Erica Richardson

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1101-101
18 November, 2014
This paper was a bit of a challenge at first but once I got into it the assignment became
easier. Choosing my community was difficult at first. I didnt really understand what a discourse
community was, but once I learned I was able to gain a better understanding of the assignment
and choose a community. I guess I chose the easy route by choosing a group I was a part of, my
learning community, but I think that I can give more accurate information and address/answer
questions with more ease. In this draft I am focusing on the common goals and obstacles faced
by the community. Feedback on if I fully address these two things would be really helpful, and
any other feedback or criticism is greatly appreciated and accepted.
[Interesting Title Here]
Okay class. Todays lesson will be on ever heard that before? Im sure you have, as
its one of those clich sayings when playing school in your room, preparing to teach the
alphabet to all the stuffed animals lined up on your bed. Sadly as you grow up, you realize that
this is not at all how class starts. Especially now, with all the issues around teaching and
teachers salaries, you would be lucky if your teacher said anything at all before jumping into the
lesson for that day. With that being said, many people question why anybody would want to
become a teacher. Why would you want to wake up early 5 days a week to go to a job where you
dont get paid much and you have to deal with some other persons child for 9 hours a day?
However, this seems to be a rhetorical question because not many will stick around to hear the
answer. In the next few pages I will be using the information and data I gathered from observing

UNCCs Teacher Education Learning Community to answer this question. Using a few of the
characteristics of a discourse community named by John Swales I will look deeper into this
learning community, the goals they share, and the obstacles they face while trying to reach their
goal.
I should first explain what a learning community is. By definition a learning community
is a group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes, who meet semi-regularly
to collaborate on classwork (Wikipedia). That pretty much sums it up, honestly. The community
is reserved for freshman only; therefore everybody is a newcomer. The students in this program
all want to become teachers, however not everybody that wants to be a teacher joined this
community. For most members that I talked to while collecting my information, their reason for
joining this program was the housing advantage. Majority of freshman live in the high-rises on
the south side of campus, which, if you know anything about residences halls here at UNCC, are
definitely at the bottom of the scale. All learning communities are housed in Lynch Hall, a suite
style residence hall located very close to the center of campus. Other students mentioned that
they wanted an easy way to meet new people with the same interests and major as them (this is
why I joined the community). Every Thursday the members attend a required seminar in room
103 in the College of Education (COED). During this time they discuss past or upcoming events
and workshops related to teaching or education. Also, each member is enrolled in EDUC 1100, a
class for education majors which introduces the basic information about teaching.
Because I am a part of this community, it was very easy for me to get information for this
paper. Although, I never examined our community as a discourse community so I was able to get
to look at it from a more analytical point of view. I noticed that we dont have many sources of
communication. At the beginning of the semester we were given a binder filled with resources

we would use throughout the semester, such as the syllabus, a calendar of all the required events
and workshops we would need to attend, blank reflection sheets, and a few pages for notes
during seminar. Just about everything we needed to know was in that binder and if we had any
questions or concerns about anything we could email our coordinator, or if its simple you could
just text another member. With one of the advantages being that you lived with other members,
these people become your best friends; you always have someone to help you with your
homework or help you pick out your outfit for a date.
Another observation I made is that outside of the members in your room and when we
have class together, we do not really get together and interact. There are a few optional dinners
and group outings planned by the coordinator and committee members, but because they are
optional almost nobody attends. This would definitely be a down side to the learning community.
Same situation applies to professional development workshops members can attend. These
workshops, called Teacher Toolbox Tuesdays (TTT), are useful information sessions about
topics related to teaching or how to be a successful college student. There were about 15 or so
TTTs scheduled in the first semester, however, out of those only 4 were required. If we were not
required to attend, the chances of anyone from the community showing up were slim to none.
Like I mentioned earlier, each person in this learning community wants to become a
teacher. At least right now they think that is what they want to do when they get out of college.
Nobody chose education as a major thinking it was going to be a good paying job, because we all
know that teachers are not exactly at the top of the list when it comes to salary. During an
interview with one of my roommates, I asked Why do you want to be a teacher? to which she
responded, I want to make a difference in the life of a child. I want them to look back and say
Mrs. Fritts was my favorite teacher! She was so much fun, I learned a lot from her, and she

changed my life. I dont just want to teach them reading and math, go home, then come back
and do it again the next day. There are life lessons they need to learn that some kids may not be
able to learn at home. Some may think that this is a bunch of bull**** but it falls true for just
about everybody in the learning community and also other education majors.
This philosophy is very hard to hold onto though. Recently, I the news, there have been
numerous reports about teachers moving out of North Carolina because the pay is better in
another state, teachers going on strike or holding protest to get more benefits and higher salaries.
Now dont get me wrong, I do agree that teachers are underpaid and there is a good bit of
negative light shed on them. Yet, at the same time, I do not think that money should be the main
reason why you choose a job. You should love what you do, and the pay check that comes with it
should be a benefit. It is hard, though, to enjoy teaching and have strong beliefs about being a
teacher when there is so much negativity around the subject. Even teachers are talking
negatively about their own profession!
Another situation turning people away from becoming teachers is the amount of kids they
will have in their class. With so many teachers in moving to other states, there are less available
here in North Carolina. This leads to more kids being put in classrooms; some classes have as
many as 40 students in them. Being a college student, this may not seem like much, considering
we have some classes which contain 150-200 people. But think of how it would feel to be a
teacher having the responsibility of overlooking a class of 40 1st graders. That could be very
stressful. Unfortunately this issue is a cycle. Teachers leave for better pay, class sizes increase to
make up for the lack of teachers, teachers become overwhelmed, they think I dont get paid
enough for this, they move to another area with better pay in comparison to the class size, and
once again class sizes increase, and the trend continues.

Issues such as the ones mentioned above are the reason people ask the question Why
would anybody WANT to be a teacher? Its hard to fathom the reasoning behind voluntarily
choosing to go through what seems like hell. But the students in this learning community have
their hearts and minds set on being teachers, and we all have our own logic for wanting to be
one. The learning community helps unite these positive thinkers, it allows them to have another
person with a similar mindset supporting their choice and assuring them that teaching isnt the
dead-end job that everybody else tends thinks it is. Without teachers, there would be no other
profession. Who would teach you how to fix cars or handle a companys finances? Just think
about that.