February 22nd Homework

Johns Summary:
In her article, Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice, Ann Johns explains that it is possible to be involved in many different discourse communities. She gives her own definition of a discourse community and describes what it is like to be part of an academic community. She also explains the conflicts that can occur within each of the different communities.

QD 1-6:
1.) One of the big problems that can occur within a community is somebody being in authority to all the other members of the group. Another conflict that tends to occur is a disagreement with the group members. This conflict I feel is the worst one because everybody wants to do something the way they think is best.

2.) In gee's article, change was a good thing. It meant that when somebody had to leave the group they would be replaced by somebody to complete the group. In Johns' article, it is very similar but with a little more detail. Here the group members would all have the same goals to get more intellectual and knowledgable, and strive to achieve those goals.

3.) When it comes to me learning to read and write, my beliefs and values do not change. I have always stuck with my values and beliefs, and have always defended them if there were any conflicts.

4.) I don't think that Johns views on learning to read, write, and speak change your identity. I think that these things can form around your identity and help you find your identity a little more.But it does not change your identity because you will keep believing what you did before.

5.) I think that my authority over the writing I have had to do in college so far is small. Mostly there is a certain way that the professors want the papers to look and format to follow. So I follow the way my professors want me to so that I can get a better grade.

6.) Rule breaking is like a minefield because you don't know if you will get blown up at by your teacher for breaking the rules or be safe even though you didn't follow rules. Sometimes when you break the rules the teacher or professor will actually like the way you changed the format in your paper rather than take away precious points. But there are some instances where your teacher will not accept that change, and it will feel like you just made a wrong step on the minefield.

MM:
Knowing the "rules" of a discourse community can help you to becoming a member because you will know whether or not you could fit into the group. But it could be a downside because it could feel like the group is pressuring you to becoming somebody that you're not.

Reflection:
I thought that this article had too much information than it needed. If Johns would have just explained the negative parts of being a part of discourse communities, this article would have been much better. With the amount of information in this article, it can lose the readers attention which happened to me a couple of times.