Classroom Ethnography, Part the first

I have to do a class ethnography of my cooperating teacher, Ms. Beale, and her high school classroom. I've chosen to focus on her 4th period class, 11th grade English, although I may draw observations from her other classes as well. I will use pseudonyms where applicable, and not mention the school's name, in order to preserve anonymity. The first aspect of the class I am going to focus on is the literate community.

My cooperative teacher is nothing if not a very organized teacher. The students sit at rows of large tables, two students per table, with an aisle down the middle. At the front of the room, she writes the agenda for each of her three or four classes that day on the whiteboard, along with notes that she will refer to throughout the day during class. If you face the front of the room, there are homework buckets lined up on the right hand side, and underneath those are cabinets, clearly labeled with a purple index card of what books are inside, including the Norton Reader. On the left, the blackboard is covered with magnetic poetry, which the students occaisionally play with. Also, there are a few postings and posters for writing contests which the students can enter. The back wall, made up of a large row of windows, is blanketed with posters and colleges, some student made, of various literary and writing devices, terms and advice. Posters are posted around the room as well, two extolling the wisdom of Star Wars, one the TV show Lost, along with a number of comic strips and inspirational posters and quotes that say things such as "Stand up for what is right, even if you stand alone" or "Power is the ability to do good things for others."

Print is used constantly and consistently in the class environment. Handouts and overheads are in great supply. Ms. Beale takes the time to explain many of them in class, although sometimes she leaves students responsible for comprehension. For example, she passed out a handout on how to turn in a persuasive letter, and told the students that they needed to read it completely, or "you will miss a bonus oppurtunity." Students would receive bonus points by assembling his or her letter ahead of time.

Student interaction is largely limited to independent worktime activities. Students are often able to choose topics for writing, for example, they got to choose their topic of the persuasive letter, while they read the same literature, with a set reading schedule. During reading and writing activites, they are expected to monitor their progress, and come to the teacher with any questions. At the end of class, they hand in a half-sheet of paper that lists what they did, and what they plan to do next. During reading the students do annotations of the text, or compose journal entries.

Most teacher questions during work time boil down to "Am I doing this correctly?" Ms. Beale is viewed as the authority in the classroom, and there seems to be little cross-checking between students except for socialization, etc.