Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Blog 4- Analysis of Ethnographic Event


Tanaera Green, Silvia Shenouda, Tania Flores

Question 6

6.a Which organization structures supported strong note taking? 

6.a Everyone takes notes differently. Our group believes that a mixture is needed in order to master note taking. However, jotting allows you to be quick and get the information that you need down on paper. They are notes that trigger memories, in a language that you can understand. You can recall these memories on hand and then give information in greater detail at a later time. For example, group 1 in the jottings analysis was bullet points with single words (or a few) whereas in the headnotes, this same person was able to expand and write a full paragraph in greater detail. Six out of the ten participants used the bullet point tactic.

6.b Which strategies worked in the different kinds of notes?

In jotting, the bullet point strategy seemed to work best because it was important keywords that incorporated full ideas and gave allowance to expansion in the later organization structures (for example, #9 in the jotting analysis).

In headnotes, the paragraph strategy seemed to work best because it allowed for more detail and a higher level of organization. This level of higher organization can be seen through the chronological order of the paragraphs as can be seen in example #7 of the headnotes analysis. In this example, we are able to see the higher level of detail.

In observations, the strategies that worked best were shorter style paragraphs in narrative form. This form of organization allowed for notes and observations about everybody else which included their feelings. For example, example #2 in the observation analysis stated how (s)he felt cramped in the classroom which did not lead to successful interaction between the participants. Another example is #6 of the observation analysis which stated that everyone in the classroom was nervous including the note taker. These types of notes were not present in the previous strategies.

6.c When did note takers tend to look close in – and when far back? 

Note takers tend to take a closer look in the observation strategy because they expanded on the keywords by including larger forms of writing. In these paragraphs and narratives, the note takers not only included basic information about what happened, but they included their feelings and the feelings (at least from their perspective) of everybody else.

The jotting note taking seemed to take a look from a far back perspective because it was not filled with specific information. It was taken from a generalized perspective. They used keywords such as names, items, colors and places. This was a method used to write down what you would forget (example #7 of jotting) but it did not convey full ideas to anyone else reading these notes.

 

6.d How did the note taker ‘perspective shape his/her notes (the details s/he wrote)?

We found that in the observation analysis, note takers used the perspective to shape their notes. For example, in examples #1 and #4 of the observations analysis, they each wrote about the people in the classroom feeling uncomfortable. Taking a closer look at each of the observation examples, we found that nine out of the ten examples included some type of perspective which shaped in large the outcome of those notes.

Ethnographic Fieldnotes

Jottings
  • Everyone was confused about what to talk about
  • most did not see the point of the activity- awkward
  • I heard Silvia talking to Carolina about her job as a prek teacher
  • I started up a conversation with Bree who asked if I was a prek teacher. I told her it was Silvia but that I was studying to be a teacher
  •   Bree used to run a daycare and never wants to be around children ever again. She is an English major.
  •     I talked briefly in one group but moved to another bc I knew Silvia in it
  •  I then went to talk to another group but they weren’t really talking
  •   I asked a girl if she came from work bc of her formal attire. She did. She works a kay jewelry. I asked her questions about engagement rings. She was excited about the subject.
  • I started to talking to Julissa and Danielle who had already started a conversation. I noticed Julissa was wearing a name tag. She works at Wegmans.
  • I overheard Julissa and Danielle talking about her being a teacher. I inserted myself into the conversation.  

Headnotes
  • At first there were 4 groups formed (front of the class, middle, and back)


Things I remembered later
  • conversations were not loud
  • random laughs
  • I was standing in the middle. 
  • people would constantly stop talking and look around to see what everyone else was doing.


Observations about what happened.
  • People stayed within steps of where they ended up originally in the walkway
  • Some people were talking but many  people were just watching or listening 
  • Groups were not moving so the professor then asked us to move around. Without her instructions, people would not have moved. 
  • Everyone was self aware since we knew that everyone was observing one another

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Shaggy Dog Stories

2. PANDA STORY:

-Immediate punch line
-Only essential information was presented
-Rules of three; eats, shoots, and leaves" (Pandas eat bamboo shoot leaves)
-No prior knowledge

3. STRING STORY:

-Rules of 3
-Rhyming phrase; "Bartender, give me a beer." "I'm sorry, we don't serve strings here"
-Repetition
-Conversation
-Characterization; you get a feel for the string

4. FRIDAY STORY: 

-Dialogue
-Characterization
-Prior use of cultural knowledge "TGIF"... You would need to know that to put it in the correct order

5. LAWYER STORY: 

-Non essential information
-Cultural knowledge; You would need to know the rep that lawyers have (liars) in order to understand
-Dialogue

So... what features do all the jokes have in common?
*They all have characters, conflict, and of course... A PUNCH LINE :)

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Research Writing Studies

In terms of writing studies, I want to research the influences behind parent's choice to place their children in a regular classroom setting instead of a bilingual setting. I am currently doing my junior field experience at a bilingual classroom in Elizabeth. The total number of kids is 12 as compared to the kindergarten classroom next door which has 37 total students. Many parents wrote letters requesting that their children be removed from a bilingual education classroom and moved to the regular classroom. I find this of interest because I am an advocate of bilingual education. I would like to research the myths and misconceptions that influence these parents and their decisions to remove their children from bilingual settings. I would also like to research statistics in terms of bilingual education, the students, and the ratios around the nation.