With pretty high hopes yesterday I gathered my video gear and headed off to a tennis lesson for one of my grandkids. "Here's my chance," I thought "to get some great video of a CoP in action." I did shoot some video but after an hour or so of waiting for some "action" I recognized that what I was seeing really wasn't a community of practice. What I was seeing could more be described as a traditional classroom, albeit with tennis racquets. The teacher would gather the students and give them a task. They would then move apart and madly bounce the tennis balls on the floor, or up in the air, or at a target. There was one teacher and seven or eight students. There was almost no interaction between the students and they barely uttered a word or even looked at what their peers were doing. So, my hopes dashed, I returned home and resumed my search for a true CoP. It was pretty cute and funny watching these seven-year-olds running around chasing tennis balls. . . . and I did discover what wasn't really a community of practice.
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