Classroom Ethnography, part the 2nd

On Friday, I sat down with Ms. Beale and interviewed her. Her son was sick -- in fact, he threw up on her on the way to preschool, and then once again at the high school. She was understandably harried, so her answers may be short. Not that she didn't take the time to answer my questions -- she did, and was very patient with me -- but I'm sure that she also has much more to say. Perferably in a room that doesn't have a wastbasket of her son's vomit in it.

Oh, by the way, there were 19 teachers sick that day, and there were only 15 substitutes in the building. This is not a good correlation. It meant that many teachers had to use their prep time teaching another class. It also meant that I had to substitute teach on Friday, for Ms. Beale. So, now I've officially taught high school. It was fun, although I had a very easy plan, and a very motivated student group (two AP classes, and her best-behaved regular English class) so it was basically a cakewalk. I'll talk more about that later.


*What are you purposes for teaching literature?
Ms. Beale says that she's not a very affective teacher, mostly because she's a self-confessed introvert, but also because she feels that style can be manipulative. She expresses a love of stories, and says that communicating through stories is "part of being human." Also, her primary goal is to improve reading skills and this is easier and more fun with stories.

*What is your philosophy of classroom management?
Here, Ms. Beale quotes another teacher who said "Classroom management starts with a good relationship with your students." She says she tries to keep "some semblance of order" in her classroom, but she struggles sometimes, when students want to focus more on friendships than on the lesson at hand. She will easily point out when students cross the line, but feels bad sometimes when she does this, as it does take classtime away from teaching, which "impedes their learning." She does contact parents if a student has a recurring problem.

Ms. Beale makes it clear that a good relationship doesn't mean become a student's friend. "They have plenty of friends" she says. But she tries to know them, ask about their lives, or what they do in their free time, and try to joke with them.

*How do communicate, both verbally and nonverbally?
Ms. Beale wasn't sure how to answer this question, and I probably wasn't much help. She described the importance of proximity and gaining attention of the student before speaking to them.

*How do you describe a "good" Englsih teacher?
Ms. Beale doesn't think that there is one perfect type of English teacher. The keys to being a good one are a love of the subject and the key concepts, and the ability to work with the school district and handle multiple disciplines. She beleives that she is not just teaching a vague "creativity" skill, but multiple, concrete tools to help students.

She also emphasizes that there are many good teacheers at her school, and they are good because of their passion and ability to work together.

*How do you teaching methods align with your values?
This was a interesting question. Ms. Beale said that she tries to be nuetral in her classroom, that, "like most teachers, I'm Liberal" but that she is also sensitive to other viewpoints, and wishes them to not feel ostracized in her classroom.

Overall, she tries not to be too political in her classroom, but believes it is more important to teach a value of respect for multiple viewpoints. Specifically, she says that her AP classes focus on looking at multiple perspectives, and in her basic classes she teaches persuasion, in order to instill this value. Through this, she also plays a devil's advocate role, as she calls it, "raising the natural next question," in order to refine her students views and opinions.


*How do you interact with students' families?
Ms. Beale bemaons the lack of contact that she sometimes experiences. "I wish there were an easier way to contact them, especially for good things," she says. Most of the time, she admits, when talking to parents, it's bad news. She does send home something at the start of the trimester with information about the class for a parent to look over, but that's usually about it until conferences for most parents. Ms. Beale tries to solve most issues with students by themselves first, before calling parents. It's takes a lot to call home, she says. She does communicate by email with many parents, and she does think this is a good method, but she is very carefull about tone in her email. She relates a story about a past student teacher who wrote emails in a tone similar to his speaking voice, and it didn't translate, and it made some parents upset.

As an aside, she cautions that her school does have some litigious parents, and dealing with them "can be tricky." I feel weird writing that. Like it's a journalistic scoop or something.

*How would you describe your calssroom environment?
One word? Structured.

"For me, structure works." Ms. Beale says. She and her students know what to expect and where to begin. She also hopes that this structure is safe and helpfull for her students.

*What subjects and content areas do you "love" to teach?
"Writing." She says immediately. Literature is hard for her, because so much of it is discussion, and she is, after all, an introvert. She doesn't think creative writing is her strength; she has taught it in the past, but more as experimenting with different established forms and styles than anything else. She does enjoy teaching expository writing, however. She talked of teaching exigence -- which, if she hadn't of spelled for me, I would have had to look up-- or the purpose for writing, and how she enjoys having students brainstorm dillemas and freewrite in order to choose interesting topics. She hopes to teach them to notice details in arguements, and thinks this will lead to improvements in driscussion and writing. She talks of helping students figure out ways to be better writers. She likes freedom in topic choice, but does monitor and limit them where necessary, she isn't afraid to say "for this assignment, it's not going to be [a] good [topic]" and guide them towards something else.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about my substituting experience, along with some notes on the Classroom community. And maybe something else. We'll see.

MadS