Reflective Fieldnote Blog Entry # 4

What are your overall impressions of this observation?

I thought the case study and ethnographic narrative were beneficial in helping the ESL teacher understand what ESL children experience in the classroom and in their everyday home lives.

What did you learn as a result of the fieldwork?

I learned how the case study and the ethnographic narrative can be a useful tool for me to get to know my students academically and personally. I have been teaching some of my students for two and a half years. I know them pretty well, but I still do not know a whole lot about their personal life, their past experiences, or even their interests. These two formats could help me do that.

What is the value in case study research and analysis in terms of classroom practice?

If a teacher periodically completes the case study template on a student, it would help the teacher identify what concepts students understand and what they do not. It would also show the teacher how the ESL students interact with other classmates. It would also portray to the teacher how to reform teaching strategies in order to make information more comprehensible to the student.

What is the value of the ethnographic narrative?

The ethnographic narrative connects student's past experiences, their family, their culture, language, and school to portray student's perspectives on their own lives. The ethnographic narrative can also give the ESL teacher insight on how to relate to ESL students. Many teachers get so caught up in teaching and their everyday activities at school, that they forget to get to know the student. The ethnographic narrative would also be a great activity to implement for newcomer ESL students (as long as students have a high enough language level to communicate).

How will this information assist future teachers (next year’s teachers) as well as yourself in meeting the needs of this particular second language learner?

The ethnographic narrative and the case study would provide a lot of background knowledge on the ESL student that could assist future teachers, as well as myself, in implementing the best teaching methods possible to assist the student. The ethnographic narrative would be a great tool to show future teachers the student's background, their culture, and how they view their own lives. The case study would be beneficial to show teachers what strengths and weaknesses the student has, and how the teacher can address these.