Entering the Field, and Setting u p Fieldnotes

1. Entering the Field, and Setting up Fieldnotes prepared by Jane M. Gangi, Ph.D. February 3, 2011

2. Entering the Field See Fieldwork Project: Rubric and Guidelines and Bogdan and Biklen’s Chapter 3. • Make it clear to gatekeepers you have no intention of evaluating. You are there to learn from the group you choose to study • Be clear about the time you’ll spend, and your role (observer, participant observer)

3. Protocol (I don’t mean to insult your intelligence but every year this list gets a little longer) • For insurance and security purposes, always sign in with the office when you arrive. • Assure your "gatekeepers" (teachers, principals) that anonymity and confidentiality will be maintained, and that you are seeking to learn more about N-12 education in a field experience from professional educators and their students. If required, a letter can be written that affirms your status as a WCSU student. • Act and dress professionally. No hats, caps. Avoid T-shirts (especially with messages like "Drink Beer"). • In case you are the people at your cite have to cancel a scheduled observation, exchange phone numbers and emails with the educator whose class you are observing. • Request a school calendar. You'll need this information so that you don't show up on a school holiday or professional development day.

4. Protocol, continued • Ask that you be introduced as a Western Connecticut State University doctoral student and that you have come to learn from professional educators and their students. • You may observe situations you wish you could change but, in most cases, it’s not appropriate during this Fieldwork Project • If the situation is not working, let your professor know sooner in the semester than later. • Do not bring food or candy to children. • You decide whether you want to strictly observe, or to be a participant observer (tutor, help out, etc.). • While asking you to watch a class for a few minutes may be all right, this should not become habitual.

5. Relationship with Participants Wolcott (1984) told Ed (The Man in the Principal’s Office) that he “would display no sign of personal approval or disapproval regarding events that transpired. My purpose was to observe and record rather than to judge, and I intended to remain in the background as an observe” (p. 5). This proved difficult to carry out.

6. Relationship with Participants, cont. • Small talk and chit-chat are fine; they help you build trust and help others feel comfortable • Hold off on interviewing; spend time in the field first • Consider “shadowing” someone at the site; make that part of your log • Comment in your log on how things are going with gatekeepers • “Trust the process”—Margot Ely

7. FieldnotesSee Fieldwork Project: Rubric and Guidelines and Bogdan and Biklen’s Appendix B • Go for detail, especially in beginning • Describe rather than judge: "He was abrupt" doesn't tell anything; tell what he did. • Write tentatively: seems; might; perhaps; it was almost as if… (not was) • Use pseudonyms • Write in the present tense • Include observer comments: [O. C.] your own feelings, what you are learning

8. Fieldnotes, continued • Comment on limits of observing • Allow questions to emerge • Be concerned with describing the meanings the participants hold • Use analogies and metaphors

9. Examples of Fieldnotes-- Pick up print copies of: • Carspecken (1996, pp. 46-47, 60-61) • Merriam (1988, pp. 98-101) • Ferguson (2000, pp. 56-59, 69-75) • Ely, Anzul, Friedman, Garner, & Steinmetz(1991) • Frank (1999) • Antonio Coccoli’s fieldnotes (1998)

10. Writing Field Notes: From Stake’s (1995) The Art of Case Study. (During the session on Data Analysis, we will see how he categorized this set of field notes.) “1. Noisily, in twos and threes, the sixth graders cascade down the stairs 2. and into the basement room. ‘Okay, have a seat.’ All sit except Bonnie, 3. Who for some reason closely examines the pencil sharpener. ‘Attention 4. right here please,’ says Mr. Ecker. ‘Remember yesterday we made draw- 5. ings from three sources: fantasy, observation, and recall.’ One child says, 6. ‘Flashback.’ ‘Yeah, like flashback.’ (pause). ‘Mark, you made a promise.’” (p. 79)

11. Consider writing like a playwright: Jenny Anaclerio’s (2010b) observation of a SPED class “During the first part of the reading time slot, the teacher (Shaggy) was asking the student (Scooby) to write a word on a dry erase board, read it, and erase it. Scooby would write a word, read it after prompting, and use the eraser on the wall or desk or piece of clothing instead of the board. Shaggy would hold Scooby’s hands, make eye contact, and explain the directions again. At one point the teacher took the eraser away while Scooby was starting the write the next word. Scooby did not realize the eraser was missing. Shaggy gave the eraser back when it was needed. At another point, Scooby put the tip of the marker on his tongue while staring at his teacher. Shaggy just stared back at him. Scooby put the marker down when no reaction came from the teacher. At the end of the ten minutes, Shaggy showed Scooby his token chart. He reminded Scooby that he had earned two tokens so far today. He needs five to get a choice from his other chart. The next block of time was spent on reading a book at Scooby’s instructional level. I was told that Scooby needs to work on his comprehension skills. Here is an excerpt of two minutes during this reading time” (p. 4)

12. Anaclerio (2010b, continued) “Teacher: What are the people doing? Student: (yawns, stretches, looks at wall) T: Scooby, remember that you have two tokens already. One, two…what are the people doing? S: (gets distracted) T: (waits and takes the books away) T: (puts the books in front of Scooby) Okay please read the page. S: Reads the page slowly (yawns) T: (turns the page) What is the cat doing now? S: (yawns, stretches, claps hands in front of teacher) Shaggy squeezes Scooby’s hands back. This exchange of yawning, stretching, and answering the teacher goes back and forth. The tokens are brought up every two minutes to remind Scooby of a possible reward” (p. 4)

13. Anaclerio (2010a) observing a 5th grade class about to watch It’s a Wonderful Life: Playwriting can capture big ideas “Mrs. Wishy-Washy moved on to the other objective of this lesson. She started talking about the bigger idea. WW: We are using the book (the movie) to think about the bigger issue. This applies not just to the movie but also to life. What did we talk about this morning? Student A: The food chain was like…if someone does something nice to you then you do something nice to them. WW: So we are calling those energy chains…the passage of human energy as opposed to food energy from one person to another. Student B: and how it goes along the lines of tearing people up and down …you can give someone good energy then they might be cheered up and they might give good energy to someone else but if you tell them like that’s never going to happen or something like that and then they are in a bad mood and they act like that around other people, people get madder. WW: Humans affect each other. The teacher continued to say that “the bigger idea of how one person can affect a lot of other people. We all matter! All the good that we do and all the bad that we can do matters!” (pp. 4-5)

14. References Carspecken, P. F. (1996). Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. New York, NY: Routledge. Ely, M., with Anzul, M., Friedman, T., Garner, D., & Steinmetz, A. M. (1991). Doing qualitative research: Circles within circles. New York, NY: The Falmer Press. Ferguson, A. A. (2000). Bad boys: Public schools and the making of black masculinity. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Frank, C. (1999). Ethnographic eyes: A teacher’s guide to classroom observation. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.