Is our class a community?

After spending a semester of studying community together, the next big question is if our class is a community. After working on the final project for English, I was convinced that our class is a community. The reason the final project was so significant to me was because the assignment displayed the strength of our unity and trust in one another.

Within my subgroup, we would interact and consult each other for suggestions and ideas for our project. We would meet frequently to work on the project together, but I was surprised by how relieved I felt and how much I enjoyed spending time with these people. One of the key components to a community is the level of trust the members share with one another. We trusted each other’s ability to produce high quality work and trusted in each other’s suggestions and decisions. By showing a high level of faith, our bonds grew and as a result, the quality of the group grew. We felt more comfortable around each other, allowing us to joke and transform the meetings and work into something pleasurable. However, this trust was not just limited to my group, but to the whole class. We would frequently have peers review our work and help each other out in order to earn a high grade. The project demonstrated that when things got difficult, we choose to work together than work apart, a characteristic I believe sets us apart from any normal group.

As the deadline for the final project approached, our classroom became less worried about the project and more worried about maintaining communication over the break and following semesters. The class utilizes online social networking like Facebook or AIM, cellular phones, and face-to-face communication in order to remain in contact. Because the class desires to branch out of the classroom and have everybody exist in their day-to-day lives, this helped confirm that our class is a community.

Typically, when the semester is over, a student walks away with one or two friends. However, in this case, I can honestly say that I will walk away with every student in the class because I experience a bond that transcends beyond anything normal. I know that majority of the classroom feels the same way too, which is why I our class is a community.