)periences and e"en a first hand e)perience in the classroom%

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9ow can you tell who is a new comer Conflicts within the team &nywhere there are <G girls rooming together/ there is going to #e some 'ind of conflict( ,ach of us ha"e our own personalities/ ha"e #een raised a different way/ and li'e and disli'e certain things( &lmost all of the H rooms ha"e had some type of roommate pro#lems( These range from one roommate feeling left out/ conflicts with cleaning or not ha"ing much in common with your roommate( Conclusion: The .3A s'i team is a discourse community #ecause of its mem#erBs common goals( Communication

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1arger s'i racing community Wor's Cited .atthews/ .ichelle( Personal Inter"iew( *o" G <85=( 3wales/ 2ohn( The Concept of Discourse Community(! Writing &#out Writing: & College @eader( ,d( ,li-a#eth Wardle and Doug Downs( 0oston: 0edfordI 3t( .artin's/ <855(