Forging an educative community

Abstract

This dissertation argues for the forging of an educative community in our classrooms. It begins with a description of a third-grade class using the Scottish Storyline method to study the topic of homelessness. Through the use of this strategy, students and teacher developed relations of trust, imaginative compassion, and sense-making that fostered a sense of belonging among the participants. The second half of the dissertation presents arguments for why these features of trust, imaginative compassion, sense-making, and a sense of belonging should be understood as both aims and means of education. Trust is treated as a way of relating in community. Sense-making, it is argued, is instrumental to further learning. Through various forms of art, it is claimed that students cultivate imaginative compassion. And a sense of belonging is argued to be essential to learning to relate to those who are unlike us. It is concluded that when an educative community is forged, tolerances for ambiguity, difference, and conflict are sustained in creative tension, allowing for connections without giving up oneself.