My Overall Impressions of this Observation
I believe I learned the most and gained the most insight about Student E in this observation. Being able to observe and interview her aloud me to make some connections and understand why she may be struggling in certain areas better. I also feel the interview has helped me see her school experience from her perspective a lot better.
What I learned as a result of the fieldwork.
First of all I have learned a lot about Student E. through this interview I was able to gain more insight into her experiences in school and out of school. I was told that she is performing on a third grade level in many of her classes and is testing at a 3rd/4th grade level in reading. She has been struggling a lot in school as of late. Through observations and tutoring I have noticed that she seems to become frustrated when the class goes too fast so she shuts down. She also tries to speed through assigned individual work. She tells me that she is scared to raise her hand and answer questions so she does not participate a lot in class. I believe some of the information gathered in this interview will be helpful to her teachers this year and in the future.
Student E’s picture (see attached document) depicts a simple scene of her and her best friend standing near her house. She expressed that she could not draw very well and I feel that this is an example of her feeling like she is not successful in very many areas. In my opinion she can draw just fine but does not try to incorporate much detail because she is afraid to fail. When I asked her about her picture we discussed her best friend who has recently moved. This is very sad for her. I do not think she has many others that she feels comfortable with or considers good friends. I made this connection partly because of her timidity and her fear of being the center of attention in class. I was happy to find out that her friend does get to come and stay with her and visit on occasion. I was also interested to find out her favorite colors. She was very eager to share with me. It is interesting that all of her favorite colors, except for yellow, are on the American flag. I did wonder if this was of any significance, but we did not have the time to explore this. Instead, I asked her to tell me more about her best friend in the picture. She explained that she used to go to the mall, talk and play with her best friend. She also explained that her and her best friend would play with her brothers. This prompted me to ask her if her friend had a brother and she said yes. I then asked her to tell me about her family. She and her immediate family moved here from Mexico. She does have an aunt that lives here as well, but the rest of her extended family is still in Mexico. She is the oldest child in the family. She speaks English with her brothers but Spanish with her parents. This leads me to wonder if her parents can speak English and if this has been a factor in her lower proficiency. When asked who her favorite family member was, she explained that it was her mother. So, she must spend a lot of time with her mother. She described her mother as short, pretty, nice and funny. She also explained that her mother helps with their homework and takes them out when they are bored. When she spends time with her mother she is watching TV, playing with her brothers, helping to clean the house or talking. This indicates to me that she is not a lazy person and she does want to make others happy and proud of her. I noticed that other than the cleaning, all the things she mentioned are exactly the same things she expressed she enjoys doing when she is at home, especially playing with her brothers. She does not seem to like to spend much time alone. She really enjoys spending time with all her family members, except her father does not seem to be very present in her free time. This discussion of what she likes to do with her family members really connects with her favorite holiday. She really loves Thanksgiving because of all the good food and time spent with her immediate family. She also expressed enjoyment when they go to visit her aunt that also lives in Hattiesburg. Finally, she did not have too much to say about school and I was surprised to find out that she has been at this school since Kindergarten. This leads me to wonder why she is still performing at a third grade level when she has been in this school from the beginning. It is possible that her low performance could also be connected with a lack of preschool.
Through this interview and the several times I have observed, tutored and interacted with Student E, I have learned a lot about her and I feel that I can understand her education experiences. She is eager to share information about herself and her family. She seemed to really enjoy our discussion and was very happy to have someone to talk to. She may be somewhat lonely because talking and having someone to talk to seems to be a theme throughout the interview. She also seems that she may be lonely at school. She tends to spend a lot of time with her mother and her brothers, but she cannot spend time with them at school. She stays within her peer group for the most part. I know that she does see her ELL teacher during activity time on Tuesday and Thursdays, but she is the only ELL student in 6th grade, so she is alone with the teacher during that time and her brothers have separate activity times so they see the ELL teacher separately from her. I believe it would be beneficial for her to have peers with her in the ELL class or to be with the 5th grade ELL students. Another issue that presented itself to me through this interview is that she is eager to work and help, yet she easily gives up or speeds through school work. So, many of her teachers feel that she is not trying very hard in school, yet she does try to please and work hard outside of school. Another theme that presented itself was TV. It seems that watching TV is something that is done quite often outside of school. I wonder, since her parents do not seem to speak much English with her, if they watch strictly, or mostly, Spanish television. If this is the case, then English is not very present in her household when the family is together or when she is with her parents, only when she is alone with her brothers. It may be helpful to her, her brothers, and her parents if they tried English television or putting on English subtitles. Also, I wonder if television is used as an escape and if it impedes on her homework and study time. It was indicated to me by a couple of her teachers that she does not seem to study much for class or tests. This may be an issue, along with the others I have mentioned, that should be brought up in meetings with the parents. Finally, I found it very interesting that Student E has been here since she was about 3 or 4 and she did not attend preschool. I believe, since her parents are not English speakers and she spent all of her time with her parents until beginning school at the age of 5, that this may have affected her English proficiency in a very negative way. This is definitely something that her teachers should be aware of and should have been aware of since she first began school.
I have also learned some things about the ESL student's experience in general. I was surprised to learn that a lot of the ESL students are bullied in this school district. I learned a lot about this from the ESL coordinator and the ESL teacher I have been working with as well as from many of the ESL students while teaching a unit on bullying. I also understand now how difficult it is for all of these students no matter what proficiency they are in English. Many of the regular classes move very quickly and it is easy for these students to shut down when they feel overwhelmed, embarrassed, shy, scared, etcetera. It is very important that teachers pay special attention to the participation level of the ESL students during class. It is also important not to single these students. They already feel like they are more conspicuous because they must have tutors in classes or meet with the ESL teacher instead of going to their activity time. It is a fine line to walk making sure that they get all the extra help they need while trying not to single them out too much.
The value of case study research and analysis in terms of classroom practice.
Case study research, action research and ethnography are all very useful to classroom practice. Observing and interviewing students can help teachers understand the different learning styles and the multiple intelligences of students. Teachers may also learn what classroom practice might may ESL students, or any group of students, more comfortable or uncomfortable in class. From this study in particular I learned that it is important to pay attention to the amount of participation of ESL students in the regular classroom. I also found that it is important to consider the speed in which the class in conducted and much more.
The value of the ethnographic narrative.
The ethnographic narrative can give a lot of insight into specific learning strengths and weaknesses for a particular student. For example, I learned that this particular student does not spend much time socially with her peers in or out of school. Her best friend has moved and was of Mexican decent as well. She and her brothers do speak English often, but neither of her parents speak English. So, she speaks Spanish to her parents and may not get much practice speaking English outside of school. She also does not speak up much in class and she does not read often. She tends to make excuses for not reading or taking an AR test. This may be having an effect on her English proficiency. She is fairly proficient in speaking and listening, although she does get frustrated when the class is moving very fast and she seems to wander or shut down and just start guessing. Her reading and writing, I was told by her ESL teacher, are on a third grade level. So, from her ethnographic narrative, I can understand better that it might be important to speak with her parents about having her read more often and maybe speak to them in English and Spanish. This may help her and her parents in learning English.
The usefulness of this information.
Future teachers can now understand what strategies may help to encourage and help Student E perform better in class and feel less pressured:
Student E would benefit greatly if the class moved at a slower pace and the teacher insisted on the students taking about 30 seconds to think about their answers before she called on anyone or had the whole class answer. In first introducing a new topic and practicing that skill, Student E would benefit if she was given one problem to work on at a time. She seems to be overwhelmed when given several problems to do and she begins to speed through and eventually guess random numbers. Student E would also benefit from having a tutor with her in every math class as well as seeing a tutor outside of school at least once a week. She would also benefit greatly if she was required to carry a dictionary with her to all her classes and there was a reward system set in place for her if she has the dictionary and uses the dictionary to help herself in reading materials for all content areas.
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