Homework #15

Summary to John's
In her article "Discourse Communities & Communities of Practice,uhgy Ann M. Johns discusses how communities of discourse is similar to John Swales discourse communities. She talks about the differences between academic and professional discourses. She talks about how being in a discourse community has lots of pressure on the people who are apart of the community. She also discusses the language that affects the  community and how that affects the people within the communities communication levels. 
Questions 1-6
1. The first thing is cost, people who are trying to enter new discourse communities have to make trade-offs to get what they want within there new discourse community. The second thing is problem of authority within the community because there are power struggles within people within the community. The last thing is dialogue and the acts of disagreement among members. 
2. The act of change within the discourse community that John's discusses is that when we get older things change. You learn new things, you grow as a person, you meet new people, & your views on certain things change as you get older.I can not think of any historical examples but I can think of life examples. I can think just when I was a younger dancer I only new the basics and than once I got older and I have danced for 15 years and that I became an advanced dancer.
3. I do not think that reading and writing affects my ability within many discourse communities because I believe that your values and beliefs are a constant reminder of that you need to stay strong and stick to what you believe in. The conflicts that occur could have a positive affects on that person after they go through them because the challenges they face will better them and make them stronger.
4. I don't think John's views on reading, writing, & speaking has an affect on your identity. Many of these things will affect you identity but based on the person that you are its up to yourself as a person and how you value what you have been taught but your views may change but no completely switch. 
5. The authority I have had over texts that I have wrote in college has been very different from the writing I did in high school. College writing has challenged me a lot more than high school writing did and it has challenged to think outside the box and think hard about what I am writing papers on. We still have guidelines to follow but its not as strict as it was in high school.
6. Its considered a minefield because when you are breaking the rules you do not know what is going to happen or when. I have never been caught or rewarded for breaking the rules. Its a risk you take and their are positive and negative affects depends in the consequences. 
Meta Moments 
 By understanding what John's is talking about makes me consider the positive and negative affects of joining new discourse communities. In a way it is not a bad thing to not join discourse communities because you are taking a chance and hoping it all works out. If I were to join a new discourse community I would follow the rules for the most part but I would probably take a few chances.
Response to John's 
I found this article somewhat difficult to understand and read. When all of these authors talk about discourse communities or communities of practice it tends to all get confused in my mind. The bases of all these communities are similar so its just varies differently based on the discourse community you are involved in. I found this article helpful but also confusing at the same time.