9.10 Syllabi & calendars

Tonight was the introductions night - and we are introduced.  We talked through the syllabus & the calendar - so you should have an idea of our "contract" = how we will get through the business of this course, and  a general overview of course content.  The calendar is still quite general - since part of your first assignment is to "fill in the details" for our class by class schedule (see below).

Teaching mentors.  You chose your teacher mentors - and at this point you all should have been in touch.  Everyone seems well pleased with the arrangement - and we will see how it goes.

Ethnography, participant-observation, and taking fieldnotes.  We started class with a conceptual discussion of how to watch and take notes on your in-class experiences with your mentor teachers.  We established that you are NOT taking notes on what happens in the classroom as a way to document the RIGHT way to teach.  Rather, your notes should document particular teaching moves - and students reactions to and interactions with those moves.  By discussion your notes with your classmates and me - we will begin to think about what kinds of learning is set up by different moves, and you will start to form your ideas about which moves you would like to try out or integrate into your teaching repertoire.

I had you look at excerpts from an article by Robert Emerson, one of the co-authors of Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, one of the early textbooks to teach ethnographic observational/writing practices.  We zoomed in to pages 8-11 - the section on creating "jottings" while on site.  We then talked about some of the practical approaches to taking notes in an interactive research setting, and some of the ethical/interpersonal concerns.  This list should be in your notes. The article - and Emerson, Fretz and Shaw's book (available at Amazon) can be point of need references for you.

You then had a chance to practice taking ethnographic notes during the "creating a syllabus lesson."
You noticed that:

• it is impossible to write down everything
• you moved between taking "content" notes (what was said) and process notes (observations about the language, mood, setting, interaction dynamics = descriptions of HOW the communications took place).
• some "threads" of observations may turn out to be irrelevant (as in Joe's observation about noting where Sally walked as she spoke)
• it was often not clear what was relevant and what was not (since as Wayne observed the walking was sometimes linked to keeping class attention during periods of extended talk)
• shifting focus on the kinds of observations you wrote down allowed for a broad, robust description
• you remembered additonal information as you looked back through your notes and were able to flesh out your observations with "head notes"
• it is important to write up your notes as soon as you can
• you should always keep a copy of your original notes (make after the fact addtions in a different font/color or on a different document)
• and other things. . . 

Creating the course calendar.

Your next practice note-taking was on an interactive exercise where you worked as a group to create the calendar for the course.  This exercise did not go the way I envisioned it (yeah - it happens all the time).  It seems the 3 of you have very different ideas about where to start and what & how to teach.  And actually that is GREAT!  Here are some partially edited notes from the beginning of your discussion.

Joe sent doc

Lewis question about how to use doc

Wayne in referen ct to week 1 - suggested discuss teaching philosophy

Joe I'm still under the impression that we want to chunk notes file Joe was resisting working week by week - was suggesting that the group make a list of activities for each 1/3 of the course as suggested by Chandler

Discussion about how to proceed

Lewis Organize ideas in notes into weeks in lesson

Wayne so if we're looking at teaching philosophy

Joe moved that up to first week

Lewis what are the readings?

Wayne need something to read - to have something to think about

Joe - put at beginning & ending - justification

Wayne yeah put together - but have to have a reading - how would they know?  I think you need to put the two together

Joe I think that is for a later lesson

Wayne - can catch students cold - (without reading) give assigned reading.

Lewis - with Clark book, she goes through different steps - first chapter process. 

Joe - draw from own experience for first philosophy

Lewis - wants to draw from Clark -use first chapter for overview

So - your first work on this document was to negotiate the philosophical questions surrounding 1) what kinds of materials come first; and 2) how to work on the calendar.

By the end of class, we'd spent some time discussion what we will do in the course - and you had some practice taking the kind of notes you will take in your class observations.  So = good job!

For next class:

1. Meet your teaching mentor, attend class & take notes.  Bring an electronic copy of your notes to class - and we will post them in a way where we can all access them.

2. Read Chapter 1 in Clark.  This chapter provides an overview of approaches to teaching college writing and will set us up with common language for talking about the practices + issues you see in the classroom.

3.  Finish creating the course calendar.  Your calendar may look a lot or little like the proposed calendar I handed out in class.  We will negotiate the details in class.

4. As you observe your class and as you read Clark, think about the theories and practices that are central to the way you want to teach.  

In class we will: 

• negotiate the calendar
• do some experienced based talking/writing about your teaching philosophies
• identify main ideas/key vocabulary from Clark
• post your notes and do some analysis to give you some ideas about how you can use observation and reflective analysis as a way to explore your ideas about teaching.

Great class - see you next week.