5.5 Last Class

What a wonderful class you were to teach.  I so appreciate your work and your  participation - and I'm looking forward to reading your papers!

I will be looking at your papers Friday afternoon.  If you don't hear from me - that means I got everything.

I should be sending out grades by Sunday night.

Thanks for a great term and have a wonderful summer.

If you want to publish your research. . .

I think some of you should definitely check this out!

On Monday, May 5, 2014 4:32 PM, Julianne Newmark <jnewmark@nmt.edu> wrote:

Hi everyone:

Hello and happy end-of-senester to everyone!  If you had some amazing primary-research-driven essays or multi-media projects submitted to you this term, would you consider encouraging those students (undergraduate, MA, or Ph.D.-level) to submit their work to the Xchanges ejournal? We are accepting new traditional (written) and multi-modal studies in the fields of rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication; we also consider submissions that deal with issues facing writing centers and those engaged in writing across the curriculum.

Please view the CFPs here and share with your students.  Detailed information about "what we're looking for" is included (we're always asked that question!):

http://www.xchanges.org/index.php@option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=144.html

We will look forward to receiving submissions by June 27.  The submissions will then go out for double-blind review to members of our national faculty review board.

Thanks!  Don't hesitate to write to me with questions.

Julie

--

Julianne Newmark, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Dept. of Communication, Liberal Arts, and Social Sciences
New Mexico Tech
801 Leroy Place
Socorro, NM 87801

List of blogs for process writing & data/analysis

As you can see from the blogs listed below, it is not really possible to "make up" some of these posts.  At the same time, late posts tcreated in the process of finishing your project which contribute to the quality and depth of the project will receive back credit with a max of 8/10).


Process Writing
Blog 24: Post your draft so far (also send it to the course email as an attachment)
Blog 23: Post your conclusion
Blog 20:  Post a statement of the focus for your essay (what you hope to show) followed by sections of your data + your analysis where you make a series of points related to that focus
Blog 19: post drafty writing for your introduction (the more writing you post, the more feedback I can offer) 
Blog 16: Revised research plan with notes for me in terms of what kind of support you need (look at blog 4.1)
Blog 10: Write, describe, speculate about some cultural stories/Conversations associated with your focus for your research project.  Give it a shot - even if you aren't sure, put it out there and we will see where we are.
Blog 8: After working through the steps on the worksheet for the research plan, write up your research plan in terms of the following points.

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover)

Detailed statement of your research question

List of the information you need to gather

A preliminary list of sources

Plan for gathering your information that includes:

·         who/what you will be studying (for example:. students in a College Composition class, how they think about the comments teachers write on their papers)

·         where you will collect your information (for example:. in interviews at Kean University)

·         how many subjects you will study (for example:. 3)

what methods you will use to conduct your study (for example:. interviews, textual analysis, discourse analysis)
Blog 1:  Post some writing which will give me an idea of what you are interested in researching. 

Data & Analysis
Blog 18: analytic memos for the data posted for blog 17

Blog 17: data you plan to analyze, dig deeper into, for your research paper

Blog 13: Analyze stories/excerpts from your transcript.  Select and post sections of your interview transcript which you might use to make a point in your essay. (you might need to listen to your recording to fill in words/make sure you have them right for these stories).   In this post, include:

•  the story/section  from your transcript = with your mark up like we did in class
•  some writing about the way language is used, the story features, or the discourses (stereotypes, cultural stories) the excerpt illustrates or connects to
• a statement of what you might use the excerpt to "show" with respect to a focus of your paper.

Blog 12: post your transcript

Blog 11: Final/revised interview protocolBlog 9:  Interview protocol for your projectBlog 6:  In class we talked about the differences among a topic, a focus, and the particular research quesstions you might ask as you conduct your research.  Each of you are in a different place in terms of developing your project - but where every you are - write into your material as far as you can go in terms of your topic, the specific focus you want to take to that topic, and (if possible) what in particular you want to find out within that focus = what you want to do in your study (your research questions = what you will ask about your data).  The more you write - the more we have to work with.

Depends what you worked on:

Blog 22: What you worked on in class
Blog 21: Whatever you worked on in class

4.29 How to turn in your final research papers, and presentations

We spent the first part of class talking through how we would assign credit for your work for the term.  I noted that there was probably a third of the class who, for one reason or another, had was unable to keep up with the posts for the blog.

I also pointed out that in order to receive credit for the data analysis (150 points)  and the writing process (150 points) portions of the research project, you would need to include links to the blogs where that work was done.  We then scanned back through the course blog and noted the blog posts which would count as credit for data analysis  And for writing process.  You need to include links to those posts in the email you send to turn in your project (as an attachment).  See post 4.29 List of writing process + data analysis posts.

SO.  We noted that while late posters should not be entitled to full credit by turning in these posts late, at the same time, it did not seem fair for them to get no credit towards the turned in blog post.  We agreed that late posters had the possibilty of earning a max of 8 out of the 10 points for late work turned in with the research project.  For those of you who have made other arrangements with me, I will honor whatever agreement we made.


I will be writing back to you with comments on your projects just as quickly as I can turn them around.
What we will do for the rest of the semester:
Thursday, we will hear from:  Melanie, John, Amanda, Nagerrah, Ariana, and Sara
Tuesday, we will hear from: David, Adrian, Jess, Florie, Melissa and Brenda
Final Projects are due May 8, as an attachment, with links to all blogs with process writing and writing associated with data + analysis.

4.24 Reviewing your writing so far in light of the assignment sheet + rubric

We started class with a review of the rubric - writing a list on the board to re-state the expectations for this project.

audience: writing to the correct audience includes your language choice (lexis), discourse (the way you use language/shape your sentences); how you establish your authority, and the genre moves you use to create the overall form of your essay.

For this essay, the audience is other writing studies researhcers, your should authorize your claims through references to other researchers and the analysis of your data; you should present your data using the "sandwich method"= introduce/set up the example (state what you will show through this example), present the example/data; then point back to the data & discuss how it shows what you said it shows);  use the CARS form for your intro; and use the language moves we have pointed out through the semester in the sample research essays.

Content: we have discussed the content for each of the major sections: intro (CARS + lit review+ methods => this is flexible, the particular form will depend on your particular topic); presentation of data and analysis; and a conclusion (see last blog post).

Focus: needs to be connected to writing studies, the focus should be set up in the introduction and developed through the literature review; the discussion and analysis should make a series of points =each of which is related back to the focus; and the conclusion should sum up and pull together the focus set up in the intro in light of the findings presented in the discussion/analysis.

Organization: this includes organization on multiple levels. In our discussion this semester we have considered the organization of the overall paper, the organization of a series of paragraphs for the presentation of data, the organization of individual paragraphs where you make a single point,  and the overall sequence of your points.

Development:  as we discussed in class when we developed the rubric and when we looked at the sample essays, development should include sufficeint discussion as well as the right kind of discussion.  There should be specific examples to illustrate the points made with respect to the focus.

After discussing these features, you looked over your writing so far, and asked me questions about/worked on your drafts.

For next class:
You will be giving presentations on your drafts.  Holly, Melanie, Briana, and Amanda have volunteered so check out their drafts posted on their blogs sometime before class.

Blog 24: Post your draft so far (also send it to the course email as an attachment)

Good work today!   Have a great weekend and see you next week.  You are almost there!

4.22 Conclusions!

You looked through the conclusions to the three sample essays, and noticed the "moves" the writers made.  We listed these moves as the following.

Connection to focus set up in the introduction
Connected to the "niche" identified in the introduction
Described the importance of the study
Elaborated/restated the findings with respect to the focus/niche
Identified limitations of the study
Set forward ideas for future research

We then noticed that while each of the essays made most of the moves - they did not do them in the same order, and sometimes not even in the same section.  At the same time, we agreed that all three conclusions were clear and well written.

We took the last couple minuted to review what we will be doing for the rest of the term.  Check back to this post.  You are almost there!

For next class
Blog 23: Post your conclusion   Refer to the points we noted in class today and see what you can do.  Even if you don't have all the language - at least you can map out what you will say.

We will start class by reviewing the assignment sheet and the rubric (one more time), and then you will workshop whatever writing you have so far in terms of what you have left to do.    Thursday's class is meant to put you in a strong position for finishing up your draft and posting it/turning it in for Tuesday, Apr. 29.  

1. Thanks for your good work today (even though I was held up at a meeting).  See you next class!

4.17 Overall form for your essay + workshop!

We spent the first part of class talking through the moves you want to make (and how much space you want to devote to making them) in writing up your research project.  This is not a formula, and different projects will devote slightly different amounts of space/writing to the different moves, so don't get too regimented about this.  At the same time, this is a reasonable overall description of how writing studies research essays are organized


Introduction = some version of Swales CARS moves
In class, you talked through some of the specific language you would move to Establish a territory (provide context, background, identify your area).
See Swales handout for the particulars.  And I hope you wrote down what you said in class - all of it was great!

At this point we mentioned that in establishing your niche you could either mention the research you are connecting to briefly - or in detail.  And that in occupying your niche, you could either describe your methods in brief or in detail.

If you choose the "in detail" approach, you have rolled the intro-lit review-methods" sections into one.  If you choose the in brief approach, you will probably have separate headings for the Literature Review & the Methods sections, and develop your detailed discussions there.

In the literature review=> you do not summarize/provide an overview of the entire article.  Refer to points from the context, findings and methods that are relevant to your study.  They may be relevant because:
your research reproduces the context/findings/methods in the study you are discussing
your research differs from the context/findings/methods in the study you are discussing

This section of your essay should account for about two to two and a half pages for a 7-10 page paper.

Presentation/discussion of data.  We have been practicing how to write this section all term.  From the puzzle, through the jokes, through analyzing transcripts => to all those analytic memos where you pulled sections out of your transcript and  named what you saw, and wrote about what it meant.
I asked many of you to talk about some of your data in class today - and it sounds like you have the idea how to do this. Look back at your short analysis essay=> there should be some pointers on how to go deeper/what to develop in the comments.

You probably want to make 3 or more solid, in-depth points about what your data shows.

• Set up your data by saying what it shows.
• Present the data (an excerpt from your transcript)
• Point back to your data by naming and identifing and discussing the sections that are important to your point.  Describe how the data shows/means what you say it shows/means. 
• Relate this finding (what your data shows) back to your focus

For this essay, the presentation, analysis, and discussion of data should be the longest section by far (about 60%+)

Conclusion.  In this section (about 10% of the total length) you sum up your findings and develop a little more discussion about what - when taken all together - they show about your focus (what your research "shows" => the answer to your research question); note any drawbacks or limitations to your study, and discuss where future researchers might go in light of your findings=> what questions are still out there? how can researchers build on your study?

Blog 22: What you worked on in class

As we agreed in class - I will look through what you posted to your blog this week (Blogs 21 & 22) on Monday and Tuesday = so you will have my comments to work with in class.  That means your post should be up by Sunday night or early Monday AM.

Good class today - see you next week.  You will be working on writing your conclusions.

4.15 Workshop!

At this point, you should be up to date on your blogs and any writing in terms of feedback.

I talked with most of you one-on-one on where-ever-you-are - and the blog post for Thursday is to post whatever writing you did in class.  Although it said on the blog we would work on analytic memos, the conferences were about introductions, literature reviews, stating the focus, how to develop the essays points and relate them back to the focus - and many other things.  I was pleased with the good work you are doing, and will write back to your posts on the weekend.

For next class, we will go through the overall form of the essay, referring back to the rubric and the sample essays, so you have a clear idea of the moves you should make and what to do in each.  We will then have another workshop.  Come to class with questions about what you need support/instruction on.

Good class today!

Blog 21: Whatever you worked on in class

Calendar for the rest of the term

April 15
In-class workshop on data-so-far or whatever you need to work on
Writing analytic memos
Blog 21:  post whatever you worked on in class today

April 17
Presentations on data/analysis so far
In-class workshop on what ever section you are working on
Blog 22: Post what you worked on in class (or any section you want feedback on)

April 22
In-class workshop on conclusions
Blog 23: Post your conclusion

April 24 
Group workshop: Use the rubric to identify what you have left to work on
Create schedule for presentations on your projects
Blog 24: Complete draft
Send your complete draft to the course email as an attachment

April 29 DUE: Complete draft for research project
In-class presentations on research projects

May 1
In-class presentations on research projects

May 6: Draft essays returned with comments
In-class presentations on research projects

May 8
Project evaluations/ reflections on course

4.10 Rubric for research project and what we will be doing for the rest of the term

Update on your projects. At the beginning of class you sent an mail to me about where you are with your project and what you need (from me) to move forward.  I hope to get to those by the end of Saturday.

What we will be doing for the rest of the term.  We took a brief look at the remaining weeks of the term as they are listed on the course calendar.  We will pretty much be workshopping, presenting, reviewing + working on writing up your research project for the rest of the term.

 Next week you will present your data (and your ideas for analysis) so far.  These presentations will be a whole class, collaborative group workshop where your classmates and I offer ideas and support for how to use your data to answer your research question.  We will also do some work on how to write up the data/analysis section.

The following week we will work on conclusions and pulling your whole essay together.  A complete draft of your final project is due April 15.

The remaining two weeks will focus on your presentations of your projects.  This is an opportunity to get one more round of feedback before turning your project in for a grade.

Rubric. We began work on the rubric by reviewing the assignment sheet for the Final research project.  You noticed that there were criteria for the final product (the project paper), data collection and analysis, and for the process you used to create this paper.  (The number of points for each part of this project is listed on the syllabus.  We will revisit this list to make sure the class feels it is fair at the beginning of next class).  The focus of the rubric we created today was on final written project.

Here are our valuations for the different categories:

audience  15
content    30
focus       25
organization 15
development 15

You applied this rubric to the first sample research project, and we were very close in our assessments of this project.  We all noted that it was a very strong project, and that it would make a reasonable model if your project was a good match for the kind of research this researcher is conducting.

For next class:

You will be giving presentations on your data so far + workshoping the body of your essay where you present (provide evidence of) your findings based on your data. 

Blog 20:  Post a statement of the focus for your essay (what you hope to show) followed by sections of your data + your analysis where you make a series of points related to that focus.  If you aren't sure what to post => just post a statement of what you want to show and sections of data which you think show or are related to your focus.  In class, we will help you strengthen and develop your "evidence" based on your data.

Good class today and have a great weekend!

4.8 Introductions

Note: If you have not turned in your permission forms - be sure to bring them to next class.

Writing introductions: We reviewed John Swales discussion of Creating a Researh Space (CARS), and you practiced using the language/patterns which he sets forwards as patterns in research writing.

Our list on the board summarize these moves as:
1. Establishing a territory
claim centrality (why your topic is important)
make a generalization about the way (your topic) is
state what other researchers have done

2. Identify a niche
- counterclaim (something wrong)
- indicate a gap (something missing)
- raise questions (extend/build on what has been done

3. Occupy that niche
- outline purpose of the project
- describe resarhc, identify findings, structure of essay

We spent the rest of class analyzing 3 research essays (selected from the posts to the right) and looking at where/how they made the moves Swales identifies.  We noticed that while each essay used the 3 moves, they did so in different ways.  The Ethnography on coaching began with a very long literature review, identified a niche (a gap= few studeis of literacies) and then wrote about the study's methods.  The essay on giftedness made a very short staking out territory identifying niche move, and then described the study = all very briefly.  Then it did a more detailed literature review  description of methods.  The WAW essay gave a literture review (staking out territory), indicated a gap and gave a more focused review of the literature and then occupied that gap.

As we talked over the different ways authors wrote their introductions, we observed when a topic requires a lot of  background from the research in order for readers to understand the research question (set up in moves to identify a niche and occupy it) = the author might want to choose a discussion of the literture (as a way to identify define terms) as a way to stake out the territory.  Clearly - the kinds of moves you make and their ordering, will depend on your topic.

For next class:
Read: the research essay you will use in your introduciton (again)
Blog 19: post drafty writing for your introduction (the more writing you post, the more feedback I can offer)

Good class and see you Thursday!

4.3 Feedback on Short Analysis papers + digging deeper into your data

I've returned the short analysis drafts with comments.  Overall they were well done!   This is your first draft and I was very impressed with how you selected material from your transcripts relevant to a focus and with the moves you made to analyze those excerpts to develop a focus.  Good writing!

In class, you volunteered (thank you) some of the points in your drafts that you were going to work on.

• Make stronger use of title and headings to focus + organize your writing
• Think about the sequence of the points: early points should set up later points, later points can refer back to and develop earlier points.
• Dig deeper into the data (the side comments should raise some ideas for ways to do this)
• Break up really long quotes.  Quote blocks longer than about 1/4 page are getting pretty long for the reader to take in.  You can shorten quotes by:
• excerpting quotes ( using // or . . . to indicate that sections or words have been left out)
• dividing long quotes into a series of related sections
• As you develop your discussion of what the transcript excerpts show, point to specific words or phrases in the excerpt
• Work on the intro + conclusion (we will spend time on this in class next week) 

The rest of class was devoted to working on analzying your data for your research project.  I am hoping you got your "analytic memos" for the data you posted to your blog for blog 17 analyzed by the end of class (the assignment for Blog 18), and I hope to have feedback for you on all writing up through Blog 18 by the beginning of next class.

To review the blog posts:

Blog 15: Short analysis paper

Blog 16: Revised research plan with notes for me in terms of what kind of support you need

Blog 17: data you plan to analyze, dig deeper into, for your research paper

Blog 18: analytic memos for the data posted for blog 17.

For class on April 8:

Read: Swales CARS (handed out in class)\

Find a research essay you can use to ground your introduction to your research project.

We will work on evaluating + writing introductions to research essays.

Have a great weekend!

4.1 Assessing Short Analysis Project, moving forward with the research project

We spent the first part of class doing some reflection on the short analysis project.  You used the rubric we created in class to assess the sample research projects and the Short analysis assignment sheet to give your project a grade, and to write a description of what you would need to work on to strengthen the essay.

Send your assessment of your essay (using + rubric) in an email, with your essay attached, to the course email.  If your point score and your suggestion for what to work on matcch/are close to mine, you can earn up to 25 points extra credit.

Grade for the short analysis project.  Because you are learning so many new concepts and skills all at once, it is very likely that even though you did your very best on this project, you saw areas for improvement when you reflected on it in terms of the rubric and the assignment sheet.  In an effort to provide a fair opportunity for you to be graded on what you have learned, how much your grade on the short analysis counts toward your final grade will be up to you.  These are the choices.

• You my decide to let the grade you get on this draft stand.  In this case the number of points you earn for the project will count towards the 100 points listed on the syllabus as credit for this project.
• You may re-write this project in light of  feedback and earn the higher grade (what you earn on the revision)
• You may choose to receive equivalent credit for this project based on what you earn on your Research project.  For example, if you earn an 85/100 for the short analysis, but then earn 135/150 on your final research essay (90%), you can elect to replace the 85 with 90 points (an equivalent percentage substituting the score for the final project for the score for the short analysis).

You do not need to decide ahead of time, with your permission I will assign whatever score give you the highest grade.

Updated Research plans.
You took a minute to write down the focus for your research project in light of what you learned/discovered from doing the short analysis project.  I encouraged you take a minute to make sure you phrased your focus in terms of the scope of your study.  In other words, because you are doing small studies, usually with only a few participants, you data is only capable of shedding light on your problem from a very limited perspective = the perspective of your participants/observations.  Therefore, you cannot answer a "big" question about "what is the best approach to teaching summaries?" or "how do college students revise?" or "how do  K-3 teachers solve problems?"  While your data may shed light on these questions, it can't answer them.  You are doing small studies, usually which focus on one participant.

So how do you need to phrase your focus and your research questions?

In terms of a focus, you will want to look at what your participant says about your focus, and use what s/he says as a way to identify "features" of the questions a larger study might want to look at.  So while your interview might not be able to say whether performance poetry is better, it can provide some detailed information about a particular instance of how one poet practices performance poetry, what she says about how her performances are different from texts, how she sees the audience as responding differently, what she does to get the audience to respond and why, what she sees as features of her successful/not so successfulperformances, and so on.  The findings of this project will be a detailed description of what performance poetry is, how it works, etc => according to one performance poet.  And that's important.

How to update the research plan:
You have spent some time with points 1 -3 so the focus for this revision will be on writing into the plan itself to open up ideas, and help you identify questions that can direct you to particular parts of your data.

Blog 16:  In light of your recent exploration of your research data, spend some time (re)writing

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover): devlop this in terms of your data.  Make sure you develop a purpose that your data can actually accomplish.  Whose perspective are you exploring?  What will your participants' perspectives contribute to research on your topic?  Why is that perspective important? 

Detailed statement of your research question(s): you should write questions that you can "ask" of your data.  What does the data show about. . .?  How does my participant describe. . .?  What language patterns occur when my participant talks about. . .?  What connections do I see between the way my participant talks about. . . and cultural stories/assumptions about. . .?  Where does my participant directly state here ideas about. . . ?  Where does s/he imply her ideas about . . .?  What does it mean that she is direct sometimes and indirect other times when she talks about. . .? And so on.

List of the information you need to gather: list any additional "data" you will need to complete your project (do you need to: do follow up interviews?  an observation?  look at some writing samples?  etc?)

A preliminary list of sources (if you need a research essay => let me know.  Send what you have found so far and give me a detailed idea of what you are looking for)

Discussion of any additional data you will need to collect + how you will collect it

For next class:
1.Send your research essay as an attachment to an email with your "grade" + recommendations for revision.
Blog 16 (see above).
Blog 17: Identify sections from your transcript that you might use to develop "answers" to the questions you set up in your research plan.

Next class will be a workshop where you spend some time analzying your data/developing support for the "points" you will make in your research essay.

I will do my best to review the short analysis essays before next class so you will have some feedback on how you are doing with analysis.

3.27 Using a rubric to figure out what to work on for the short analysis project

Today in class we read through the remaining sample essays and used the rubric to get a feel both for how "good" the essays were, and for how we would work on strengthening that essay if it were ours.

Tou demonstrated your excellent reading/assessment capabilities and while some groups were perhaps a little more demanding than I was, when we talked about what writers needed to work on and how they could strengthen their work = we were all pretty much on the same page.  That's awesome!   And - each time we assessed an essay => our scores had a smaller spread.  Also AWESOME.

So I am hoping that went some distance to give you a clear understanding of how this essay will be evaluated.

As you write, I strongly suggest the following.

1. Do some more analytic writing (pulling out quotes or sections that look like you could use them for your focus + analyzing them => connecting them to cultural discourses, examining the way the speakers use language, thinking about positioning and agency and how those features of the talk shape the meanings in your material).

2. Ask yourself questions about what you see in your analytic writing as a way to identify a focus for your analysis.  Ask - what does it mean that she said . . . after he said. . .?  Why did she keep repeating. . . ?  When did she repeat (whatever it was)?  and so on.  Sooner or later you will come up with something that will pass the "so what" test.

3. Do some more analytic writing (include writing about at least one example which seems to contradict what you want to show).

4.  Write the middle of your paper (the analysis => the what is going on part). This will probably be in several different sections or paragraphs, each of which approaches your "question" in a slightly different way.  It is OK if it doesn't hang together at this point.

5.  After you've written all you can write about what is going on, identify what point you are making in each section/paragraph.

6. Decide on the best order for your points.

7.  Write an intro + a conclusion.

This is a suggestion not a formula.  And for lots of people, the order of these points won't work. For example, I often do the first 3 steps, then write my intro, then do steps 4-6, and write my intro again.  You will find what works for you.  The takeaway for this discussion is: you need to spend time with your data.  

For next class:
Blog 15: Short analysis essay.

Come to class eager and ready to talk about how you are going to build on what you did for your short analysis (or not) and turn it into a full research project.

Have a great weekend!

Revised Calendar

April 1  : due short analysis projects (Blog 15)
Discussion of short analysis essays - reflections on what you want to develop further for your research project
In class work on research plans, make sure you have a research essay suitable for your project
Blog 16: post your updated research plan
Blog 17: Post any data in addition to your transcript that you will use for your essay (additional interview materials, observational notes

April 3
Writing analytic memos
In-class conferences on projects = make sure you have a research essay suitable for your project
Read: Swales, Creating a research space
Blog 18: Post analytic memos

April 8
Discussion Swales
Evaluating introductions
In class workshop on literature review
Read: your research essay
Blog 19: post drafty writing for your introduction

Aprl 10
Evaluate sample research projects
Blog 20: In light of today's discussion, map out the sections your essay.  List the points (in as much detail as you can) for what you will say in each section

3.25 Catching up: selecting stories/sections from the trasncript/ finding a focus

I will be looking through your blogs again Thursday to give you some feedback on your transcripts/analyses of sections from the transcript.

During the first part of class we talked about how to work on Blog 13.  The purpose of this post is to help you take a close look at what is going on in the transcript.  Analyzing selected "snapshots"/stories from the transcript can help you get past some of your assumptions and see (in more detail) what is there.

We started by making a list of ideas for how to pick sections from the transcript to analyze (a longer list is in Approaches to analyzing transcripts).

• anything that looks like a story
• related to focus
• contradictions (surprises!) in terms of what was expected
• language features (positioning, agency, connection to material, etc)
• connected to cultural stories related to the focus
• long sections

The three or more sections you choose to write about may or may not fit together (have the same focus).  The purpose of your writing is to "see what's there".

Once you've picked a set of quotes from the transcript, you are ready to post Blog 13.

 Analyze stories/excerpts from your transcript.  Select and post sections of your interview transcript which you might use to make a point in your essay. (you might need to listen to your recording to fill in words/make sure you have them right for these stories).   In this post, include:

1. the story/section  from your transcript = with your mark up like we did in class
2. some writing about the way language is used, the story features, or the discourses (stereotypes, cultural stories) the excerpt illustrates or connects to
3. a statement of what you might use the excerpt to "show" with respect to a focus of your paper.

Developing criteria for assessing the short analysis project

We spent the rest of class developing a rubric for assessing the short analysis project.  After taking a (very) quick look at the assignment sheet, we came up with a set of categories for describing a "good" paper.  Below are the names of these features, how many points out of 100 we felt they should "count for", and what a papers which fullfills the expectations for that feature will do.

Focus (35) : relates material in the transcript to some issue important to writing studies; sets up a clear focus; makes clear statements throughout the essay to state how the different points connect to the focus; draws a conclusion which opens up/deepens the opening statement of the focus by referring to the analysis in the body of the essay.

Organization (20): begins with an introduction which sets up the focus and indicates the points/nature of the discussion through which that focus will be developed; presents a series of sections/paragraphs each of which develops the focus in a logical progression; frames examples/illustrations/discussions of data; concludes with a section which sums up/reflects on/draws together points to develop the focus.

Development (40):  see points 2, 3 & 6 from the assignment sheet

Correctness (5):  grammar and spelling sufficiently under control so as not to distract from readability.

We used this assessment rubric to evaluate Sample 1.  As we noted the ways the author met (or not) the criteria we outlined above, we also thought about what she needed to do to STRENGTHEN this draft.  This exercise was both about providing you with an example of what a short analysis paper looked like, and giving you some practice analyzing and revising a paper written for this assignment.  Hopefully, you will be able to bring that experience to your writing!

For next class:

Read the two remaining sample essays so we can talk about them in class.

Blog 13: (see above)

Blog 14: Do some more writing about what you will use as a focus for the short analysis project and how/which points you will use from the transcript. This is a chance to explore how to frame (outline) your paper. 

The draft for your short analysis essay will be due Tuesday, April 1.     

 

3.23 Getting ready for class tomorrow

I will be reading through the transcripts  posted on your blog today and if you have your 3 sections of text posted, I will read through that too and give you some feedback.

In class we will spend some time taking stock of where you are in terms of your short analysis project - and then we will take a look at the sample short analysis essay so you have a more clear idea of what is expected.

If there is time, we will spend some time working on tweaking questions/working on the plan for your research projects in light of what you found out from your interviews.

3.6 Getting ready to analyze your transcript

So, once again, I assigned a reading that we did not get to in class.  Don't worry though, we will get to it.

In class today we actually worked through (applied) moves/materials from the Approaches to analyzing your transcript reading.  You will use these moves (and you might want to look back through this reading) as you work on analyzing the language in your transcript for Blog 13: Analyze stories/excerpts from your transcript.

We took a close look at language in the Unedited transcript. In particular, we paid attention to:
pronouns L used to represent her experience;

• whether she used active or passive verb constructions; words like so, cause, then which indicated causality and sequence; 
• moves/language choices L made to distance herself from the event (I remember. . . or other moves to place the story in the past or as someone else's experience such as using you to generalize the experience); 
• the level of organization/structure in the story (the ordered sequence of events in the first story we analyze, versus the all at once series of events without sequencing words like first, then, or so in the story about "no friends")
• relationships to cultural Conversatins/stories = the American Dream, "success" stories; assumptions about testing; the way educational institutions don't generally consider students social needs (friends/comfort zone) as integral to their academic needs

First we picked out a story kind of randomly and marked it up.  Then we picked out another one.  At this point, if you were doing the Blog 14, you would have started to look for "related" stories (look in Approaches for "strategies for selecting story sets) - a set of stories with a common theme or "move" that you might use as the focus for your writing.

We spent the last part of class thinking about how to come up with a focus for the short analysis paper that would connect to the the language analysis of the unedited transcript.  We went back and looked at the assignment sheet, noticed that we needed to make some connections to "cultural stories" - and you took it from there.  Looked to me like you are well on the road to using language analysis in your discussion of your transcripts.

SO

This is the series of assignments.

For Tuesday, 3.18

Review the course blog/readings -  do any reading you need to do to analyze the language in your transcript.

Blog 12: post your transcript

For Thursday, 3.20

Review the course blog/readings -  do any reading you need to do to analyze the language in your transcript.

Blog 13: Analyze stories/excerpts from your transcript.  Select and post sections of your interview transcript which you might use to make a point in your essay. (you might need to listen to your recording to fill in words/make sure you have them right for these stories).   In this post, include:

1. the story/section  from your transcript = with your mark up like we did in class
2. some writing about the way language is used, the story features, or the discourses (stereotypes, cultural stories) the excerpt illustrates or connects to
3. a statement of what you might use the excerpt to "show" with respect to a focus of your paper.

You should pick out at least 3 excerpts from your transcript and do some analysis for each one.


***** I will give you feedback on blogs 12 & 13 by class 3.25.

For class Tuesday, 3. 25
Blog 14:  Do some more writing about what you will use as a focus for the short analysis project, and how the different excerpts with support/connect to that focus.  If you are stuck - ask questions/give me a hint about what kind of feedback you want as help.

Have a great spring break!   See you in two weeks.  I will be available by email if you get stuck

3.4 Plan for writing short analysis essay + finshing up interview protocols

Note:  As you write up your final interview protocol, don't forget that you will need a short statement of the purpose of your project at the top (like in the sample).

We spent most of class talking about how you would work on /write your short analysis projects.
We talked through the assignment sheet (posted to the right) which I am hoping is self-evident, and we laid out a timeline that looks something like this.

3.4 Go over assignment sheet (posted to the right) and polish up interview protocols for collecting data
3.6 Create rubric used to evaluate Short Analysis project, and test it out on sample SAessays (posted to right)
Talk about how to create a "focus" from interview data
Turn in informed consent and A/V forms if you have them

During spring break:
Get informed consent, conduct and transcribe your interview, and begin analyzing(thinking about what your focus for your

3.18 Post your interview transcript (the drafty unedited version).  MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR PARTICIPANT'S NAME.
3.20  Select, proofread, and post sections of your interview transcript which you might use to make a point in your essay.  In this post, include:
1. the excerpt from your transcript
2. some writing about the way language is used, the story features, or the discourses (stereotypes, cultural stories) the excerpt illustrates or connects to
3. a statement of what you might use the excerpt to "show" with respect to the focus of your paper.

You should pick out at least 3 excerpts from your transcript for this post.

3.25  In-class workshop on the draft for the short analysis essay + work to set up your final project
3.27 Due draft short analysis project

4.1 Draft short analysis returned
4.8 Due final short analysis project

You spent the remainder of class talking about/finalizing plans for your interview.  From what I heard, most of you look like you are ready to go!

For next class:
Read: Sample Short Analysis essays 1. 2, 3.
Blog 11: Final/revised interview protocol

2.27 The "getting lost" approach to teaching, cultural stories and transcribing interviews.

I know I said we were going to have a workshop on the interview protocols and that I was going to introduce the short analysis project, but when I clicked through the posts before class I noticed that only about have of you were working on questions that you were will ing to post.

This made me think two things: 1) I haven't given you enough information/support to get started on writing the protocols; and 2) you are worried about doing it "right".

The result is the class we had today.

The importance of getting lost.  I started out with the story about google.maps and my theory of teaching.  If you directions work - you never really know where you are.  To really learn something - so that you can figure out your own answers - you need to do some wandering around - spend some time with your mistakes.  This class is exactly the place to do that.  Blogs are about wandering around.  I am not grading "correctness" = I am looking for evidence that you are wandering around.  If you are wandering in the right direction I will say "Great" and give you credit.  If you are wandering in a direction that wasn't what I was expecting, I will think about wheter is its a good way to get where you need to go, offer some suggestions, and give you credit.  So go for it.

Cultural conversations/stories/discourses (if it makes it easier you can think of these stories as kind of like stereotypes for the way things "are").  The next thing we did was spend some time thinking about what James Gee calls big "C" Conversations; stories associated with a particular topic that are "out there" in the culture.  Everybody knows them.  They will come up (one way or another) in a conversation about that topic.  Often they have some truth in them, but what is more important than whether they are true or not is that when we talk about that topic, they will influence the way we talk about the topic.  We will either step right into them (as if they are true), defend against them, or move in and out of them in combination with other, related stories.

Cultural stories and the Internet. As a way of developing a more concrete example of a set of cultural stories - a Conversation - we talked about the Internet.  When I asked you for cultural stories about the internet you came up with:

the internet is the reason US children/adults are getting fat
the internet  is dangerous
parents need to monitor their children's use of the internet
parents need to restict children's access to internet content
video games are a waste of time
violent video games make us violent
individuals who grew up with the internet know more than "adults" (parents/teachers)
and so on

After making this list, we looked at the chat room transcript, and we noticed that S and A talked about the Internet and A's experiences from "inside" cultural stories about the Internet as dangerous, parents needing to monitor/restrict children's behavior/

We also noticed that in the first excerpt, A positioned herself as "vulnerable", and in the second excerpt she positions herself as rebellious & in control.  We noted that these subject positionings connected to cultural stories about children and teens, and that one story drew from stories about the internet as dangerous, and the other about millenials being naturally knowing everything about how to behave/interact/take care of themselves on the Internet.  In fact, the content of the two stories was remarkably similar: in each case she met up with an older male who confronted/courted her and when she responded there was a surprise about his identity.  The fact that she told these two stories - one as "scary" and the other as "weird" (S said it was funny, it's not clear if A thought so); in the first story she was the victim, in the second she was in control.

So - what does this mean?  This analysis suggests that cultural stories "position us" with respect to events, interactions, and things so that we experience/tell events in terms of the stories' values (the internet is dangerous, children are vulnerable, teens can do anything on the internet) that are "out there" = and that our experiences, once we "step out" of those stories, might have completely different interpretations?

And the next step is to ask questions about how/why those particular cultural stories are "out there".  Who gains an advantage, retains power, evades a responsibility = so long as a particular cultural story remains unexamined?  What happens when we "see through" or question a particular cultural story?  For example, what if instead of restricting children's explorations of the Internet, we become more serious about policing (and punishing) the traffic of children's sexuality.  Another cultural story about the Internet is that it is too big and too diffuse to "control" = but just try to post a Disney patented character on your web site and you will see in about two days whether that is true or not.  So whose advantage is it to think that the "dangers" of the internet are "just the way it is" and that it is up to parents to protect their children from them?  What does it allow to continue, and whose freedom is limited?  Asking and following through on those kinds of questions is the real power of discourse analysis.

What interviews look like: We then looked at a series of interview transcripts, and you noticed the stories in them - and the way an actual interview looks.  The questions (focus) is there, but the interview really unfolds as a conversations.  There are lots of follow up comments, and the interviewer allows the participant lots of room to talk.

Stories and what they look like.  We use a "model" for identifying stories (there is more in the reading) that included a set up (did I tell you about?  or in interviews, the "set up" is often the interviewer's question), an orientation (which takes the listener to the time and place of the story= "when I was in first grade. . .") then the complication/or unfolding action = the what problem that drives the story's action, the resolution/outcome, and the reflection.  Reflections are about what the story "means" or how it turned out (it was good), and we used L's reflections as a way to find the "ends" of the different versions of the "ESL" story that she told.

You did an awesome job on this.  I am sorry it was so rushed, but I hope it gave you enough so you can follow the discussion in the reading.

Work groups for interview protocols:  I also announced 5 groupings of students who I thought would work well together, because you have projects that 'relate' well, in one way or another.
Florie, Brenda, Melanie => classroom problem solving/teaching/language
Ariana, Gigi, David => texting
Adrian, Melissa, Jessica => ethnographic studies + an interview of a group/Discourse community
John, Amanda, Nagerrah => (this one is maybe the hardest fit) looking at how a cultural story/practice shapes our experience of church/getting student loans/performance poetery (yeah, well, it was the best I could do)
Holly, Sara, Briana => writing issues for college students (revision, writing summaries, plagiarism)

For Tuesday:
Read: Approaches to story analysis
Blog 10: Write, describe, speculate about some cultural stories/Conversations associated with your focus for your research project.  Give it a shot - even if you aren't sure, put it out there and we will see where we are.

Thanks for your attention today.  I know it was a lot of me talking = next week should be better.

2.25 Iniformed consent forms and interviews

I handed out informed consent forms, A-V consent forms and Debriefing forms and we talked about how to talk through the forms with your participants.

Because the description of your research on the actual form is generic (kind of one size fits all) you need to provide details about the purpose of your project, what your project is about, why you are asking your participant to take part in your research, and what in particular you are asking your participant to DO.  You spent some time writing up this description , and then I gave a sample presentation which it each of these points.  Be sure to practice your description, with a classmate or friend, etc, before the meeting with your participant.

Things to remember:
Make sure to fill in your contact information on both page 1 & 2.
As you talk through the form - be sure to check for questions.
Cover each point.
Sign two forms - and have your applicant sign two forms (one for them to keep - one for Kean University records).

Creating an interview protocol.
We talked through the handouts very quickly.  You did a great job of identifying the important points

For next class:
Re-read the handouts on interviewing and work on your interview protocol.  I do not expect this to be perfect!   Anything you put up there will be a good start. Also, check out your research participants - make sure you have someone lined up.
Blog 9:  Interview protocol for your project

I will try to get through the research plans for Thursday - so we can do some constructive work on the interview protocol to get it ready to go.  This is exciting!

2.23 late post for class 2.20

On Thursday we talk through Watson's paper on surveys.  We used this essay both as an example of one "well done" format for developing a research essay, and a creditable job on using survey research.

During our talk in class we observed that survey work requires relatively large numbers of participants before the numbers become statistically significant.  I pointed out that if you are interested in learning to use surveys, that we might cut your study some slack in terms of the numbers, since the point of this class is to learn to use the methods.

You did a good job identifying content in the different parts of Watson's essay.  In the intro we noticed that she set up and gave a brief overview of what her study would do.  She repeats this information later in the study in more detail.  Here, she identifies the two factors relevant to here study of factors that influence students' self assessments, beliefs in giftedness and whether teachers are effective at teaching, and sets up her focus.  She then reviews what other writers have found related to these two sets of beliefs; this is the "literature review" section.  In our discussion of the methods section, we noticed that not only does she announce that she will do a survey, she describes her participants, and how she designed her survey to assess her participants beliefs with respect to giftedness and teacher effectiveness.

We discussed the content of her data presentation (good job on identifying the key findings).
Do you think she might have done a better job of presenting this data (we didn't really evaluate whether we thought her narrative discussion would have been stronger if it included a few charts or tables - what do you think)?  We also noticed that there were features of her findings that should have been pointed out and explained, either in her dicussion of the conclusions (remember?  the implied conficts in the % students who believed in giftedness AND effective teaching?).

As we said in class, the overall form of this essay worked well, and the design of the survey (and the methods section) were particularly well done.

We spent the rest of the class looking over the assignment sheet for the research project, and discussing the worksheet for developing a research plan.  If you have questions - be in touch.  I have met with most of you, and you all seem to be doing a great job finding topics and working through the steps on the worksheet.

For Tuesday, 2. 25
Blog 8: After working through the steps on the worksheet for the research plan, write up your research plan in terms of the following points.

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover)

Detailed statement of your research question

List of the information you need to gather

A preliminary list of sources

Plan for gathering your information that includes:

·         who/what you will be studying (for example:. students in a College Composition class, how they think about the comments teachers write on their papers)

·         where you will collect your information (for example:. in interviews at Kean University)

·         how many subjects you will study (for example:. 3)

what methods you will use to conduct your study (for example:. interviews, textual analysis, discourse analysis)

Read: Handout on doing interviews.  Sample interview protocol from Hawisher and Selfe.  These were distributed in class. I will leave extra copies in my mailbox - or stop by my office during my office hours.

In class on Tuesday we will work on developing interview protocols.

2.18 Oral history

After a brief review of the Principles and best practices for oral histories we created a list of some of this readings most important points about the definition and practice of oral history.

Definition:
oral history is both the practice and the product of asking questions (an interview) about a participant's life story as it unfolds within a particular time, place, and cultural context.

Some observations about doing oral history:

Contact your participant before the interview

Do your background research

Outline topics/questions beforehand (but be flexible in the interview)

Do your interview in a quiet place

Make sure to distribute/sign permissions/release forms prior to the interview

Remember that oral history will be public information

Be sure to let your participant know s/he is free to withdraw (stop the interview) at any time

Avoid stereotypes

Defer coming to conclusions

Encourage participation in convreation

Interviewing style
After talking through the Oral History Association's handout, I let you know that you would be doing some short informal "oral histories" about your classmates' experiences with Valentine's day.  You took a minute to think of/map out some questions, and then we had a short conversation about how to "do: your interview.  Some points that came up included:

using a conversational style

starting with "easy" questions

making sure you waited long enough (didn't get upset by the silence) for your partcipant to answer

Interviews!  You then did your interviews - using your phone to record the conversation.  In our wrap up, after the exercise, you noted that:

It was hard to stay on topic

Needed more time to prepare

Other questions seemed to arise in the interview process

Some of your questions were answered before you get to them

Check your equipment!  (make sure it works)

Ask open-ended questions

You did a great job on this!  I'm hoping each of you got a feel for interviewing - and for your strengths and areas to work on. 

For next class
Blog 7:  Listen to the recording of your oral history.  Write up some observations about what you have learned about interviewing.

Read:  How Student Beliefs in Giftedness and Teacher Competence Affect Writing Self-Assessments by Amber Watson

In class on Thursday we are going to go through the giftedness essay quickly.  Pay attention to how Watson designed and used her survey (in the methods section).  Also pay attention to the "form" of this essay.  What do you think works?  What do you think would work better if she presented it differntly (say, in a differnt order, or as a chart, or with more discussion, or with different headings. . . etc).  Then we are going to talk about the research projects and creating a research plan.  

You are doing a great job on this course - even though we seem to have had about half the required meetings!   See you Thursday.

Schedule for research conferences

Wednesday
10:00 Nagerrah; 3:20 John; 3:40 Melissa

Thursday
1:20 Ariana; 1:40 Sara

2.11 Sample ethnography and research paper format

Today did not go as I planned it, but then I guess that is just fine.  We took a look at the sample ethnography as a way to think (again) about the general format for a writing studies research essay, and to look at the content for the set up, methods, findings and conclusions for an ethnographic study.

Looking through your notes you did a great job identifying what the author did in each section.  Here is a summary of our recommendations for what the author might have done to strengthen the focus, organization, and development in this essay.

• Make a clear statement of the essay's focus on coaches as a discourses community and their use of multiliteracies up front at the very beginning.
• Delete references (reviews of other research articles) that do not connect to the essay's methods or findings.
• Add more discussion of Swales criteria for discourse communities + more discussion of what is meant by multiple literacies within the context of coaching.
• Use a statement of  what the essay will "do"  (In this paper I will use Swales' criteria for a discourse community and the concept of multiliteracies to show how literacy identities and practices are central to football coaching.  I begin with a description of my methods etc etc.) as a transition to the body of the paper.
• The class consensus seemed to be that the methods section was pretty good (though the set up with Swales should have been in the intro).
• Develop the discussion of the findings in terms of the focus that is set up in the introduction.  Do this for each point.  If the  goals/genres/lexis have different features than those pointed out by Swales - point out the differences and discuss why/whether this changes coaches standing as a discourse community.  Also - with the discussion of multiliteracies, relate it back to the definition set up in the intro,
• Write a stronger conclusion which sums up findings, points out the study's limitations + strengths (if any) and point out what the study contributes to or suggests about questions for further research,

Although these suggestions are presented in a bulleted list, and while the sequence represents a kind of "standard" organization - this is not a formula.  You each will be doing slightly different projects, and where and how you divide your paper into headings will vary.  These "moves" will be important, but you will each make them in a way that suits your material and purpose.

Thank you.  I appreciate that we are using new language and talking about writing a different kind of research paper, and it is risky to give answers to my (often baffling) questions during class.  Thanks to those of you who volunteer - and to those of you who answer when I call on you.  Truly it is the participation that makes the class work.  Hopefully our classroom will feel increasingly comfortable as we move through the term.

For next class:
I will start on Thursday with some practice creating research questions using Blog 5 as our data.  We will look at the posts from the in-class ethnographic experience and think about what kind of research questions we might ask of this data.  So come to class with some ideas.  Or with an awareness of the kinds of problems you might have in thinking up research questions.

After that we will talk briefly about oral history and then you will do an oral history interview. Before you come to class, check out the apps for voice recording that you can use with your phone.  You will use your phone to document the interview.  If you don't have a phone that can record, we will make sure you have a partner who does.

Read:  Best practices for oral history.  
Blog 6:  In class we talked about the differences among a topic, a focus, and the particular research quesstions you might ask as you conduct your research.  Each of you are in a different place in terms of developing your project - but where every you are - write into your material as far as you can go in terms of your topic, the specific focus you want to take to that topic, and (if possible) what in particular you want to find out within that focus = what you want to do in your study (your research questions = what you will ask about your data).  The more you write - the more we have to work with.

2.6 Schedule for conferences

Note: a discussion of what we did during class + assignments for next week is posted at the OTHER 2.6 (scroll down).

Monday: 11:00 Brenda, 3:30 Briana
Tuesday: 10:00 Holly, 11:00 Jessica, 11:20 Adrian; 1:00 Florie; 1:20 Melanie; 1:40 Amanda;
5:00 Sara
Wednesday: 3:00 Melissa; 3:20 John; 3:40 David
Thursday: 1:00 Gigi; 1:20 Ariana

2.6 Ethnography!

Discourse, discourse/language analysis, and discourse communities.  
So far this term we have learned to do analysis (and to name and classify and look for relationships between the moves we make as we do analysis!), to name and classify features of language use within a particular genre (jokes);  and to recognize features of discourse communities.  As we continue through the course we will also work on learning to use oral histories, interviews and surveys for research


You can go back over earlier posts, and think about the "moves" for doing research we have learned so far. Good job!

Ethnography
We used  Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes to frame our discussion.  This reading defines ethnography (more or less) as: the inscription of participatory experiences of indigenous culture represented from the perspectives of the observed culture.  This definition emphasizes the participatory nature of ethnography - and the fact that it involves writing.  As you re-read this material (you always re-read the assignments after our class discussions, right?), pay particular attention to the 4 consequences of this definition for writing fieldnotes.  They are listed at the bottom of the fifth page, under the heading Implications for writing fieldnotes.

In our talk about ethnography we noted that: 

• ethnographers need to participate in the culture they are studying in order to understand how that culture works - even though they may never really be insiders;
• that writing (documenting) culture  is central to ethnography;
• that ethnographers' presence/participation will necessarily change what it is possible to observe (just by the fact of their being there);
• and that ethnographers interpretations of what participants' culture "means" - will reflect the ethnographer's assumptions/perspective (which may not be shared by participants).  

We then spent some time analyzing the 3 examples of fieldnotes.  I pointed out that the writing associated with ethnography does not begin with this kind of writing.  In the field, ethnographers make "jottings" - shorthand, meaningful represenations of what happened that allow the ethnographer to remember the details of what took place during the observation.  Jottings are then supplemented - immediately after the observation or as close to that time as is possible - with "headnotes".  This is everything the ethnographer remembers about what happened.  Jottings and headnotes are then used to compose the kinds of fieldnote representations we read.  

The point of reading 3 different versions of fieldnotes documenting more or less the same kind of interactions => was to show that experience can be described from MANY different perspectives.  The three representations we read were identified as having a focus on: objective/spatial relationships; a subjective or interactive perspective centered on the experiences of the observer; and a relational documentation of interactions between the individuals on the scene.  No one representation captures the "truth" => each kind of representation provides a different window on "what happened".

Your ethnographic happening
We spent the last part of class doing an interactive ethnographic exercise.  Everyone was asked to get up out of their seats and come to the middle aisle, and talk to people - particularly people they did not know.  And you were asked to take "jottings" = quick, shorthand notes to help you remember - in as much detail as possible - what happened.  

The "event" lasted about 7 minutes.  I then asked you to go to your seats and add your headnotes to your jottings.  Some of the kinds of "details" you might want to include in your notes:

• where people were standing, who was in which group, how people moved among groups, the overall configuration of the groups in the room
• who talked to whom, short quotes of what people said, the sequence of talk, the overall focus of conversation, silences, laughing, questions, talk inside and outside your group, people leaving and joining groups, language choices
• Chandler's role in the "event", what she said, where she stood, what she did, tone of voice, how comments were received, silences, interruptions
• what people were doing, how they were taking notes, composure, eye-contact, who took part
• the "feeling" of the room, the noise level, the way talk sounded overall
• what people were wearing, facial expressions, body language, distances between speakers

When we summed up, you came up with an awesome list of inferences from your observation.  Good job.  At the same time, the point of ethnographic observation is to IDENTIFY THE FEATURES of what happened that SHOW /PROVE/PROVIDE EVIDENCE FOR your  interpretation of what happened. 

For next class:
Read: Coaches can read, too.  (in your kean email).
Blog 5: Post your ethnographic notes.  ALL of them - your jottings, your head notes (everything you wrote down in class right after the experiences) and your "write up" of your fieldnotes (in a form similar to the samples we read in class).   Label your notes.  There should be 4 categories:  jottings, headnotes, things I remembered later, and fieldnotes.

Note: don't worry if this is not perfect.  This was your first time.  Just post what you have and we will talk about strategies for taking better notes/doing different kinds of write ups.

You did a great job today!   Thanks for your good participation and I'm looking forward to next class.