Community of Practice: Engaging Onward
By Kimberly Bender, Graduate School of Social Work
Being a community engaged learner creates many opportunities for missteps. Use these missteps to create vignettes that can generate discussion with new groups of students before they enter the community.
Sometimes it is helpful to think positively, and sometimes the weight of the world is so heavy that relying on a shift in individual outlook can feel like gaslighting – when this happens, hold space to acknowledge, be together in collective grief, and offer support.
Hierarchy is embedded in almost every facet of the the academy when, in reality, we are all learners and teachers. There is immense possibility in erasing the lines between learner/teacher and between university/community.
While we may be curious about creating small snapshots of community engagement, we must be intentional so that brief engagement is still meaningful and mutually beneficial to both community and students. Briefer isn’t always better.
