ethnography learning paper

I. Framework for the InvestigationThe overall purpose of my project was to give teachers who are teaching or beginning to teach a broad perspective on what life is like for students who do not know Standard English, and to give them insight into how to teach this group of students.

II. Context of the InvestigationThe context for my investigation was a middle school in Greeley whose student population is made up mostly of ELL students. Alongside of this I conducted two interviews. One with a teacher from Mead Middle School and one with a student who has learned three different power discourses.

III. Research MethodsI observed two classrooms at the middle school in Greeley and I interviewed two teachers from that school as well. This combined the interviews I have already mentioned is what my data consisted of. I analyzed my data through reflection and by looking of patterns between my different sources.

IV. ResultsI found that students who are on the outside of a power discourse, know that they are on the outside and they frequently want to learn about the power discourse if they can use it in order to become successful in some way.There is something about power discourses that can sometimes be characterized as exclusionist. If teachers are going to have any level of success with this group of students, we need to value their home discourse as we teach them when to use Standard English.

V. ReflectionStudents who make up this group of "outsiders" are a challenge. They need a lot of support in order to succeed in their education.

VI. List of Secondary SourcesEhrenworth, Mary and Vicki Vinton. The Power of Grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heiniemann, 2005.Landsman, Julie. A White Teacher Talks About Race. Lanham, MY: Rowan and Littlefield Education, 2001.Lyman, Huntington, and Margo A. Figgins. “Democracy, Dialect, and the Power of Every Voice.” English Journal. 94.5 (2005): 40-47.Smith, Ernie. “Ebonics: A Case Study.” The Skin That We Speak. Ed. Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy. New York: The New Press, 2002.